I vividly bear in mind the second I actually realized Summer time Recreation Fest 2025 was a rotten occasion and an instance of the business making an attempt to fake every part is alright.
It was when the trailer for the upcoming third-person generic motion recreation MindsEye began taking part in. The trailer included a brand new, gradual, somber cowl of “Madworld”—a music that was lined already and have become notorious for its utilization within the unique Gears of Battle advertising and marketing marketing campaign. That was after I realized the vibes have been off. Everybody was working on fumes. Individuals have been determined. Geoff, the grasp of throwing large, glitzy recreation occasions, was unable this time to distract from the reality: Issues aren’t all proper within the recreation business.
However even earlier than that, this 12 months’s Summer time Recreation Fest was a boring slog. It was a present dominated by the identical sorts of video games getting introduced and showcased again and again and over. There have been six trailers for six completely different Souls-like/Elden Ring-inspired video games. A ton of anime motion issues that blended collectively. A trailer for a Fortnite Star Wars occasion. A Deadpool VR recreation. A Recreation of Thrones RTS. And a bunch of trailers for issues which can be already out or about to be launched. The 2-hour occasion (YEAH) dragged on and on, with every time a trailer ended the gang sounded far much less enthused about being there.
Certain, we acquired a enjoyable Resident Evil 9 reveal, and there have been a number of cool video games introduced throughout the present, like a puppet boxing recreation, and Jurassic World Evolution 3 appears neat. However there was additionally a section the place a man walked up in a hat that learn “Make FPS Nice Once more” and yelled about Name of Obligation being the identical after claiming he simply wished to make one other Halo.
Even Hideo Kojima, a man who can normally carry a very superior trailer for Geoff’s exhibits, appeared with little pleasure, confirmed off a two-minute clip of individuals speaking in Demise Stranding 2, and left. The one point out of Silksong was a joke about it being absent. It was an empty present that felt lifeless and unhappy. It’s clear that publishers are chasing traits and solely greenlighting and funding video games that appear to be different issues that folks purchased.
Geoff, carrying what seemed to be $750 sneakers, appeared determined from the bounce to persuade followers watching at house that the dearth of massive AAA video games wasn’t a foul factor. He devoted the opening minutes of the present to praising indie video games and the way superior they’re and the way in style they’re. In hindsight, this was him setting the stage for his viewers: You aren’t getting Half-Life 3, GTA 6, or the rest like that tonight. These video games take 10 years to make now and are available much less typically than ever earlier than. And whle I do agree indie video games are cool and doing awseome stuff, this showcase sucked. Two hours of the identical video games squeezed between advertisements is a horrible method to showcase something. And doing it for this lengthy ought to be categorised as torture.
As summed up lately and completely by Luke Plunkett over at Aftermath:
Video games—or at the least the type of video games this week was once about—are trapped within the stomach of the machine. We love to speak shit about Andrew Wilson, however he isn’t guilty for each horrible resolution at EA, as a result of he’s the chief of a publicly-traded firm in 2025, and every other individual in his line of labor would and is doing the identical factor. Virtually each main business on this planet, whether or not it’s video games or automobiles or music or vitality, is now on the mercy of Wall Road Weirdos, personal fairness particularly. We’re not taking a look at a foul time for the online game business, we’re taking a look at simply dangerous occasions.
However hey, Resident Evil 9 appears neat, I assume.
