Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest is almost upon us, and the big show will air later today, Friday 7th June. As usual, gamers can expect to see a cavalcade of game trailers, announcements, and all the raucous excitement of an industry live show, such as the time that one kid managed to get on stage with FromSoftware. As the de-facto replacement for E3, Keighley's show is now big business and a new report has outlined what kind of prices prospective developers have to fork out for ad time on the main stage.
The piece from Esquire entitled "Is Summer Game Fest the Best Thing to Happen to Gaming - or the Worst?" was just published, and it provides all kinds of juicy information about the event, according to "multiple marketing professionals". The report alleges the going price for Keighley to show a trailer at SGF will run you: "$250,000 for 1 minute, $350,000 for 1.5 minutes, $450,000 for 2 minutes, and $550,000 for 2.5 minutes. If you add up all of the 1-to-2.5-minute trailers aired during last year's Summer Game Fest, those price levels could translate into $9.65 million." Esquire understands that this year's pricing scheme aligns with last year's ad time request for The Game Awards.
While that might seem like a lot of money to many consumers, what's quite interesting is that Esquire spoke to PR pros during its reporting. They said that "these trailer premieres are worth the spend" but noted that "the current pricing tiers make Summer Game Fest an unattainable goal for most indie developers and publishers".
Kotaku did some additional digging and found that not every trailer comes at a cost. Big reveals from companies like Sony are apparently played for free, and a select number of "free slots" are reserved for "earned editorial placements" and are provided to smaller non-AAA games and studios.
Are you surprised by the price Keighley commands for time on the SGF main stage? Or is all the attention worth the price of admission? Do you think Kojima gets mates' rates, or does he have a golden ticket? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source esquire.com]
Comments 24
It’s sort of great that there is an allotment for some games that couldn’t afford to do that spend either just because Geoff wants to advertise the game. I’m sure Kojima probably gets in for free too.
Geoff’s events, in the post-E3 era, are the most watched gaming events now, so the spend absolutely makes sense. It’s honestly more affordable than I would have thought, given the scope of the event and the costs associated with the industry these days. I know people will jump to bagging on this, but that’s not a ludicrous marketing spend for companies of this size to advertise their product in a largely positive space for what they’ll present.
Well that gives us a new game to play during the show - "Did they actually pay to show that?!" I hope Push Square will get involved 😁
I guess Geoff needs to afford those absurd shoes he always wears somehow.
For the love of the game.
Food $200
Data $150
Rent $800
Geoff Keighley $250000
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
@nessisonett Spend less on Geoff Keighley
@TechaNinja no
I mean I don't know I'd this isca good price. As long as summer game show don't start thinking they are bigger than gaming like e3 did, things should be fine for every one involved.
E3 cost a lot more way more than this and that used to be just for those days in these internet days that's money well spent cuz Geoffs shows are online forever
Does Geoff himself also have to pay his company for advertising Geoff Keighley?
For commercials that's normal pricing. But that's the problem. This is just commercials and nothing more. Not a presentation, just commercials. Paid for commercials.
@somnambulance "Geoff’s events, in the post-E3 era, are the most watched gaming events now"
I suddenly feel the need to mod my PS5 to deliver full voltage through my controller.
Is this for the commercials or the game announcements, though? That's what confuses me. Because obviously it's all advertising, but Keighley does do this thing where the show will transition into advertisement breaks, which aren't really "part" of the show.
I assume the "announcements" are free; this is about the adverts.
@get2sammyb this to me makes more sense, as for the games, the bigger developers can just have their own shows/reveals and the smaller ones likely couldn't afford it anyway
I don't even need Hundred Thousand Dollar expense of games trailer that I will never like any games announced.
Those gargantuan money expenses just really NOTHING for me.
AAA games they said awesome.
Please.... 🙄
I just browse the upcoming kids games from play-asia for the best result.
Easy, faster and will be always kids games orientation.
Holy Doritos!
You can buy a lotttttttt of Doritos and Mountain Dew with $250K-550K bones lmao
Jokes aside. If SGF are these expensives then how much publisher must pay to show their trailer at TGA, could be pass $1 million?!
These cost are definitely not friendly for small / indie devs. I'm not even surprised if they prefer to ask Sony / MS / Nintendo / Devolver Digital over Geoff SGF or TGA.
Christ Alive. I doubt it would have even cost that much to have a stand at E3, absurd costs for something that's digital.
"Please wrap it up, we don't get paid for speeches."
Summer Money Heist
A celebration of gaming, 250k minute by minute.
Nah, glad that Geoff still keeps some of the fun in the industry going, since Sony and Microsoft (and others) clearly forgot how to create buzz around games. Get the psblog writers typing!
@nessisonett Getting back every single dollar after the show Priceless. SGF is E3's replacement after the death of that expo. Also, we still have legacy events like Gamescom, PAX, and Tokyo Game Show going strong and they are doing so much better than E3
There's always plenty of complaints about Keighley, but if others think they can put on better shows, well, go for it I guess? He's basically the only one who is doing this stuff nowadays. We certainly can't count on the likes of ESA or Reedpop.
If it wasn't for him, the things we would be left with are publisher-specific showcases, but they don't create that singular, festival-like atmosphere that a big event does. He's not perfect but I'm glad he keeps doing what he's doing.
Those prices sound reasonable, about what I expected, had I ever thought about it xD
Doesn’t sound that crazy.
Seems like sensible business all around.
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