The Mixed Bag That Is The Game Awards
Attending the Game Awards for the first time was an unforgettable experience. I was excited to celebrate an amazing year in video games, but the event seemed more interested in showing off the future.
This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the Game Awards in Los Angeles, a three hour livestreamed event that celebrates “the best in video games.” On one hand, it was an epic experience. Throughout the night I asked myself so many questions like: am I really within thirty feet of Matthew McConaughey right now? Did Arkane Studios just announce a Blade video game? Did Jordan Peele just walk on stage to talk about collaborating with Hideo Kojima? And I’m here to witness it? Clearly, there is a lot to be excited about in the future of gaming. But what I was most excited about leading up to the event, was to celebrate the incredible year 2023 has been, and it didn’t seem like the Game Awards were too interested in that.
The show focused a lot on announcements rather than the actual awards. Recipients were given rather short windows of time to deliver their speeches. The award show’s creator Geoff Keighley even addressed this online the day after, posting: “I do agree that the music was played too fast for award winners this year, and I asked our team to relax that rule as the show went on. While no one was actually cut off, it’s something to address going forward.”
Many exciting categories didn’t get the chance to make an appearance on stage amidst the world premieres, celebrity appearances, and musical performances. Categories I was looking forward to, like Best RPG, Best Action, Best Fighting, Best Art Direction, Best Sim/Strategy, and the category I was looking forward to the most: Best Independent Game, were all rattled off unceremoniously between other announcements. It would have been exciting for Sabotage Studio, the independent team behind Sea of Stars, to have the chance to get on stage, even if they were rushed off after twenty seconds.
Strangely, this mixed bag of an award show fits well with what has been a mixed bag of a year. The games released in 2023 have been nothing short of incredible, and I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to catch up on the backlog. But, there have also been thousands of layoffs in the video game industry this year, which led to people holding signs outside the Game Awards venue calling for a game developers union. The Game Awards missed an opportunity to give game developers some much needed recognition.
While there are certainly issues that need addressing, that’s not to say there weren’t parts of the show that I was a fan of. Even if Sabotage Studio didn’t get the chance to go on stage, it’s still fantastic to see them win Best Independent Game for Sea of Stars. Plenty of other great games earned some recognition as well, like Tchia from developer Awaceb winning the Games for Impact category and Cocoon from Geometric Interactive winning Best Debut Indie. It was also wonderful to see games like Pikmin 4 and Hi-Fi Rush each walk away with an award.
There were plenty of genuinely exciting announcements. Other than the biggest ones like Blade, OD, and a rogue-like God of War DLC, there were some smaller projects like Windblown from developers Motion Twin (Dead Cells) that has utterly charming character designs and fast-paced co-op action gameplay that I can’t wait to get my hands on. Then, in one of the most unexpected, but welcome, collaborations, two of the year's best fishing games are coming together to bring the horrific creatures from indie nominee Dredge to Dave the Diver. Moon Studios (Ori & the Will of the Wisps) also announced they are creating an isometric action RPG called No Rest for the Wicked that, between its visuals and dark tone, looks to be promising. There is definitely a lot to look forward to.
For years, TGA has always skewed towards exciting announcements over the awards and winners themselves. This approach has brought in hundreds of thousands of viewers and generates buzz and hype for days to come. However, like I said, it does detract from the awards themselves. For more of an emphasis on the achievements of the year, there are other award shows to look forward to, such as the D.I.C.E. Awards in February and the Game Developers Choice Awards in March that may put more focus on the people behind this year’s best video games.
The Game Awards is an ever-evolving event. The speeches were kept so short this year in part because of Christopher Judge’s near eight-minute acceptance speech last year. Thankfully, as mentioned above, Geoff Keighley seems to be somewhat aware of how to improve next year’s show. If enough people share their feedback, hopefully it will reach the right ears and the 2024 Game Awards will leave at least a few more minutes for the people who make the games we are celebrating.
Our congratulations go to the incredible teams behind every nominee and winner this year, as well as the hard-working teams that will be pushing to deliver all of those exciting announcements in the future. And thanks to the Game Awards for giving me the opportunity to take part in this event, celebrate the awards that were given out, and get a look at what’s next for gaming. It will be exciting to see how this event evolves in the future.
