AI backlash, single-player epics and Y2K nostalgia: eight trends from Summer Game Fest

**TL;DR:** AI backlash, single-player epics and Y2K nostalgia: eight trends from Summer Game Fest

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From horror galore to Chinese action games, the key trends, trailers and surprises from Summer Game Fest’s many, many hours of streams and broadcasts • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Did you spend hours of your weekend watching a relentless series of video game adverts? No? I don’t blame you – Summer Game Fest, the collection of livestreams that has arisen in place of the giant annual E3 video game expo in Los Angeles, is extremely overwhelming.

There are the bigger, longer shows: the PlayStation and Xbox streams, the main SGF show hosted by Geoff Keighley and Lucy James, Future’s duet of the Future Games Show and the PC Gaming Show. Each show is two hours long. Then there are all the indie showcases: cosy games, women-led games, Black voices in gaming, Day of the Devs. Between them, they show off hundreds of games that might pique your interest. I picked out exactly 34 highlights here : the biggest news, the most interesting-looking smaller games.

But from the barrage of trailers I was also able to discern some trends. Here’s what we can learn. Continue reading...

Source: The Guardian Technology

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Last updated: June 16, 2026.

Additional context: early-cycle stories often look bigger in headlines than in day-to-day impact. The useful move is to identify the smallest set of facts that would change your decision, then wait for those facts to land.

Additional context: early-cycle stories often look bigger in headlines than in day-to-day impact. The useful move is to identify the smallest set of facts that would change your decision, then wait for those facts to land.