This year’s Summer Game Fest 2021 Kickoff Show will feature over thirty game reveals, updates, and announcements, as well as a host of musical and celebrity guests. Organizer Geoff Keighley took to Twitter to reveal new details about the industry event, including some big-name guests such as Jeff Goldblum and Giancarlo Esposito. While we already knew that Weezer would also be performing at the event, Keighley also mentioned that indie rock group Japanese Breakfast and production house Sonic Symphony would be joining as well.
Context for #SummerGameFest Kickoff Live on Thurs:
– 30+ games, combination of new game reveals, long-awaited updates.
– Guests: Jeff Goldblum, Giancarlo Esposito and surprises + devs.
– Musical performances: Weezer, Japanese Breakfast, Sonic Symphony.
– Day of the Devs.— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 6, 2021
Summer Game Fest will kick off with a showcase featuring a live performance by Weezer on June 10th. According to Keighley, Weezer will be premiering a new, unreleased song on the first day of the event that will also be part of a new game announcement. All in all, the kickoff show will last “around 2 hours” says Keighley. While there aren’t many details on what exactly will be presented at the kickoff event, we do know that dozens of game companies such as PlayStation, EA, 2K, miHoYo, Square Enix, and many others are participating.
Additionally, actors Jeff Goldblum and Giancarlo Esposito will be coming along for the ride, as well as “surprise” guest stars and developers. Jeff Goldblum, while never having personally played a game, played Nero Blackstone in Call of Duty Black Ops 3. More recently, Giancarlo Esposito will play the character Anton in the upcoming Far Cry 6.
Participating companies such as Ubisoft and Koch Media will also be part of E3 2021 Online, which is also holding a virtual show that will be broadcast live on its social channels. This doesn’t mean that the two events are at odds, however, as Keighley states in the Twitter thread that it is simply “a big week for games and the industry”. Back in 2020, both Keighley and former E3 Creative Directors iam8bit withdrew from E3 2020, with Keighley citing that he was “not comfortable” about the show’s vision. He made Summer Game Fest 2020 as a result and continues the show again with this year’s event.
For those interested in more information and possible new details about Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley will hold an AMA on Reddit on June 7, starting at noon PT. Keighley also hosted a live Q&A session on Twitter, where he clarified some details about the Summer Game Fest kickoff event and answered a few questions from fans.
