A recap of all the major reveals at Summer Game Fest 2023

‘Speaking of Final Fantasy…’

The “Summer of Gaming,” aka “not-E3” kicked off at 3PM ET on June 8, 2023, and our old pal Geoff Keighley was available for more hard-hitting game trailer reveals and lighthearted DoorDash ad reads. Seriously, good recovery on that one!

So what did we get this year? A decent chunk of AAA and indie reveals across a large spectrum of genres, and a big Final Fantasy finish. Naturally, as it is prone to do, Final Fantasy (or more specifically, Final Fantasy 7) stole the show with a “one more thing” and gave us a smoldering Sephiroth shot, as well as confirmation that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is out in 2024 on two discs. I can’t wait to see the final installation size.

Lies of P continues to look mysteriously enticing, there were a few crossover/cameo reveals (including a segment where Nic Cage said he wanted to “fuse” with the player live on stage), and we got some brief info on Spider-Man 2, as well as an October 20 release date. You can read all of the major headlines below.

To E3 or not to E3?

I’ve said it before, but I miss the old E3 format quite a bit. The ESA had lots of room for improvement (and in many cases, failed to adapt even with bright signposts at every turn), but proper E3 events just felt bigger. That downward spiral was inevitable given the modern focus of individually curated bite-sized streams, but it was accelerated by the effective demise of the ESA’s greater influence on the industry.

Still, we got a few cool reveals and more Final Fantasy 7 at The Game Awards this year. It’s enough.

All the major headlines from The Game Awards 2023

Chris Carter

EIC, Reviews Director – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step in January of 2009 blogging on the site. Now, he’s staff!

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