2020 Gaming Conventions: What To Expect

Traditional gaming conventions, such as E3 and Gamescom, have been mainstays in the community for years. But 2020, for obvious reasons, will at least be different when it comes to the summer events. Many developers and publishers are instead focusing their efforts on digital events, and we’ve conveniently compiled a list below of what we know about them thus far.

We will be sure to update this page whenever we have more information!

2020 Digital Game Events (So Far)

Summer Game Fest

• Date: May 21st – August 27th
• Website
• “Summer Game Fest is a new, all-digital way to unite the gaming community for a season of video game news and events from game developers and publishers. SGF will feature digital news events, playable content, in-game events, and other surprises you can experience for free from the comfort of home.”

Wholesome Direct

• Date: May 26th
• Website
• Announcement
• “Join Wholesome Games on May 26 at 1pm ET for the first-ever #WholesomeDirect, live on YouTube! We’ll have exclusive footage, developer interviews, and announcements from over 50 wholesome indie games.”

Guerrilla Collective

• Date: June 6th-8th
• Website
• Announcement
• “Online digital games festival to reveal fresh announcements, trailers and reveals from some of the hottest publishers and developers around the world! The Guerrilla Collective is hosted by Greg Miller and produced by Media Indie Exchange (The MIX) with Kinda Funny Games Showcase.”

Future Games Show

• Date June 6th
• Website
• “GamesRadar’s livestream will feature exclusive trailers, deep dives on the future of gaming, as well as announcements. We’ve got an incredible show lined up for you and today it’s been revealed that the Future Games Show will be the finale in a huge day of gaming shows”

Indie Live Expo

• Date June 6th
• Website
• Announcement
• “INDIE Live Expo will be held here in the Far East island country of Japan and streamed to all of our friends throughout the world who love indie games. Our program will feature information on not only Japanese indie games, but indie titles from a wide variety of other countries as well. Our goal is to create a livestream for the purpose of facilitating new experiences, friendships, and discoveries for people around the globe.”

Steam Game Festival

• Date June 6th-14th
• Website
• “Celebrating amazing upcoming games through demos and live developer events
  The Steam Game Festival is an event that shines a spotlight on games set to be released within the next year. From June 9th – 14th, check out upcoming releases, try them out with time-limited demos or short playable experiences, connect with the developers behind the games, and add games to your wishlist for a reminder when they release!”

Pocket Gamer Connects Digital 2020

• Date: June 8th-12th
• Website
• “Networking is essential to the games business. But 2020 is not unfolding as expected and many are unable to travel.PG Connects Digital is a potential solution from the makers of leading event series Pocket Gamer Connects – our first online-only conference. We’re working to distil as much of the content and spirit as we can from the traditional PG Connects events you’ve come to know and love.”

UPLOAD VR Showcase

• Date: June 8th
• Website
• “E3 may be gone but that won’t stop us! The Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition arrives on your screens on June 8, 2020 (final time TBA). And this year we’re going big. That’s right, we’ll be back to break more headlines, announce new games and give you deeper looks at upcoming titles next month. For our second summer showcase, we’re proud to be teaming up with IGN. They’ll be carrying the show as part of their Summer of Gaming event this June. Our showcases are all about the VR industry coming together to make a big splash during an exciting time in the gaming calendar and this partnership is a big step towards doing exactly that.”

The Escapist Indie Showcase

• Date: June 11th
• Website
• Announcement
• “Our completely digital event will begin on June 11 with a “direct”-style showcase on YouTube, where we’ll be showing off over 70 different indie games from developers all around the world. The showcase will include new reveals and lots of gameplay, and we even had developers create short little developer diaries so you could meet the passionate people behind the games you’ll be playing.”

EA PlayLive 2020

• Date: June 11th
• Website
• Announcement
• “EA Play Live 2020 is about connecting players around the world and bringing them closer to the game franchises they love. During this year’s digital event, we’ll showcase our games through a live broadcast, community content, and more.”

Brazil’s Independent Games Festival

• Date June 22nd-26th
• Website
• Announcement
• “BIG Digital will be fundamental to help with the export of games and services from Brazilian game companies. Organizing meetings with publishers, buyers and international investors will be essential to guarantee the growth of the Brazilian game industry, even during this difficult moment that we are all going through”

New Game+ Expo

• Date: June 23rd
• Website
• Announcement
• “Welcome to NEW GAME+ EXPO, an online showcase of new and upcoming releases from a coalition of developers from around the world. Featuring a diverse assortment of dozens of titles spanning every genre from action to puzzle-solving and even storytelling, this is your glimpse into what’s next from your favorite publishers!”

Bit Summit Gaiden

• Date: June 27th-28th
• Website
• Announcement
• As most of you know, BitSummit The 8th Bit, planned to be held on May 9th and 10th 2020, was canceled due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. However, we recognize the realities of developing and launching a game and we would still like to give everyone that had an interest in being part of BitSummit a chance to be part of the BitSummit Family this year!
  Therefore, we’ve created BitSummit Gaiden: an online festival that shines a light on hard-working indie developers, provides a unique platform to showcase their works, and gives their games the visibility we believe they deserve.

Ubisoft Forward

• Date: July 12th
• Website
• Announcement
• “With physical gaming shows around the world postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ubisoft will be hosting its first digital conference, called Ubisoft Forward, on July 12 at 12PM PDT/9PM CEST. Get ready for an E3-style showcase with plenty of exclusive game news, exciting reveals, and much more.”

GDC Summer 2020

• Date: August 4th-6th
• Website
• “GDC Summer is going fully digital
  We have been continuously reviewing the best ways to serve the game development community over the past few months as the world has continued to adapt to developments. While we very much look forward to meeting again in person as soon as possible, we are moving forward with a plan to transform GDC Summer into an all-digital event, in order to best serve our community.
  As so many game developers embrace remote working arrangements and online collaboration, we’re inspired to adapt and deliver GDC in a digital format that will be available to everyone with an internet connection, and will work hard to deliver the high-quality content and networking opportunities GDC attendees have come to expect.”

Gamescom 2020

• Date: August 27th-30th
• Website
• Announcement
• Become part of gamescom 2020 together with millions of fans worldwide! At the end of August the whole games world will talk about gamescom and the latest games. Look forward to the best games, announcements, world novelties, events, esport tournaments and special promotions. We start with gamescom: Opening Night Live on August 27th and then follow three packed days of program with all partners and new gamescom shows. On the strongly expanded content hub gamescom now you will find all schedules, streams and information on this website. So you get every highlight! So gamescom is for you again in 2020: THE HEART OF GAMING!

Indie Arena Booth 2020

• Date: August 27th-30th (During Gamescom)
• Website
• Announcement
• “The Indie Arena Booth is an open home for independent game developers from all over the world. It is a platform for the developers as well as a showcase for the colorful and vivid game scene between Avantgarde and AAA. The Indie Arena welcomes every developer and game enthusiast to be a part of this great family!”