The Triple-i Initiative stream returns in April, featuring Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

The Triple-i Initiative, a video game showcase organized by Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse developer Evil Empire, will return for its third year on April 9. This year’s 45-minute stream will feature eight “world premieres,” and include trailers for games like Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, Windrose, Dead as Disco, and more.

Ahead of today’s announcement, Polygon spoke to Evil Empire marketing director Bérenger Dupré and head of business Benjamin Laulan about crafting a video game live event, what goes into curating world premieres, and whether we can expect to see Castlevania at this year’s show. While viewers might just see a collection of game trailers, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure a show like this flows just right.

The Triple-i Initiative’s origin story dates back to the 2022 Game Awards. Evil Empire was a big part of that event, as its Return to Castlevania DLC for Dead Cells was the very first reveal of the preshow. The studio knew that their game was going to be featured at the event, but they had no idea when it was slotted for. (“The champagne was not ready! And the store page was barely ready!” Dupré told Polygon.)

Dupré and Laulan always had a fondness for events like E3, but The Game Awards moment gave them the bug. They started toying around with the idea of making a showcase of their own where Evil Empire could be the star. There was a need for that by 2024, because the studio was getting ready to reveal its game The Rogue Prince of Persia but there was no established showcase that lined up with their reveal timeline. They decided to create their own moment instead, putting together an indie-focused showcase with a clear mission statement: “No hosts. No ads. Just games.”

Pulling that off would require a lot of work. For one, Evil Empire would need to get enough developers on board to make the event feel like a big deal. At the same time, it couldn’t have too many. The event is meant to emulate a Nintendo Direct more than The Game Awards, which means keeping things tight while still packing it full of reveals.

“It’s a really fine line that we’re walking on because we have different parameters to respect,” Laulan said. “We only have around 40 slots available, because if you want to stay true to your formula, there are 45 minutes. We receive more than 300 submissions, so it’s a lot of hard decisions to make.”

The commitment to tight curation made the 2024 debut show impressive in retrospect. The surprise reveal of Slay the Spire 2 was its most newsworthy moment, but the show also featured Mouse: P.I. for Hire, Brotato, Cat Quest 3, and more. Last year’s edition followed that up with the reveal of Rematch, a trailer for The Alters, and games like CloverPit that would go on to become cult hits in 2025. But landing all those games is only half the battle. Laulan, who said that Evil Empire gives developers feedback on their trailers, stressed that the trailers themselves need to be as memorable as the games they’re revealing.

“The first cut that we receive from the trailers is really important,” Laulan said. “This is where I give my first round of feedback. If it’s the big comeback of an IP, usually I say, don’t rush things. Take your time. It’s a live show, and you’re here to emotionally connect with your viewers. We all have memories from big conferences. If you can leave that memory with your future players, it makes the showcase memorable itself.”

Cutting a trailer just right is ultimately on each developer, but Laulan knows that Evil Empire shoulders a lot of the responsibility for how those trailers ultimately land come show time. He stressed the importance of good pacing during a livestream, something that’s a bit easier to achieve in a focused event rather than something as long and sprawling as The Game Awards or Summer Games Fest.

“You wouldn’t believe how much time we spend on the order,” Laulan said. “We have to open with a banger and close with a banger, but that’s not just it. There needs to be strong moments, build-ups that lead to something. The game you see before needs to make sense somehow with the game after.”

The way a showcase is pieced together can be crucial. That’s a lesson we learned at last year’s Game Awards when the show ended with the now-infamous reveal for Highguard. Expectations for the grand finale were sky-high at the show, with unrealistic rumors like Half-Life 3 floating around in the lead-up to the event. Highguard didn’t exactly match that hype, starting the game on a weird foot with viewers just over a month until its eventual launch this January. Laulan and Dupré agreed that it’s on Evil Empire to set realistic expectations for its shows to avoid disappointment. Putting trailers in the right place can help.

“You have to make sure that the audience you’re bringing will resonate with the rest of the lineup,” Dupré said. “If you’re coming with 11 roguelikes, and your big world premiere is a soccer game, the soccer game might be disappointed with the reaction of the audience.”

That attention to detail is paying off for developers, Evil Empire said. 16 games shown in last year’s showcase ended up in Steam’s Top Trending list, and eight games racked up over 80,000 Steam wishlists in the week following the show. Together, all the games averaged to 46,000 wishlists. Those are some tangible results for the games involved.

So, what’s in store for 2026’s showcase? It’s a bit of a mystery. We know that we’ll get a new look at Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, which was recently revealed during a PlayStation State of Play stream. New Risk of Rain 2 news is coming, and we’re getting a fresh look at Dead as Disco, which recently was featured on our list of the best games we played at GDC. Devolver Digital will stop by to show something, as will Klei Entertainment (which just released Rotwood) and TinyBuild. More partners will be revealed before the event, but don’t get your expectations too high.

“Still no launch date for Silksong,” Dupré joked.

“Still no Half-Life 3 reveal,” Laulan added.