Summer Game Fest 2026 is over, so it’s time to rank the showcase waiting room music

The one thing every big Summer Game Fest showcase had in common this year was a pre-show countdown with some kind of countdown music on loop for about 30 minutes. We’ve all heard most of it before. Sony’s rolled out the same garish State of Play music for at least a year or longer at this point. But these kinds of showcases rarely happen so close together, so the only logical thing to do with these thoughts about pre-show music is to rank each one, from worst to best.