Summer Game Fest, Play Days Set to Return in June of 2024

It seems that massive summer video game events will live on after all, as Geoff Keighley announces both his Summer Game Fest showcase and in-person Play Days event will return in June of 2024.

After a record-setting 2023, we are excited to share some news:#SummerGameFest will return in June 2024, including our live showcase event hosted by @geoffkeighley and #SummerGameFest Play Days from @iam8bit

Stay tuned for more details in the coming months. pic.twitter.com/za4BeK9gbP

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 13, 2023

Keighley created Summer Game Fest in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the usual slate of major summer in-person events shutting down and a move to digital showcases instead. The showcase has returned annually since, and in 2022 added the in-person Play Days Los Angeles media event in partnership with iam8bit to offer hands-on previews and other opportunities.

Meanwhile, E3 struggled to make a return even after live events started up again, and earlier this year announced it was cancelled, seemingly for good. In its wake, numerous other online digital showcases have risen up to take its place, but nothing has yet managed the sheer scale of E3’s business, media, and audience opportunities.

In the last year, Play Days was joined in LA with media events and fan opportunities from companies such as Xbox, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and others, effectively creating a smaller, more decentralized version of the media portions of past E3s. Keighley’s announcement today seems to herald a commitment to continuing major summer events even with the ESA thoroughly out of the picture. Still, it will remain to be seen if more companies – such as Nintendo, Sony, EA, and others – will join the growing collective of those showcasing games in-person in early June.

We both covered the Summer Game Fest Showcase’s announcements and attended Play Days, so we’ll have plenty of previews and first-looks at upcoming games on the way. You can catch up on everything happening during this year’s Summer of Gaming right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.