When Koch Media announced that it will be holding a Summer Game Fest livestream next week, all sorts of possibilities presented themselves. Maybe some word on Dead Island 2, which we've been waiting on for years with nothing to hold our attention but repeated assurances that it's still happening? Or perhaps a look at the next Saints Row? Timesplitters? A longer shot, sure, but given the very recent timing of the announcement, not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
Alas, it seems that none of that is going to happen. In a tweet posted earlier today, Deep Silver dialed expectations way down.
Our parent company @KochMedia_HQ is making an announcement as part of #SummerGamesFest on June 11th. To give you a head’s up, you won’t see Dead Island, Saints Row, Metro or TimeSplitters there (or at any other E3 2021 event). We’ll let you know when we have news to share.June 4, 2021
"Our parent company @KochMedia_HQ is making an announcement as part of #SummerGamesFest on June 11th," it wrote. "To give you a head’s up, you won’t see Dead Island, Saints Row, Metro or TimeSplitters there (or at any other E3 2021 event). We’ll let you know when we have news to share."
(Metro was my personal faint hope for the show, so consider me personally disappointed.)
That still leaves Payday 3, which Koch is publishing, but there may not be too much to see from that just yet—the last time we checked, it wasn't slated to be out until sometime in 2023. New games from Koch-owned developer Flying Wild Hog, Shadow Warrior 3 and Evil West, are also possibilities, and as a complete shot in the dark maybe we'll hear about something new from Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse Studios.
Koch still has plenty of arrows in its quiver, just not necessarily the ones we were most hoping to have shot at us. Still, it's probably a smart move to get this out there now: It's far better to keep expectations low and drop a few surprises than to come in with a full head of hype and nothing to deliver.
