Participating in the Summer Game Fest presentation is expensive for gaming companies. Esquire magazine, citing sources, revealed how much developers pay to show trailers as part of the main show.
The cost of showing a trailer depends on its length. According to Esquire, the current price ranges are as follows:
- one minute — $250,000;
- one and a half minutes — $350,000;
- two minutes — $450,000;
- two and a half minutes — $550,000.
Esquire was unable to determine how much the organizers of Summer Game Fest charge for shorter trailers and developer stage appearances. However, even without this information, journalists calculated that last year's presentation could have earned $9.65 million from trailer demonstrations. Additionally, Summer Game Fest makes money from ticket sales and advertisements.
The Kotaku editorial team, which reviewed documents related to Summer Game Fest, confirmed Esquire's information. They added that some trailers are shown for free. The event organizers allocate special slots for major announcements from large companies like Microsoft or Sony. Occasionally, some of these free slots are also given to trailers from indie studios.