The whiplash of covering Summer Game Fest 2025 in LA
I love going to Summer Game Fest. It's a rare opportunity to connect with my colleagues and friends in person, as well as listen to developers talk about why they make their games. In some ways, this year's SGF gave me everything I love about the event. But while I was comfortably ensconced in a happy bubble, the escalating conflict between demonstrators protesting against immigration raids and the Los Angeles Police Department cast a dark and soul-shaking pall that could not be ignored.
Everything started on June 6th, when it was reported that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had conducted a raid in LA's fashion district, the same area where most of SGF was being held. I wasn't around to experience that because I was at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, watching Geoff Keighley announce a Game of Thrones RTS and a Wu-Tang game. But when Ian Proulx, Splitgate 2 creator and CEO of 1047 Games, came out with his now-infamous 'Make FPS Great Again' hat, it punctured the illusion of distance in time, space, and tone.
In the months since President Donald Trump took office, ICE has ramped up its activities, sending agents to snatch parents from their children and children from their schools, enabled under the auspices that removing immigrants will be what makes America great again. Proulx's hat became the story of the day, if not the whole event. It was the main topic of conversation at the lobby bar of the JW Marriott hotel, where each night of SGF is capped off with a mixer. How could someone choose to reference such a statement, even in jest or irony, as the very people that slogan has been used to target are being snatched up mere blocks away?
Saturday was business as usual. Proulx's hat was forgotten as I settled in to work, flitting between wall-to-wall appointments checking out Escape Academy 2, the new Lego Party game, and Deadpool VR with no time to chat or even eat. I didn't check my phone for hours, and every TV was playing a video game. I had no idea what was happening both in Los Angeles and in the White House. But when there was finally a lull, I popped online, where I was greeted with a deluge of messages from people who were watching the news, telling me that something (a nebulous, undefined, but nevertheless urgent something) was happening and that I needed to get back to the safety of my hotel.
Thankfully, my worst fears about martial law declarations and curfews didn't come to pass while I was there, but they did after I was back home. People had taken to the streets of LA in protest of ICE action and began moving through parts of the city, demonstrating and occasionally clashing with the police (and autonomous vehicles). But at that moment, when I was hearing that insurrection acts were going to be invoked and that the National Guard was being mobilized to sweep the city, I became legitimately scared — particularly for attendees who weren't citizens and those with immigrant families.
How could someone choose to reference such a statement, even in jest or irony?
One such colleague, Janet Garcia, wrote an incredible account of what it was like working SGF and being the child of a Mexican immigrant. Her words right now are more important than mine. SGF also coincided with the BET Awards, and honoree Doechii also had a powerful message for the moment.
There had already been several stories of international travelers being detained in the US for weeks, and I was scared that if something was happening, my journalist friends from Canada, the UK, and elsewhere could get caught in the mix. Word began spreading that something (again, what that was, nobody could say, and that uncertainty compounded the fear) was happening, and my friends and I all began to start asking aloud: do we need to leave? Some said yes, and I was ready to do just that, but something stopped me.
I will never be able to adequately express how weird my job is in situations like this. It's really hard to write about the colorful pixels on a TV when it feels like the world is seconds away from catching fire. And yet I do it every day. Right when I was about to make the decision to leave early, a Capcom PR rep tapped me on the shoulder. I was late to my Resident Evil Requiem appointment. And I went, because in that scary moment I still thought, 'I have a job to do.'
I did my best with Requiem, plodding along the abandoned hospital, being suitably impressed by how the sound of Grace's footsteps changed when she walked on the wooden floor vs. the floor covered in bits of broken drywall. But my phone kept buzzing with notifications throughout it all. Midway through the demo, my stress was so high from the ambient spookiness of the game and all the happenings outside the SGF bubble that I couldn't take it anymore. I made my profuse apologies to my PR contact (who was exceedingly gracious and understanding) and left.
The mood that night at the hotel was less exuberant. It wasn't just everything going on in LA: the mood of the event itself was the lowest I'd ever seen it in the handful of years that SGF has served as E3's smaller, vibe-ier replacement. There were games there, good ones, but nothing big enough to anchor the show. As the industry faces its third straight year of rampant layoffs, cancellations, delays, and studio closures we're finally starting to see the pipeline of blockbuster games dry up. This was a stark contrast to last year when Sega had Metaphor: ReFantanzio and Shadow Generations, Bandai Namco showed off Shadow of the Erdtree, PlayStation was there with Astro Bot, and Xbox had just announced Gears of War: E-Day.
I'm home now. And despite this year's strangeness, I look forward to going back to Summer Game Fest. Because if video games have taught me anything over the years, it's that in the face of overwhelming odds, the best thing one can do is stick together with your friends.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting
SAN DIEGO — Adam Greenfield was home nursing a cold when his girlfriend raced in to tell him Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were pulling up in their trendy San Diego neighborhood. The poet and podcast producer grabbed his iPhone and bolted out the door barefoot, joining a handful of neighbors recording masked agents raiding a popular Italian restaurant nearby, as they yelled at the officers to leave. An hour later, the crowd had grown to nearly 75 people, with many in front of the agents' vehicles.
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
Hunger strikes! Tears! Arrest! It's been a week of ridiculous performances as NYC liberals chase folk-hero status
What's another starving BS artist? Cynthia Nixon's daughter Seph Mozes, who identifies as a man, is going on a hunger strike for Gaza — but really for attention. 'He and five of his compatriots are doing a hunger strike in Chicago … ,' a proud Nixon told Newsweek, adding that her 28-year-old child has no 'illusions that he's going to end the war, but I think he wants to do everything he can.' To earn a merit badge in the art of self-congratulations, apparently. 6 Cynthia Nixon told Newsweek that her child Seph Mozes is now doing a hunger strike for Gaza Instagram/Cynthia Nixon Maybe Nixon's offspring had the misfortune of seeing the actress in bed with Rosie O'Donnell in the third-season premiere of 'And Just Like That.' Such a sight would put anyone off eating. But it's probably more like the famous anti-drug PSA from the '80s: 'I learned it by watching you, Mom.' Shortly after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Nixon — who ran an unsuccessful campaign for New York governor in 2018 — boldly announced she was joining lawmakers, including current nutjob mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, in a five-day fast supporting ceasefire in Gaza. Nixon, however, committed to just two days of the five — a full 48 hours of abstaining from her beloved cinnamon raisin bagels with lox. She knows sacrifice and solidarity. 6 A Trump supporter shouted at marchers during the June 14 'No Kings' march in Manhattan. Aristide Economopoulos It's only fitting that Nixon's most recent proclamation capped off a banner week of performative activism by New York City progressives in search of folk-hero status. One pol was arrested, another cried and there were many self-righteous tweets posted with the presumed expectation that they'll end up in the Smithsonian one day. It all kicked off last Saturday with the No Kings anti-Trump protest, which was a social mixer for Boomer hippies. Did it mean anything? Like its predecessor the pink pussy hat marches, this was a collective tantrum against a duly-elected president. And maybe a guarantee that participants would get in their 10,000 steps for the day. Only days later, City Comptroller and Dem mayoral candidate Brad Lander desperately tried to revive his rotting corpse of a campaign by getting arrested on camera — not the first time. 6 City Comptroller Brad Lander was placed under arrest by ICE agents Tuesday after he obstructed them from an arrestee by refusing to remove his hand from the man's shoulder. Dean Moses/amNewYork 6 Lander's arrest was captured in a series of dramatic photos. via REUTERS In this instance, he pathetically tangled with ICE officers after demanding to see a warrant for someone being detained outside federal immigration court. Clinging to the guy's shoulder, he made a clear provocation to the officers to cuff him. And they made his day. Lander thought it would be a profile in courage. But it produced a series of unbelievable images that made him look like the town drunk being hauled out of his local watering hole for getting handsy with a waitress. In one, his bulging eyes rolled back into his head, he resembles Rodney Dangerfield. No respect! He was sprung by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who seems to only visit New York City for photo ops. Who can forget her riding the subway to tout its safety … on the same day a woman was incinerated by an illegal migrant on an F Train. 6 Kathy Hochul posted this picture of herself and Brad Lander walking after Lander was released without charges. Governor Kathy Hochul / X This time, our Democratic guv marched into the federal building and collected Lander, who was released without charges. She then tweeted a photo of them defiantly walking together, captioned with the state slogan 'Excelsior' — Latin for 'ever upward.' In Hochul-ese, it translates to 'empty political posturing.' After his publicity stunt, Lander was greeted like a conquering hero by lefty loonies including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and absentee Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who posted a photo of himself hugging the candidate and touting his 'courage.' Do these people know that we can't even buy toothpaste in this city without buzzing a worker to unlock it? But hey, they got their photo op. 6 As he was facing questions about his use of the phrase 'Globalize the Intifada,' mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani cried while telling reporters about the Islamophobia he's faced. Bernadette Hogan/NY1 Our pols are severely misguided. They regularly pledge to fight against Trump rather than fighting for everyday New Yorkers to have order and an affordable city. The rotten cherry on top was Mamdani — a political novice but a seasoned performer. He tried to blunt a blossoming new antisemitic scandal, fueled by his use of the phrase 'globalize the intifada' … by pivoting into his own victimhood. 'I get messages that say the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. I get threats on my life,' he said, choking back tears. Even the mere threat of political violence is an abomination, full stop. Just ask Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who had his house burned in an attack police said was driven by antisemitism. Or the families of the young couple killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in DC, allegedly by a man who said, 'I did it for Gaza.' But if Mamdani is going to cry every time he hears or sees some nasty words, perhaps being mayor of New York — which requires a firm hand and a thick hide — is not the job for him. The Big Apple has enough actors and clowns. Let's get some serious adults in here to run things.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lizzo Reacts to Performance of ‘About Damn Time' at President Trump's Military Parade
When Lizzo sang, 'Turn up the music, let's celebrate,' Donald Trump's widely protested military birthday parade was not what she had in mind. After video of a performer singing Lizzo's Billboard Hot 100-topping hit 'About Damn Time' at the event in Washington, D.C., on Saturday (June 14) surfaced online, the hitmaker made her feelings quite clear in a TikTok posted over the weekend. Stitching the clip with a few seconds of footage of the parade singer's breathless live rendition of the self-love anthem — performed in front of a gathering on the National Mall — Lizzo then cuts to a shot of herself staring pointedly at the camera, looking perplexed and disgusted. More from Billboard Tyler, the Creator, Finneas, Kehlani & More React to Los Angeles Protests Against ICE Addison Rae Announces Dates For Debut 2025 Headlining World Tour How Brandon Lake Is Leading A Whole New Flock To 'What's Real And What's True' In Christian Music 'cease & desist,' she wrote in the caption. It's unclear which performer is singing 'About Damn Time' in the video Lizzo shared, but according to USA Today, the parade stage's lineup included DJ Nyla Symone, Lee Greenwood, Scotty Hasting, Noah Hicks and Warren Zeiders. The choice to cover the Grammy-winning hit at Trump's procession was certainly an interesting one, though, as Lizzo — who endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election — has made her disapproval of the twice-impeached POTUS very clear over the years. She's not the only one. While Trump was celebrating the U.S. Army's 250th birthday — as well as his own 79th birthday, which was also Saturday — through a grand show of military might in D.C., a slew of 'No Kings' gatherings broke out across the country in protest of his administration. Those overlapped with the ongoing protests in Los Angeles against the country's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which recently launched raids into multiple workplaces across the city in the name of alleged immigration violations. Lizzo also posted several times about the ICE raids on Bluesky a few days prior to her TikTok about the military parade. 'The irony of an ice agent forcing a Mexican person off of their ancestral land when that agent's ancestors are European immigrants is just…,' she wrote in one post, adding in another: 'And still … there are people who voted for this who are going to sleep with a smile on their faces pleased as pie … It's a wild world y'all.' See Lizzo's TikTok below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
