Running an event as big as Summer Game Fest doesn’t come cheap but it seems owner and producer Geoff Keighley really coins it by hosting these shows. According to an interview with Esquire, in order to have your game shown off during the Summer Game Fest show, you need to fork out at least $250,000 (R4.8 million) for only a minute of screen time.
It gets even more expensive than that. If you have a game trailer that is longer than a minute, it will cost you $350,000 for a minute and a half, $450,000 for two minutes and $550,000 for two and a half minutes. This means a publisher can pay up to R10.5 million to debut gameplay or content during the Summer Game Fest.
For a gaming event, this is a lot of money to ask for. However, it isn’t the most expensive ad slots in the world. The Super Bowl still holds that crown by charging as little as $7 million for 30 seconds of ad time during the sporting event.
Esquire confirmed that these Summer Game Fest prices are in line with The Game Awards Show which takes place in December. So during the event when Sony showcased God of War Ragnarok Valhalla for the first time, the 1:42 second trailer cost the company $450,000. This was paid to announce a free DLC for God of War Ragnarok. A pretty bold investment for the game.
But it seems only large publishers are locked into paying these crazy prices for screen time. Smaller indie developers and non-AAA games, on the other hand, can hope to nab up a “free slot”. Once the show’s running order has been arranged, the in-between slots are then offered to smaller studios and indie devs.
I am not sure who determines what gets shown but given Keighley’s buddy-buddy relationship in the gaming industry, he likely reaches out to “friends” before the rest. Kotaku claims Keighley offers free airtime to certain indie devs who pitch games to the showrunner prior to the event.
With prices like these, it makes sense why June is covered with so many smaller game events. We have the Summer Game Fest but also the Xbox Showcase, Ubisoft Forward and many more. Most publishers choose to host their own events to try to cut back on costs. Imagine Ubisoft hosting all of its five (could be five I don’t know” announcements during Summer Game Fest. It would cost a small fortune.
Summer Game Fest kicks off this weekend. Catch up on the full schedule for all the gaming events taking place in the coming days using our handy guide here.
