Gaming's most famous faces tend to be animated characters, like Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, but you could make a case that Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley is making his way up the ranks. You could also make the case that he's some sort of gaming robot, given how long the guy can keep hosting an event. Like, does he even sleep?
So it comes as some surprise the E3 decided it didn't want Geoff Keighley adding his own spin on the various presentations that will take place this weekend. However, that's exactly what E3 said when it handed Keighley his rejection to co-stream during the all-digital event.
"The exclusive E3 co-streaming program had limited availability and co-streaming spots were quickly filled," wrote the ESA in its rejection letter, which Keighley shared on Twitter today. "We hope to continue the program next year with larger availability, and encourage you to reapply next year for the opportunity to take part."
This certainly comes as a sleight to Keighley, who asked in a follow-up tweet if "anyone else get this email or just me?"
But perhaps this isn't too surprising after Keighley's falling out with the ESA last year. Keighley publicly announced that he was going to skip E3 2020 after the ESA said they wanted a more "festival" approach with more fans and influencers and fewer industry pundits. Then the COVID pandemic happened, E3 2020 didn't, and instead, Keighley started Summer Game Fest.
However, as noted by Keighley, the Xbox/Bethesda joint presentation will allow co-streamers regardless of what the ESA says, so maybe we'll see Keighley throw a few Starfield hot takes during that showcase.
E3 begins today at 3 PM EST (12 PM PST) with Ubisoft Forward and runs until Tuesday’s award ceremony. Grab all the details in our E3 Mega Guide below.
UPDATE 6/24/2021: The ESA issues the following statement in response:
We welcome anyone who would like to co-stream the event to do so, it just wouldn't be in an "official" capacity.
E3's goal with official co-streaming is to embrace the creator community, and since this is the first time we have ever done official co-streaming with creators, we decided on a small select group this year to monitor the opportunity and see how we can apply it to future E3s.
Out of all the applicants, less than 100 creators/brands were selected for official co-streaming, which consisted of our official distribution service and media partners as well as a diverse group of influencers and creators who consistently create video game content across YouTube, Twitch and/or Facebook.
Again, we welcome everyone who’s interested to co-stream, we're just reminding them to recognize the terms of service for each platform.