It’s summertime and school’s out, so kids (and their parents) are ready for exciting new video game reveals. This year, gaming’s future will once again be show Summer Game Fest. Internet personality Geoff Keighley has assembled an impressive lineup of industry contributors both large and small to share news and first looks at titles coming in 2023 and beyond.
Summer Game Fest kicks off on June 8 at 3 p.m. EST. From there, other publishers and organizations, including Ubisoft and Tribeca Festival, will broadcast their own dedicated showcases.
If you like watching video game announcements, you probably enjoy video game predictions, too. And Summer Game Fest might feature announcements about Elden Ring DLC gameplay, a Persona 3 remake, or Silent Hill 2. We combed through wishes, rumors, and predictions to come up with these five reveals we’d like to see at Summer Game Fest 2023.
1. A Show With E3's Soul
We’re discussing Summer Game Fest only because of the death of E3. For decades, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo was where gamers learned about that year’s biggest gaming news. But mismanagement and a global pandemic have left E3’s fate murkier than ever.
As exciting as Summer Game Fest has been in past years, it has yet to top E3’s hype as an event for press and players. We miss the show's hands-on time with major titles, the promise that every publisher would pull out its biggest guns, and the celebrity glamour that not even mainstream media could ignore. But with E3 gone, many expect Summer Game Fest to fill the void.
2. Final Fantasy’s Future
This summer is promising many high-profile releases. One is Final Fantasy XVI, an action-packed take on the classic role-playing series. FFXVI drops on June 22, so heavily promoting that game at Summer Game Fest wouldn’t make much sense—but it might be the right time for publisher Square Enix to talk about other major Final Fantasy projects in the works, most notably Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The sequel to the acclaimed FFVII Remake is likely less than a year away, and all we've seen so far are vague teaser images. Another vague rumor: Apparently, a Final Fantasy IX remake is also in the works.
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3. New Entries in Dormant Fighting Game Series
Street Fighter 6 is real and spectacular, so fighting game fans are pleased. That said, one awesome game shouldn’t have to be responsible for propping up an entire genre. Fortunately, the oddly named Mortal Kombat 1 drops this September and will debut its first gameplay footage at Summer Game Fest. Likewise, Tekken 8 is slated for release (at a currently unknown time).
Here's hoping that developers keep the hype going with more fighting games that have the potential to headline EVO, especially ones that belong to series that haven't seen much activity. With the success of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, a visual update to the 13-year-old Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, there's never been a better time for Sega to announce Virtua Fighter 6. And with Capcom and SNK playing footsies recently by rereleasing joint projects from the past (Mega Man Battle & Fighters, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium), a Capcom vs. SNK 3 announcement would be a dream come true.
4. Gameplay Footage of the New Witcher Title(s)
CD Projekt Red is like someone who won the lottery—and let it ruin their life. The developer achieved well-deserved critical and commercial success with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt but squandered much of that goodwill with Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch. Since then, CDPR has also teased many new Witcher projects. A new trilogy! A remake! A multiplayer game! Witcher fans are howling for some good news, especially with Henry Cavill leaving the Netflix show. We hope that at least one of these projects will start to look a lot more real at Summer Game Fest.
5. High-Profile Xbox Games
Sony already aired its big summer PlayStation showcase, and Nintendo seems content to coast on Tears of the Kingdom love. But on June 11, Microsoft will host an Xbox games showcase followed by a dedicated Starfield show.
Frankly, Xbox needs to tell us what’s going on. Starfield has suffered long delays, and Redfall was a bust. But Microsoft owns so many game studios that it should be flooding us with new titles. Yet it isn't. We need to see real gameplay soon from vaporware projects such as Avowed, Everwild, Fable, Hellblade 2, and Perfect Dark. A new Forza just won’t cut it.
For great games you can play right now, check out our picks for the best PC games, Nintendo Switch games, PlayStation 5 games, and Xbox Series X/S games. For in-depth video game talk, visit PCMag's Pop-Off YouTube channel. Eager to see the new titles on the horizon? Check out The Best Video Games Coming Out in 2023.