We're back from Summer Game Fest, and have regrouped to gather once for another live show. Showcases, video games and terrible margins - we're going to cover it all in the DayOne Show Episode 318!
This week has of course been all about the big summer showcases. While Sony's State of Play broadcast sort of kicked us off, it was Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest live show that began an entire weekend of video gaming goodness. The SGF 2026 broadcast featured some serious fan-favourite heavy hitters like Resident Evil Veronica and the final part of the Final Fantasy Trilogy. The general consensus is that it was undoubtedly the best show Geoff has ever put on for the event.
Xbox followed up with a fantastic showcase, bringing us fresh looks at Fable, Gears of War: E-DAY and Halo Campaign Evolved, while also surprising fans with announcements like 'Hellblade 3', which is just called Senua, the return of Sega's Crazy Taxi and more. It also brought about the return of Xbox Console Exclusives to the joy of many fans in the audience, along with a nostalgic Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Xbox Series X in that gorgeous throwback translucent green. If you were in the audience of Fanfest that day, you got one for free. Pretty cool, Xbox - pretty cool.
Nintendo closed things off with a surprise Direct, which despite feeling sort of bland, contained a ton of really great announcements - including of course the one thing we were all waiting for - a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Despite the onslaught of gaming news, the majority of the team were actually on site for Summer Game Fest itself, and that means a couple of things. One, for our wonderful DayOne Members, we have an exclusive 45 minute video blog of our trip. If you have a current membership, you can watch it right now over here. It also means lots and lots of wonderful previews, which you can catch up on here. We've already got videos and write-ups for things like Minecraft Dungeons 2, Crimson Moon, Turok: Origins, Stuntman: Hollywood, Stranger Than Heaven, Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, with even more to come this week. Phew!
In video game industry news, it is once again Xbox making all the noise - or rather, reports and speculation of the future of the platform that's generating the most conversation. Following a great show, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty published an internal memo to Xbox Wire (as it was going to leak anyway) that talked openly about resetting the business, including the reveal that Xbox as an organisation was only achieving a mere 3% accountability margin. Oof.
Further external reports suggest Xbox are planning a major investment into key franchises like Fallout and Elder Scrolls, and even some suggestions that Microsoft are considering spinning Xbox off as it's own entity, in the same way that Linkedin and Github operate. We discuss all these goings on, including trying to understand just why the industry seems to get so "confused" at normal, video game company stuff.
As always, DayOne is only made possible by the people that watch and listen to our work, so big thank you to everyone that supports us directly. Want to get involved? Consider becoming a member - just head to playday.one/memberships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmnPk3-lQUHalo Campaign Evolved | The Final Preview | DayOneLots of News too!
USA