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E3 2021 was very different from most, we wrote last year, but some things never change: As the season of major reveals and announcements approaches, big leaks (opens in new tab) are bound to happen. But, well, maybe things do change? With the big week for announcements upon us—E3 is technically off, but the next few days will still see the Summer Game Fest, PC Gaming Show, Future Games Show, the Xbox/ – Bethesda Showcase, Wholesome Direct, and more—we have yet to see any major surprises blown.
The list of leaks in 2021 was beefy. It included a lengthy lineup of games that would be shown at E3, the announcement of Two Point Campus and a “Marvel XCOM game” from Firaxis (now known as Marvel’s Midnight Suns (opens in new tab)), Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and (of course) the long-awaited first appearance of Elden Ring (opens in new tab), which Summer Game Festmeister Geoff Keighley himself teased on Twitter.
2022 hasn’t been nearly as leaky, however. There have been predictions and rumors, as always—we’ve even got a list of our own E3 2022 predictions (opens in new tab)—but actual full-scale leaks, like when Walmart Canada blew the horn on Rage 2 (opens in new tab) (or, more recently, when premature preorders for Marvel’s Midnight Suns let slip (opens in new tab) that Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch are coming to the game) are in unusually short supply. (I guess we could count that as an early E3 leak, but it’s still small-time compared to Midnight Suns’ existence leaking out last year.) One potentially big spill came earlier today when Tom Henderson said that Hideo Kojima is currently working on a new horror game called Overdose (opens in new tab), and given Kojima’s friendship with Geoff Keighley it would be a natural Summer Game Fest announcement—but there’s no mention of a planned announcement at the show in Henderson’s leak. Even if the leak is accurate, it includes no imagery and scant details about the game.
Part of that may be due to the fact that Keighley has already spilled the beans on some of the big things coming this year, including the first gameplay footage from the Dead Space-alike horror game The Callisto Protocol, a playthrough of a campaign level from the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remake, and info on Gotham Knights. You can’t leak what’s already known, after all.
But another potential factor is that this could be a relatively light year for E3 season. Two years of Covid-related game delays have taken a toll, and maybe the lack of an E3 proper has convinced more publishers to keep things buttoned up until later this year. The shadow of Grand Theft Auto 6 looms large, of course, but Keighley said in a recent Twitter Spaces session (via VGC (opens in new tab)) that people shouldn’t get too wound up about what’s coming, because the focus will be on new content, not new games.
“What I would say is that a lot of the games we’re going to show you are going to be [already] announced… games are going to show new content to you, like some of the ones I’ve mentioned,” Keighley said. “We’ve got a couple of new game announcements in the show and hopefully some surprises if everything holds. But it definitely is a show that’s primarily focused on stuff that is announced.”
“So we’re doing some good stuff for you, but definitely manage your expectations in terms of the megaton shocks that you’re expecting. This is not The Game Awards. We’ve got lots of good stuff to show you but buyer beware of some of the crazy rumors I’m seeing out there in terms of things people expect to get announced.”
There’s still time for an info-dam to break somewhere, but not much: The Summer Game Fest is set to kick off at 11 am PT/2 pm ET on June 9, and will be followed by other events including the PC Gaming Show, Future Games Show, Xbox-Bethesdda showcase, Guerrilla Collective, Wholesome Direct, and more over the next several days. Here’s our full not-E3 schedule (opens in new tab).
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