Forget Summer Game Fest: to find the true successor to E3, you might need to look outside the United States

You know the worst of E3, towards the end? He felt so fake. It was the event equivalent to that Steve Buscemi ‘how are you fellow guys?’ meme: corporations getting together and asking you to ‘hang out’, watch some ‘cool game trailers’ and engage with their brand ‘poggers’. Opening to the public, the show didn’t really know what it wanted to be: was it a mega-serious B2B corporate show that excelled at secret, closed-door meetings and handshakes? Or was it a cool, young, hip gaming festival that understood what it was like to be a Gen Z gamer willing to shell out big bucks to head into downtown Los Angeles for a few days and soak up the vibes?

In 2023, E3 was supplanted, at least somewhat, by Summer Game Fest. A big show, leading a flotilla of smaller publisher-run events, is like the failed E3 clone: ​​less shocking, less impressive, less prestigious. It’s getting there, sure, but after talking to a lot of smaller publishers, Summer Game Fest is looking like something of a walled garden; a place where only the ‘chosen few’ can enter if they know the right people (or have a big enough checkbook on hand).

I was at Summer Game Fest a few weeks ago, and a lot of people there—journalists, publishers, developers, creators—felt the specter of E3 hanging around, a ghost not exorcised. Its influence can still be felt, and with good reason; it was Gamer Christmas, and had been for years. Whatever happens to it in the future, E3 has a long tail and will continue to exert its pressure in some form, dead or alive, for years to come.

So, what a difference it is to come to the GREAT festival in Brazil. Located in a convention center in Sao Paulo, this massive event, the largest gaming festival in Latin America since 2012, has what I feel has been missing from these other gaming events for a while. Walking around the show floor, there’s a sense of proper excitement and enthusiasm, an understanding of what makes games great, fun and social. It’s similar to Gamescom, but with that undeniable Latin American flavor.

“I don’t want to sound rude, because E3 was an amazing event, but [it going away] it gives us more prominence because we are conveniently positioned as the biggest event at the same time on the calendar,” says the kind and polite Gustavo Steinberg, the creator and CEO of BIG Festival. “That was actually my sales pitch to some of the publishers, actually. I said, ‘when are you going to release your trailer? At E3, right? So do it here! [laughter]”.

It’s possible that BIG’s authenticity comes from the make-up of the event: On the show floor, the vast majority of exhibitors are independent developers. There’s a whole row of independent games from Brazil, proudly displayed in the middle of the showroom. Enthusiastic players: from children to geriatrics! – Get in line for demos of cool little titles you’ve probably never heard of.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros., Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Konami… are all on the sidelines, confined to small stalls, with room to promote themselves quietly. Here, the smallest creators get the loudest voice, and that’s amazing. I’ll have a separate article on the site soon about the best small games I’ve played here, but this focus and passion for the most basic part of the development scene is refreshing.

“We call that space the ‘world stage,’ where we invite publishers to bring recent releases to the crowd. Sometimes publishers want more space (now there’s Nintendo, Epic and Warner Bros. outside of that space) and they’re welcome,” Steinberg explains. “But the focus is really on indie. And there is freshness in the air because it is a market that is not yet so developed here in Brazil. It’s not set, so you can see the passion in the developer’s eyes when they say ‘I want to do it, I want to do it’. It reminds me of my early years making movies here; developers are that passionate. That’s why they are the center of attention.”

Steinberg notes that Brazil has gone from being home to about 20 game studios when it started to over 1,000 now. It’s safe to say that Brazil is a game development hub to really be reckoned with.

However, that’s not to say there’s no place for headline-grabbing ads. At the 2023 show, Atari hit the streets and showed off three titles; Mr. Run and Jump (think somewhere between Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV and you’ll have an idea of ​​what this is), Haunted House (a modern reboot of the 1982 survival horror experiment, modernized and tweaked by Brazilian developer Orbit Studios), and Quantum: Recharged (the ninth modern arcade version that appears to be as authentic as Yars’ Revenge and Breakout). That’s a big deal (no pun intended) for a publisher that’s been dormant for a few years. It shows that Atari cares about Latin American talent and the Latin American audience in equal measure.

Konami, in a similar but not as extreme state as Atari, also used BIG to continue its rehab in the public eye. During the festivities in Sao Paulo, Konami was eager to show off its third-party publishing push. This came primarily in the way the publisher proudly showcased the riveting ‘cinematic shmup’ CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, but it also manifested itself in Michael Rajna (Konami’s Senior Director of Business Development and Licensing) giving an insightful lecture on how indies can appeal to the Japanese-American company and be a part of its so far very positive third-party initiative.

“I don’t know how big we’re going to grow, but we’re going to grow as big as it takes,” Steinberg explains when I ask how much room there is to grow the festival. “We don’t want to take it too far, because we are not Europe, right? But for an international audience, we have something to show, which some people find surprising. And I think it’s because we have this combination of B2B and consumer spectacle all on the floor together. It’s something different.

Sure, Konami and Atari’s indie ads aren’t as big as Geoff Keighley (yet), but the show is garnering the right amount of attention. As it should; BIG has been around for 11 years, and with E3 gone and the stage opening for other events, Brazil’s top gaming festival has what it takes to steal the spotlight for years to come.

Maybe the future of gaming events isn’t in a big place, like E3 or something. Maybe it’s in these smaller scale programs like BIG or Gamescom (who have partnered with and run a sort of exchange program by the way). These events, without the gigantic overhead of the Los Angeles Convention Center, for example, are more affordable. It costs less than ten pounds to get into BIG, and it’s just as cheap for Gamescom. And because BIG attracts talent and attention from Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile and many more South American countries, the result feels more jubilant, more festive than other similar events I’ve been to.

According to Chance Glasco, one of the founding members of Infinity Ward, creator of Call of Duty, and head of independent company Good Dog Studios, releasing a game here is very different than releasing a game anywhere else. “Where is there a better place to launch a game about martial arts in Brazil than… Brazil?” he jokes “Culturally, Brazilians are super friendly and they have been very grateful that [I’m showing their country] in a positive way. There’s an extremely excited energy here that you’re just not going to get. [in other markets].”

Sitting down to write this, listening to some Sao Paulo locals laugh and cheer as they complete the demo of Bloodless, a retro-styled action-adventure that won Best Brazilian Game at BIG, it’s hard not to be impressed with what’s out there. happening here. . The vibe here is a far cry from the pulsating dubstep and endless repetitive game demos of E3, and it’s a more open and celebratory experience than the closed campus at Summer Games Fest.

Disclaimer: VG247 was offered a free ticket to the BIG festival, with the organizers providing travel and accommodation for the duration of the event.