Summer Game Fest 2021 schedule, dates, lineup, US and UK times

Summer Game Fest 2021 officially kicked off on June 10, with a world premiere showcase that was packed with announcements, reveals and trailers - including one huge world premiere. But this showcase was only the start of Summer Game Fest, with Geoff Keighley's season of gaming promising to be full of even more exclusive announcements, new games and interesting insights on the future of video games in general.

This is the second year Summer Game Fest has taken place, with the gaming celebration debuting in 2020. But this year's Summer Game Fest is set to be bigger than ever, and will feature a bunch of digital live stream showcases from a range of notable publishers and developers including PlayStation, Xbox, Ubisoft and Bandai Namco that will continue throughout June.

So what can we expect from Summer Game Fest 2021? Read on to find out all the dates and times you'll need, and what has been announced so far.

Make sure to check out our guide to E3 2021 too.

New games 2021: game release dates for console and PC
New PS5 games: upcoming PS5 game release dates
New Xbox Series X games: upcoming Xbox Series X/S game release dates

Summer Game Fest 2021

Key announcements so far

Summer Game Fest: Kickoff Live impressions

Summer Game Fest was kicked off on June 10 with the Summer Game Fest: Kickoff Live showcase. The showcase was packed with announcements, trailers and reveals and, while not all of them were particularly awe-inspiring, there were some standouts.

The biggest 'surprise' of the night was the reveal of a full-length Elden Ring trailer, which gave us our best look yet at the collaboration between George R.R. Martin and FromSoftware and a release date: January 21, 2022. The game hadn't been shown since it's initial reveal at E3 2019, so it was quite the scoop for the Summer Game Fest to get.

There was also the official announcement of the Borderland's spin-off, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, which is a standalone title based around (you guessed it) Tiny Tina. This standalone title is releasing in early 2022 and has a star-studded cast that includes Andy Samberg and Will Arnett.

We also got the news that a Death Stranding Director's Cut is coming to PS5, with a full reveal to take place "in just a few weeks".

We also heard more about Call of Duty Warzone: Season 4, got a glimpse of Overwatch 2's redesigned characters and Giancarlo Esposito even popped by to talk about his role in Far Cry 6.

Overall, while there wasn't the breadth of big announcements that we hoped for, the Elden Ring reveal more than made up for it.

Summer Game Fest 2021 schedule

June 12

Ubisoft Forward

Time: 12pm PT / 8pm BST / 3pm ET
Date: June 12

Ubisoft has confirmed it is hosting its next Ubisoft Forward conference as part of Summer Game Fest. The digital conference is set to take place on June 12 at 12pm PT / 8pm BST / 3pm ET (or June 13 at 5am AEST).

The pre-show will debut at 11pm PT / 7pm BST / 2pm ET (or June 13 at 4am AEST) and will begin with updates for games such as For Honor, Trackmania, The Crew 2, Brawlhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion and more.

The main show will feature a look at Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Extraction, provide more details on Far Cry 6, and a closer look at Riders Republic. We'll also get updates on Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Rainbow Six Siege. We also expect to see at least one or two surprises.

How to watch: YouTube, Twitch or on the official Ubisoft Forward website

TechRadar's take: Ubisoft's conferences have been full of big announcements in recent years, and it's always interesting to see what the publisher is working on next. We expect Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Extraction to be a big focus, as well as Far Cry 6.

Devolver Digital

Time: 1.30pm PT / 4:30pm ET / 9:30pm BST
Date: June 12

Devlover's annual showcase event will also be part of Summer Game Fest, and the publisher's event takes place at 1.30pm PT / 4:30pm ET / 9:30pm BST.

Got five new games to reveal and two release dates to drop in this year’s Devolver Cinematic Universe showcase.Should be fun.Don’t forget to tweet us that it wasn’t funny after it’s over. We all love that.June 5, 2021

How to watch: YouTube

TechRadar's take: Even when you expect the unexpected at Devolver's conferences, you'll still be surprised. Expect weird shenanigans to take place and some cracking independent games to be revealed.

June 13

Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase

E3 2021 Xbox Bethesda Showcase — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Time: June 13
Date: 10am PT / 6pm BST / 1pm ET

Microsoft confirmed that it is holding a games showcase on June 13 at 10am PT / 6pm BST / 1pm ET (or June 14 at 3am AEST). This showcase will be around 90 minutes long and is featuring games from Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks.

Hope you all can join us for our first ever @Xbox & @bethesda Games Showcase on June 13th. We have a 90 min show focused on games and celebrating the many dev teams (all working from home) for our fans around the world! 🙏🏻💚🙅🏼‍♂️🎮 https://t.co/UrM5Xn9Laz pic.twitter.com/apRy8m9cBdMay 26, 2021

How to watch: YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook

TechRadar's take: Xbox Series X owners will be hoping Microsoft delivers one thing: games, and plenty of them. The PS5 has received a number of desirable exclusives, so it's time for Microsoft to deliver on its massive investment in new studios with some blockbuster titles.

Square Enix Presents

Time: 12:15pm PT / 3:15pm ET / 8:15pm BST
Date: June 13

Square Enix Presents will also be hosted at the Summer Game Fest, which will feature world premiers, new game announcements, updates and news from Square Enix.

The event takes place at 12:15pm PT / 3:15pm ET / 8:15pm BST.

How to watch: YouTube, Twitch

TechRadar's take: We're expecting to hear more about Square Enix's upcoming lineup of games, but might get a new IP announced that could turn a few heads.

Back 4 Blood PVP Showcase

Time: 2pm PT / 10pm BST / 7am AEST
Date: June 13

Tune into the PVP Showcase for Back 4 Blood, a cooperative shooter from the creators of the Left 4 Dead franchise. The showcase takes place on June 13 at 2pm PT / 10pm BST / 7am AEST and should give us another look at the survival game in action.

June 16 to June 22

Steam Next Fest

Time: 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST
Date: June 16

Steam Next Fest (formerly Steam Game Festival) is a multi-day celebration of upcoming Steam games, featuring hundreds of demoes. It kicks off on June 16 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (or June 17 at 3am AEST).

What is Summer Game Fest?

Summer Game Fest is a season of digital events from game publishers and developers. Summer Game Fest isn't exactly an event - though the Kickoff Live show is - instead it's an overarching umbrella that encompasses many different publisher live streams.

Summer Game Fest was set up by The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley and made its debut in 2020 – filling in the gap left by E3 2020. Last year's Summer Game Fest was an online season of events bringing together 16 of the industry’s largest publishers, including Microsoft, Sony, Activision, Valve, Bethesda and Blizzard in a four-month cavalcade of news, trailers and game demos.

From May until August, the Summer Game Fest partnered with these publishers to release updates on game projects and announce new titles across social media platforms, as well as providing playable demos for attendees – Microsoft shared a staggering “between 75 and 100” game demos in total.

This year's Summer Game Fest is set to be more "condensed", according to Keighley. While we know that the festival kicks off on June 10, there's currently no end date.

This will be the first year we see E3 and Summer Game Fest taking place in the same timeframe, so it will be interesting to see which publishers and developers choose to showcase at E3 and which choose to do so at Summer Game Fest - and which do both.

Summer Game Fest lineup

More than 25 publishers, platforms and partners will be contributing content or hosting an event at this year's Summer Game Fest - with more to be announced. Confirmed partners include PlayStation (which is noticeably absent from E3), Bandai Namco, Activision, Xbox, EA, Epic Games and more. You can see the list of confirmed partners above.

What happened at Summer Game Fest 2020?

Last year's Summer Game Fest spanned several months, with the season of gaming encompassing some huge PS5 and Xbox Series X announcements.

As part of the festival, PlayStation unveiled a sleuth of upcoming PS5 games - and the console's design for the first time - while Microsoft debuted Halo Infinite gameplay for the first time as well, as a bunch of upcoming Xbox Series X games.

Summer Game Fest 2020 also saw the announcement of the likes of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time and Star Wars Squadrons, while we got a closer look at Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077 ahead of their release too.