Video Game Industry Showcase Presentations and the Construction of Perpetual Anticipation

Moving from closed-door keynotes at trade shows to livestreamed spectacles with an audience of millions, video game showcase presentations like Summer Game Fest have become an important venue not just for advertising new products but also for discursively producing the game industry and game audiences. Composed of video trailers and contextualizing interstitial material, these presentations feature the largest publishers and smallest developers attempting to engage a discerning game consumer. While their structure and style have changed as video games have developed into an autonomous cultural sphere buoyed by internet distribution and livestreaming, they continue to underpin a consumerist ideology of perpetual anticipation: the notion that participating in the gaming community rests on knowing about and continually waiting for the newest releases.