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When E3 decided to take a break, Summer Game Fest quickly took its place and is now considered one of the most important game shows where developers want to appear to show off their projects. Have you ever considered what it takes to promote a video game at the show?
A new report from Esquire claims you need to really save up to present even a minute of your trailer. According to its sources, you'll need to prepare up to $550,000 this year.
“These shows [Summer Game Fest and the Game Awards] are really ****ing expensive,” one insider said. It's hard to disagree when you see that in 2024, running a trailer costs $250,000 for one minute, $350,000 for one and a half minutes, $450,000 for two minutes, and $550,000 for two and a half minutes.
This makes it difficult for indie developers to participate as this is often more than the whole production budget. However, some marketing and PR specialists think the attention the games get from the event is worth the money.
“As far as general brand awareness, the impact is pretty huge,” one of them said. “The caveat here is that it depends on the placement and trailer length. Longer slots perform better and seem to drive more coverage, whereas short trailers don’t capture quite the same attention.”
Summer Game Fest also sells tickets for fans to attend this year, which adds to the revenue, so some people think SGF's creator Geoff Keighley should consider lowering the price of participation for small companies.
“I think Geoff does a good job shining a light on indies,” shared his view Greg Miller, a former IGN editor and now CEO of the Kinda Funny. “Could he do more? Of course he could, but at what point does the vision for the show become mine instead of his?”
The money you have to pay for the show is probably why big companies like Sony and Microsoft prefer to host their own events. The prices are especially glaring when those on the stage are asked to "wrap it up" quickly. The backlash caused by the incident with Swen Vincke, the head of Larian Studios, who received the Game of the Year award for Baldur's Gate 3 last year, has hopefully made Keighley rethink the policy, and we won't experience anything like that this time.
We'll see if it's true when Summer Game Fest starts on June 7 at 2:00 pm PT / 5:00 pm ET / 11 pm CEST.
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