The first week of June always feels like Christmas to those of us who love to play games. E3 always brought magic to our screens, or in some cases, complete and utter cringe. But we loved it anyway, everyone has their favourite E3 moment. For some it will be the Peggle 2 announcement, others will probably say “Giant Enemy Crab”, or the reveal of Shenmue III. My personal favourite moment will always be the reveal of The Master Chief Collection, with the remastered Halo 2 announcement trailer eventually leading to the crescendo of all 4 “versions” of Master Chief being shown on screen and then the name reveal.
However, in a similar vein to Christmas, E3 got worse as I grew up, eventually sleepwalking into its death during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nintendo and Sony had already jumped ship at this point; it was inevitable that something had to change. Enter Geoff Keighley, who pioneered the Summer Games Fest umbrella that brought all the studios together to show their games, albeit in different places and formats. This formula didn’t really take off that well, and in my opinion, didn’t really fill the hole that E3 left. However, 2026’s Summer Games Fest well and truly knocked it out of the park, and brought me back to the last good E3 showcase we had in 2018, and may have even eclipsed that one for me. Without any further yapping, let’s get into it and talk about what was shown!
State of Play
Sony started the party on June 2nd, with another instalment of their State of Play showcases. Admittedly, I tend to have lower expectations for these, but this wasn’t the best showing from Sony. They opened with an extended look at Wolverine, which is their big-ticket release for this winter. It looks fine, but I can’t say I’m waiting for baited breath at this point. It’s been a long time coming, and after being let down by Spiderman 2 in 2023, my excitement for this one has wavered substantially since the initial reveal in 2021. After Wolverine, most of the show was further trailers for games that needed further release date confirmations, the standouts for me being Silent Hill: Townfall, Tomb Raider: The Legacy of Alantis and Control: Resonant. Sony saved their trump cards for the last 30 minutes however, revealing Until Dawn 2 and then closing the show out with an extended 20-minute look at God of War: Laufey. Now, it’s no secret I’m not exactly the biggest God of War fan, but this is now the second consecutive State of Play that Sony has leaded out with the series. I understand the games sell gangbusters, but it does also make me sad that Sony continues to hoard their dormant IP, and series such as Medievil and Wipeout will probably never see the light of day again. Speaking of Wipeout, I also had a problem with the Until Dawn 2 reveal. Firesprite have taken the lead development role on this one, and that does pain me. For a studio with such rich heritage in developing previous Wipeout entries under both Psynogsis and Studio Liverpool, would it really be too much to ask to put them on a new entry? Maybe I’m being over the top, but I was pretty disappointed by this showcase, especially with it being over an hour long. Other notable highlights did include the Rayman Legends Retold reveal, and there’s also a new Stuntman game releasing. The Stuntman reveal especially sideswiped me because I thought that series was LONG gone after Ignition in 2007.
I will be scoring these shows all out of 10, and it’s not a strong opening I have to say. For me personally, State of Play was nothing better than a 4/10. Opening and closing the show with a look at a licensed Marvel game, and 20 minutes of God of War: Laufey cutscenes was not their strongest choice. The little release date droplets throughout the show were a plus, but as the famous saying goes, those could have been emails. I was expecting them to show the big hitters with it being Summer Games Fest, and I’m sure to most people God of War is a big hitter, but where’s Naughty Dog? Guerilla? Team Asobi? Back-to-back God of War “mic drops” just aren’t enough in my case.
Summer Games Fest
A few days later, the main show of the Summer Games Fest event got underway on Friday 5th June, under the careful stewardship of Geoff Keighley. The thing with a Keighley event is that it’s either a complete home run, or it is a total waste of time. I’m pleased to report in this case that Summer Games Fest 2026 was probably the best show of the lot, and easily Geoff’s magnus opus in terms of announcement shows. From the first minute, he was on the offensive, opening the show with a first look at Resident Evil: Veronica. A full remake of the 2000 Dreamcast classic, Resident Evil: Veronica showcases Claire Redfield looking for her brother Chris Redfield in Paris. This trailer also included the release window, 2027. The explosive start didn’t stop there either, with Alien: Isolation 2 getting its first full trailer and platform announcements. Honestly, this was probably my game of the show from this one, I adore the first Alien: Isolation and cannot wait for the sequel, I just know they’re going to absolutely smash it out of the park. To finish off the already incredible start, Studio MDHR (of Cuphead fame) had a couple of announcements to share, the first being that a full Cuphead sequel is now in development, and the other (and way more interesting in my opinion) being confirmation that another new game was in development, called Mighty Cuphead Adventure. A side-scrolling adventure that looks like it’s come straight from the Master System era, and the trailer itself was dripping in personality, right down to the logo at the end. I am very excited for those opening three games, and I couldn’t believe it was such a strong start. However, as expected, the roll couldn’t continue forever, and the show did hit a lull around the middle, with many announcements that were okay at best, and I did think that maybe Geoff had the best three announcements at the start and contemplated going to bed. I did stay up, and I’m very glad I did as the LAST three announcements were on par with those opening three. The first of these was the announcement of Stellar Blade: Blood Rain. I completely adored the first game, I put 90 hours into it and got the PS5 platinum trophy, which required me to do four playthroughs, which I pretty much never do. The new game looks like the combat system we all know and love is back and better than ever, and the new protagonist seems to have some kind of connection to EVE, with her name being Evie. After that, Capcom wheeled out a new DLC trailer for Street Fighter 6, and at first I was very confused as to why this was showcased so late into the show, and as the fourth and final character flashed up, I got it. TIFA LOCKHART. FROM FINAL FANTASY VII. Sorry for the overexcitement, but Tifa is one of my favourite characters in gaming history, and adding her to Street Fighter just seems like a match made in heaven. Rumours have been swirling around for the longest time that it was actually going to be Tekken that nabbed Tifa for themselves, and I resented that due to the way Tekken plays, so when it was confirmed to be Street Fighter, I was over the moon. I found SF6 to be a bit too casual for my liking, but I’m 1000000% going to be trying Tifa when she releases.
Alas, there was one more thing that Geoff had up his sleeve before the show concluded, and in a similar vein to 2023’s Summer Games Fest, he brought the biggest gun of all. Final Fantasy VII Revelation was the final game. The final part of the remake trilogy that started on PlayStation 4 in 2020, finally releases in Spring 2027. I promise I’ll stop saying final now. There was both a lengthy trailer and deep dive, before series producer Naoki Hamaguchi confirmed what we’d all been hoping for the longest time. Final Fantasy VII Revelation launches day and date on every single platform day one. For me this was the biggest part of the show, Sony had the exclusivity rights for the FFVII trilogy, meaning it was locked to PlayStation 4/5 for at least the first year, but no more. Gaming won with that one.
So, overall, what did I think of Summer Games Fest 2026 overall? I thought Geoff did a solid job with this one, and I stand by my point that it’s probably been Geoff’s best since he started the Game Awards and Summer Games Fest. This show scored a solid 9/10 for me, 6 really stellar announcements, with the final one being almost a fantasy for most people. Sorry, I’ll stop now. I mean it. I did knock a point off however, due to the lull in the middle not being very interesting at all, I genuinely can’t name a single game that was shown in that period except maybe Guild Wars 3. And even that’s only because the logo looked like it said Chud Wars 3.
Xbox Games Showcase
Two shows down, and the time finally came for Microsoft to lift the curtains on their plan for 2026 and beyond. June 7th finally came, and Xbox began the show with a look at extended gameplay from Gears of War: E-Day. I like Gears a lot, even if Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 did lose me a bit with the overall story. E-Day looks like a return to form however, and I will be playing it when it drops on Game Pass on October 6th. The real talking point of the show actually came straight after the Gears trailer, with new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma appearing in the frame to confirm the rumours that Xbox would be going back to console exclusives, and Gears of War: E-Day would be the first game to fly the green flag once again. Now, obviously, this has divided opinion online, and has been a heated debate for the last few days, I’m a bit mixed on this one, because whilst I do understand that you do need games to sell a console, I don’t think Gears is the game to do it with. The next mainline Halo (I’m not biased I promise), the next Elder Scrolls, even Forza Horizon 6 probably would have been a better choice. After the Gears and exclusivity announcement, we were treated to another look at Fable. I must say I’m extremely excited for Fable, and am gutted that I have to wait another few months for it. However, I have complete faith in Playground Games that they are going to knock this one out of the park, and make old Peter Molyneux proud. 23rd Feb 2027 is the date where Fable gets to sing again, and I genuinely can’t wait any longer. The interesting thing is that Fable is still launching on PlayStation 5, so they must have a contract in place they need to honour. I am genuinely content to not see any more of Fable at this point, I have full faith.
The next reveal brought us the one I was waiting for, and I was surprised we got it so early on in the piece. The third game brought us Halo: Campaign Evolved. I’d been itching to see more of this since the first reveal all the way back in October 2025, and I even wrote a piece on my initial thoughts on this very page. Just what were they going to do to my beloved Halo: Combat Evolved campaign? This reveal focussed on the brand-new Operation: METEORITE missions, set before the events of Halo, with Master Chief and Sgt. Avery Johnson invading a Covenant ship. I actually really liked this showing from Halo Studios, and I plan to do another piece fully talking about my thoughts on Campaign Evolved before launch. Needless to say, the Collector’s Edition was purchased before they could even get to the next trailer. The original Halo: Combat Evolved is my favourite FPS campaign of all time, and I really hope Halo: Campaign Evolved can carry the torch.
As a little sidenote, there was also some anniversary hardware revealed, as it is the 25th anniversary of Xbox this year. A sleek translucent green Xbox Series X was unveiled, with a controller to match. Designed to look like the original translucent green Xbox, it screams Y2K at you when you look at it, it is really nice. The controller is probably what I’ll settle for, designed to be like the original Xbox Controller S that came with the same system. The bumpers being black and white, the face buttons being colour matched to the original Xbox pad, and the original Xbox logo on the battery cover are lovely touches, and I will be getting one to go alongside my 20th Anniversary Xbox controller.
Since Microsoft opened with their big three, a lot of the show was third party announcements, and Microsoft held three pretty big cards in this respect. Persona 4 Revival was showcased once again, with a full trailer and a release date of Feb 12, 2027. Not one for me, but I know a lot of people were excited for this to be shown again. They also had the Crazy Taxi reboot, now named Crazy Taxi: World Tour. They even had the original music from the first game, and I must say it looks like Crazy Taxi is back, I really hope it sticks the landing because that trailer made it look incredibly fun to drive around. The last big third-party card Microsoft held was the first reveal of Atlus’ Persona 6. A game a lot of people have been waiting for, whilst it isn’t one for me, I do understand the significance of the reveal, and it was quite surreal to see Microsoft once again land a massive JRPG announcement.
There were a few other announcements that I didn’t particularly care for, such as more content for the Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76, confirmation that inXile’s Clockwork Revolution is another title that will be flying Microsoft’s exclusivity flag, and updates on Sea of Thieves and a few smaller games such as Join Us (which is a stupid name).
There are still two reveals I haven’t spoken about yet, and they both come from the Activision Blizzard King umbrella. Firstly, Spyro is back! In a new game for the first time in over a decade, Spyro: A Realm Beyond will feature everyone’s favourite purple dragon (no, not Figment) in a new adventure where you’ll be able to take off and fly around at any point. I’m not the biggest Spyro fan in the world, but I appreciate this is a big deal for platformers and I’m glad to see Microsoft finally letting their studios loose on dormant IPs. Finally, the show came to a close with an extended look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode. Microsoft have made the same mistake as they did last year, ending on Call of Duty. Whilst I think this one was slightly better due to a) the game actually looking better than Black Ops 7 already, and b) because no one hyped the trailer beforehand, I do wonder if ending the show on a Spyro reveal, or even Persona 6 would have been the better call. For what it’s worth, I actually think Modern Warfare 4 looks pretty decent, and I will probably be picking it up on launch to play with friends, but it isn’t the megaton it used to be, and certainly doesn’t deserve to be closing shows.
Microsoft’s showcase was definitely better than it has been in the last few years, and I’d go as far as to give this one 7.5/10. The opening three games are still hotly anticipated, even if they are already well known, and the third-party reveals really did have something for everyone. What I will say is that Microsoft cannot keep ending on Call of Duty, and the exclusives message was a little strange. I do think they overall had a good showing however.
Nintendo Direct
Last but certainly not least, it was Nintendo’s turn to show off what they have cooking for the rest of the year. The word I’d use to describe this showcase from Nintendo would be safe. Nothing too spectacular, but a lot of reveals that people were expecting. I’m going to start with the game Nintendo chose to close the show out with, their big holiday 2026 release is a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Now, for me, this doesn’t move the needle all that much. I’m not a huge Zelda nut, I liked Breath of the Wild, I liked Tears of the Kingdom, and that’s about where I fall into place with Zelda. I can’t say that a remake of a game that’s already been remade is an exciting prospect, especially for someone like me who doesn’t mind the clunkiness of older games. However, I do appreciate that it’s been requested for a while, and I’m pleased for those who did want a chance to finally experience what many call the greatest game of all time. The other big announcement (at least in my eyes), was that we finally got another look at Kingdom Hearts IV, 4 years after it was revealed in April 2022. It’s coming to Switch 2 on release day, and we got a peek at some gameplay footage. No launch window, no launch year, and we still have no idea when it’s coming out. I do really like the look of Kingdom Hearts IV, but I do wish Square would give us just a little more information on when we can even start to remotely expect it!
My two favourite reveals of the Nintendo Direct were actually smaller level announcements that I don’t imagine many caring for, but I can’t lie, both of these got me incredibly excited. Firstly, the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy is finally getting Switch 2 Editions, with Xenoblade Chronicles 1’s Switch 2 patch shadowdropping after the Direct. If you’ve kept a keen eye on this site, you know I’m still playing through Xenoblade Chronicles on my Switch 2, but the framerate was beginning to get very jarring. The game now runs lovely at 60fps, and it’s going to make the remainder of my playthrough that little bit nicer. Not only this, but an entire new game in the Xenoblade saga, Xenoblade Genesis will be dropping on Nintendo Switch 2 next year, and depending on if I get through the trilogy, I may end up taking a look into that one too.
The other announcement that I was extremely happy to see was the reveal of Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, coming in October. The first game was a guilty pleasure of mine, and so to see that they’re not only releasing a sequel, but taking cues from Wii Sports Resort with Wuhu Island? Sign me up! I cannot wait for this one, and I’m very excited.
The only other noteworthy thing for me from this Direct was the fact that The Duskbloods still doesn’t have a release window, just still “2026”. I am intrigued by this one, but I do think the FromSoftware name is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. I can’t help but wonder if this one will slip to 2027.
Overall, it was a decent enough Direct, even if it was quite safe. I’d go for a 7/10 on this one, nothing incredible, but it also wasn’t terrible. Comparing it to how Sony opened the batting for the week? It was a home run compared to that.
Sorry for the late reflections on Summer Games Fest, Destiny 2 has me in a chokehold.
Stay tuned for June’s Squashy Summery Summary coming soon!
Love,
Squashy x