Summer Game Fest 2024: Predictions, Leaks, and Rumors

While Summer Game Fest hasn’t been able to replace the E3-sized hole in our hearts quite yet, it has certainly become the biggest gaming event of the season. That also means that it is subject to the same series of leaks, rumors, and popular predictions that precede such events.

Truth be told, those going into this even expecting a monumental showcase of the biggest upcoming games will likely walk away from SGF at least slightly disappointed. Still, here are some of the more notable rumblings about the event you should know about.

Don’t Expect Many Major New Game Announcements

To get the bad news out of the way, Summer Game Fest organizer Geoff Keighley has already made it clear that you shouldn’t expect too many major new announcements at SGF. There will be some reveals, but the show will largely focus on “existing games that have new updates for fans.” As it turns out, an industry currently defined by mass layoffs, ballooning production costs, and a growing obsession with the “infinite game” doesn’t have many new releases to show at this time. Nobody could have seen this coming. 

Regardless, you shouldn’t expect to see games like GTA 6, Kingdom Hearts 4, or the Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake during the showcase. For that matter, you shouldn’t expect to see the major reveals of games that we only suspect are coming eventually. The rest of our predictions, leaks, and rumors will be based on those lowered expectations. The exception is the upcoming Xbox Showcase, which seems to be more of its own thing in terms of Keighley’s statements. 

Gears of War 6 Gets a Big Reveal

Speaking of Xbox…

At this time, Gears of War 6 is expected to be one of the biggest potential reveals of the weekend. Developer The Coalition has reportedly been hard at work on this sequel for quite some time and would love to show something from the game sooner rather than later. If we don’t see Gears of Wars 6 at their upcoming showcase…well, that might be bad news for the state of this poorly kept secret. 

We know very little about the project other than what those reports have vaguely hinted at, but rumors suggest the next Gears of War could be an open-world game. Reactions to that rumor have been largely negative, though it’s way too soon to start jumping to conclusions.

Alan Wake 2‘s Night Springs DLC Gets a Release Date

Remedy has been not-so-subtly hinting that they will reveal Alan Wake 2’s DLC (Night Springs) during Summer Game Fest. It’s as close as we can get to a guarantee at this kind of show without the studio simply revealing a game ahead of time.

The only question is whether or not Alan Wake 2’s DLC will help revive interest in the game. I, and many others, called Alan Wake 2 one of 2023’s greatest games, but its widespread critical success reportedly didn’t translate to the kinds of sales the game deserved. Here’s hoping for a better tomorrow.

Starfield’s Shattered Space DLC Is Revealed

We know Starfield is getting a DLC expansion called Shattered Space, and we know that Bethesda has been talking about that DLC quite a bit for a company that likes to keep things under wraps for as long as possible. Even if that DLC’s release isn’t as imminent as some claim, it’s likely the upcoming Xbox Showcase will at least feature a gameplay preview of the expansion. 

There are theories about what Starfield‘s first DLC will focus on, but the biggest hope is that the expansion will incorporate a number of widespread improvements to the base game. Bethesda certainly has a history of using such DLC releases to improve the general quality of their massive (and often buggy) base RPGs. Hopefully, it will soon be safe to lose yourself in Starfield again (or for the first time). 

LEGO Horizon Adventures Is Announced

Reports have suggested that LEGO and PlayStation are teaming up to produce LEGO Horizon Adventures: essentially a LEGO version of a Horizon game. Some recent reports previously claimed that game could be revealed as soon as the latest State of Play presentation. That obviously didn’t happen, but with Sony rumored to be bringing something to Summer Game Fest, this seems like a safe bet for what that something could be. 

We don’t know much about the game itself, but most reports agree that it will likely be a classic Horizon-style open-world game in LEGO form. The prospect of an open-world LEGO game backed by the Horizon world is certainly interesting. 

Borderlands 4 Is Finally Announced

We know that 2K Games will be at Summer Game Fest, and SGF has already teased they will showcase “the next iteration in one of 2K’s biggest and most beloved franchises.” It won’t be GTA 6, and it’s likely not 2K’s rumored soccer game since that isn’t an existing franchise. So, we’ve got to look elsewhere. 

At the moment, a new Borderlands game seems like the safest bet. We know Borderlands 4 is in development, and we can assume that 2K would love to showcase a new Borderlands game before the release of the upcoming Borderlands movie. We may only get a teaser, but we expect to see more Borderlands sooner rather than later. 

Final Fantasy 16 Is Ported to Xbox

This one might be a long shot, but Square Enix has made it clear they are interested in bringing more of their games to more platforms. It’s also been recently reported that Final Fantasy 16 is one of those games they’re looking to port (not to mention that there has been a series of Final Fantasy 16 port rumors dating back to before the release of the game). 

While this week may be a bit too early to expect anything formal, it does seem like Final Fantasy 16 is coming to Xbox at some point. If so, it would continue the increasingly popular trend of former major exclusives eventually receiving a multiplatform release. 

More Activision Blizzard Games Come to Xbox Game Pass

This is another shot in the dark, but the recent confirmation that Black Ops 6 will be a day one Game Pass title seemingly also confirms that the ink is finally dry on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition and that major consumer-facing moves are finally starting to happen. While Black Ops 6 and Diablo 4 are the biggest recent Activision Blizzard titles to leap to Game Pass so far, it seems likely that more of the company’s games are coming to Game Pass in the near future. 

Specifically, I think that Game Pass will soon get an influx of titles from the Activision Blizzard back catalog. We may not see many Blizzard titles from that bunch given the PC gaming nature of many of those legacy games, but Activision is a different story. Everything from legacy Call of Duty games to Crash Bandicoot ports have been offered up as Game Pass possibilities. 

Doom: The Dark Ages Gets A Teaser Trailer

You’re not alone if you’ve been wondering why it’s been so long since we’ve gotten another Doom game. Well, some reliable reports suggest that the next Doom game is called Doom: The Dark Ages and will be set in a medieval-style universe in which Doomguy can wreak absolute havoc. It’s not entirely clear if this game will feature a time-traveling narrative or if it will simply feature a world of that style. However, it seems likely the game will play closer to Doom Eternal than Doom 2016.

What seems a little more obvious is that the next Doom game will likely be featured in some fashion at the upcoming Xbox Showcase. It may be a bit too early into the game’s development cycle to expect much from that announcement (if there is an announcement at all), but at a time when Xbox may have to go radio silent on their biggest upcoming titles due to various development problems, a Doom teaser could carry a lot of weight. 

Xbox Series X Slim and An Xbox Handheld

Those massive Xbox leaks that dropped last year as part of the company’s FTC filings suggested that the company is working on an incremental upgrade to the Xbox Series X. The filings refer to that console as the “Brooklin,” though it is popularly referred to as the Xbox Series X Slim. It reportedly won’t greatly enhance the performance of the Xbox Series X, but it will be all-digital, slightly smaller, and generally more efficient. If that console is real, there’s a good chance we’ll hear about it during the company’s upcoming presentation.

The Xbox handheld report is a bit more interesting and significantly less likely. Basically, Phil Spencer and other Xbox representatives have been talking about how much they’d love to see an Xbox handheld. Now, some leakers are claiming we will see that handheld hardware at the Xbox showcase. Realistically, it’s unlikely that Xbox has managed to assemble such a potentially major piece of hardware so quickly without anyone catching serious wind of it. However, the possibility is out there.