E3 killed itself, said Geoff Keighley of Summer Game Fest

Geoff Kegley is perhaps best known as the face sports awardsBut he’s been hosting the Summer Game Fest showcase for the past few years (in addition to being the subject of some of our best Photoshop work).

With this year’s show, just days away on June 8, Kegley has commented on the death of E3 and the persistent, devastating notion that he pulled the trigger himself (again and again).

In an interview with VGCKeighley didn’t mince words, addressing the situation head on: “I think E3 kind of killed itself in a way. I understand why people say [Summer Game Fest killed E3]But I think if anything, we created Summer Game Fest, and I created Summer Game Fest because I saw the wheels fall off the wagon of E3.”

Keighley’s history is inextricably linked to E3’s own, making the slow-motion murder feel almost poetic in a Shakespearean sense.

Elaborating, Keighley explained that there could have been a reality in which both could exist, stating: “Everybody we’ve been working with, we’ve been working for months around Summer Game Fest. Yeah. So there was a world where Summer Game Fest and E3 would co-exist, and we talked a lot with ReadPop. [E3 event organiser] About that possibility because they were focusing more on a big business event and a consumer event, and that’s not what we were doing with Summer Game Fest.

On the matter of whether E3 could compete with Summer Game Fest for game announcements, Keighley says (in part): “I didn’t really see it as a competitor – I questioned the viability of their plan, but if The industry wanted it and wanted to support it, I think people could do both. Some companies were toying with the idea of ​​us announcing their game and then making it consumer-playable at E3.”

What do you think of Kegley’s role in all this? Right place, right time, or Machiavellian mastermind? Take the perfect offense in the comments section below.