When The Game Awards was first established in 2014, it virtually felt like an act of counter-culture. Despite the truth that video games have been beginning to mature and push narrative boundaries on the time, the medium nonetheless struggled to be taken severely at a mainstream stage. The thought of video games getting a glitzy awards present virtually felt like an act of rebel — one thing that was cemented by Joseph Fares’ iconic Oscars diss on the present’s 2017 ceremony.
?? THE GAME AWARDS: 2022 Nomination Announcement with Geoff Keighley ??
The panorama is way completely different in 2022. Video video games at the moment are broadly accepted as a severe artwork kind, with Hollywood even embracing them with a wave of movie and TV variations. The Game Awards is not a counter-culture present demanding respect for an undervalued medium; it’s now the very establishment that it as soon as stood in distinction to. With that progress has come added duty, as gaming followers seemed to the present to correctly symbolize the business. The extra the platform scales up, the extra it’s sure to be positioned underneath scrutiny.
Game Awards host and govt producer Geoff Keighley didn’t take that duty frivolously heading into the present’s ninth yr. When I spoke to him forward of 2022’s ceremony, we mentioned each the optimistic suggestions and criticism the present has obtained over its previous couple of years. Though the occasion has settled into its pure rhythm, Keighley is treating it much less like an unmovable routine and extra like an ongoing sport that’s prepared to pay attention and evolve.
Balancing act
For Keighley, the elevated dissection of The Game Awards through the years comes as no shock. “The root of it is that people care about this show a lot. It represents their passion point, their hobby. We’re hyper conscious of that,” he tells Digital Trends.
Creating a present that honors that zeal isn’t any small job. Fans have a wholly completely different imaginative and prescient of what The Game Awards ought to be and are fast to debate that yearly, from the nomination divulge to showtime. One of the ceremony’s most dissected points as of late is its steadiness between precise awards and “world premieres.” The previous couple of years particularly have gone heavy on trailers for brand spanking new video games, which has been a serious viewership draw.
I dwell in worry usually that we’re not going to have sufficient for folks.
That’s additionally been a sore level for some who really feel the present is changing into extra of a advertising platform than a celebration of artistry. Keighley is conscious of these conversations, however feels the balancing act between the 2 is in the end what makes the present particular.
“We’ve done surveys online, and the vast majority of fans are definitely tuning in to see the announcements and premieres,” Keighley says. “But we also know our show is called The Game Awards and it’s a really important thing for the industry. I think that’s a healthy tension that creates a good show; it’s not one thing or the other. It’s a battle we face every year. We’re never going to satisfy everyone, and this audience is very opinionated about what they want to see in the show. They comment on the quality of the advertisements, or are there advertisements. We have a very high bar we have to hit.”
That excessive bar extends to what’s really proven in the course of the broadcast. Expectations for Keighley-produced livestreams have ballooned prior to now two years as sport corporations have been extra prepared to belief reveals like The Game Awards with their greatest reveals. That at all times has an opportunity of backfiring although, as occasions like this yr’s Summer Games Fest kickoff stream left some gamers underwhelmed by a scarcity of Elden Ring-caliber premiere. The workforce behind the present has tried to set expectations accordingly this yr, however there’s solely a lot they will do.
“Even when we say nothing, people will create expectations of things that will be there,” Keighley says. “We know we’re only as good as the content that’s given to us by the game companies. Half of our show is made by them … Oftentimes there are games where we want to show something, but they’re not ready and there are lots of changes … We have great stuff. We’re pretty confident in our lineup. To each his or her own in terms of what you expect out of the show. I live in fear often that we’re not going to have enough for people.”
There’s a further problem that makes The Game Awards’ job even tougher: Big reveals have a means of leaking beforehand. This yr, each the grand finale of the Keighley-hosted Summer Games Fest and Gamescom Opening Night Live (The Last of Us Part 1 and Dead Island 2) have been spoiled beforehand attributable to listings popping up earlier than the present. That’s one space that Keighley and firm merely can’t clear up on their very own.
“It’s unfortunate that these things happen, and oftentimes there are just so many partners and things involved in these games,” Keighley says. “We’ve never had a leak from our show team over all these years. I was talking to one team last week who’s announcing their game at the show who are like, ‘We have a spreadsheet of 143 things we have to do after the game gets announced. Turning on social accounts, posts, blogs, web lists.’ I’d never sit here and tell you that things are going to be perfect!”
Ongoing present
Keighley can’t management followers’ expectations or leaks, however he can management how the present itself evolves with the occasions. Sometimes, that manifests in little methods. This yr’s present is including a brand new class within the type of Best Adaptation, which can honor TV reveals and flicks primarily based on video video games. For Keighley, that willingness to learn the wind provides The Game Awards a greater shot at remaining related, moderately than changing into too cussed.
“One of the things we pride ourselves on is being a show that can adapt and evolve as needed,” Keighley says. “Not that many award shows add categories or change them that often. We really try to think of what’s happening in the world of gaming. This year, Best Adaptation is something we’ve been talking about for years. Our rubric for deciding if we add a new category is: Are there enough games to make it a competition? We never want to create a category and struggle to find nominees. With adaptation, we crossed that chasm this year.”
Other modifications are a lot grander, and that’s the place the present faces a few of its most tough challenges. Last yr’s Game Awards passed off amid reviews of Activision Blizzard’s lengthy historical past of office misconduct. In what would develop into a defining second for the present, Keighley opened the published by shining a light-weight on the widespread abuse subject within the online game business and known as for corporations to do higher. It was a powerful message for a present that had beforehand been agnostic towards points inside sport growth.
I don’t consider our present is the platform the place we ban corporations from being a part of the present.
That second instantly got here underneath the microscope, although, because it was adopted up with a trailer for Star Wars Eclipse — the most recent sport from Quantic Dream. The studio has a reported historical past of scandals, which led some viewers to query if the present was really prepared to place its cash the place its mouth was. When requested concerning the second, Keighley made it clear that the workforce listens to suggestions like that and has a willingness to alter. However, he believes there’s nuance to what steps a platform like this could make.
“It’s something we ponder and discuss,” Keighley says. “I thought it was important last year to address the situation that everyone was thinking about, but I don’t believe our show is the platform where we ban companies from being part of the show. There are lots of incredibly talented developers who do amazing work. I think we have to be thoughtful about it and we debate these things, but it’s a slippery slope when you decide that we have to vet every studio or decide if they’re worthy of being in the show.”
“And it’s a dynamic situation. Companies address things and hopefully deal with things and things do get better. I think it was necessary to say something at the start of the show last year, but hopefully the industry has evolved from there.”
Evolution is the important thing phrase for The Game Awards because it closes in on its 10th yr. The present continues to develop as a result of it understands that the gaming business is continually altering too. It has to rise to fulfill the medium it covers, which implies that it might by no means get too valuable about its construction. That units it other than different awards establishments just like the Oscars, which may usually come off as out of contact.
Though Keighley is raring to maintain up with the occasions, there’s one frontier that The Game Awards is remaining cautious about for now: the Metaverse.
“I’m a big believer in games connecting people and being mass social experiences,” Keighley says. “What I think is a lot of hot air is some of these ideas of the Metaverse from other companies that aren’t gaming companies coming into the space. You’ll see in our show that we’re not focused on web3 stuff or blockchain games. We’re just not interested in going down that path. We’re really focused on the core games everyone knows and loves.”
The Game Awards will livestream on December 8 on digital and social platforms, together with Twitch and YouTube.
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