Summary
Geoff Keighley has adjusted fans' expectations ahead of his annualGamescomshow Opening Night Live 2023. Keighley started The Game Awards nearly a decade ago, a stage dedicated to celebrating the best games of the year and providing fans a glimpse at what’s to come. As E3’s stranglehold on summer game announcements started slipping during the COVID pandemic, Keighley introduced a new alternative in Summer Game Fest alongside his buddingGamescomshowcase Opening Night Live later in the summer.
With another June absent of E3’s presence, Geoff Keighley took his fourth annual Summer Game Fest showcase to the next level. On a stage with a live audience for the first time, SGF 2023 was host to a slew of major game announcements such as gameplayreveals forMortal Kombat 1andAlan Wake 2, release date reveals for theBloodborne-inspiredLies of Pand Insomniac’sSpider-Man 2, as well as the long-anticipated reveal ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
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As the second head of Geoff Keighley’s yearly three-headed beast, situated in between SGF and The Game Awards, Opening Night Live is usually caught in a tough spot. A week ahead of the Gamescom opener, Keighley sat with Video Games Chronicle to express that fans should be looking to this show for updates on already announced titles rather than for a ton of huge, splashy reveals like what SGF provided. He went on to mention games like Remedy’s long-awaited and imminentAlan Wake 2and the mysteriousChinese folklore-inspired SoulslikeBlack Myth: Wukongas two games that fans can expect to see at the show. “This year’s ONL is less about announcing brand-new projects, and more about giving fans updates on some of the biggest games due out over the next year,” Keighley told VGC.
While this may be disappointing news for some, “updates” could still mean receiving release dates or windows for some of 2024’s most highly anticipated games likeFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth,Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, Star Wars Outlaws, and more. Opening Night Live could also play host to more information fromCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3or more character reveals forMortal Kombat 1. A new look atnext year’sSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguecould also be in the cards, as well as perhaps an update on Monolith’sWonder Womantitle or evenKingdom Hearts 4. However, that’s all just speculation at this time. Fans will only know for sure what games will be shown by tuning in themselves.
As Geoff Keighley’s annual triple-threat of Summer Game Fest, Opening Night Live, and The Game Awards solidifies and improves, ONL’s purpose being sandwiched between the Summer hype two months earlier and thealways-bombastic Game Awardsmay become clearer. Even in a year as huge as 2023 has been for game releases, ONL may still be taking the lesser role of being “the update show” of the Keighley events. Despite this, the prospect of pondering which games could show up is still exciting for many, and fans only have about a week to wait for Opening Night Live on August 22.
