After a yr full of generation-defining video games and devastating layoffs, the gaming trade received a second to rejoice its wins at The Game Awards 2023. The 10th annual occasion, produced by host Geoff Keighley, was one other watercooler spectacle for creators and followers to debate. This yr’s eclectic present featured tons of recreation trailers, superstar cameos, Muppets, and a hair metallic musical efficiency full with interpretive dancing. There was just one factor lacking: the awards.
The Game Awards
As has been more and more the case because the present has grown in scale over time, the precise awards took a again seat to pageantry. Most winners have been swiftly rattled off briefly breaks between trailers, and the few that really did get to just accept awards didn’t get a lot time to take action. The present garnered a blended response from viewers consequently, with many questioning if the present is an efficient celebration of those that make video games.
After 10 years, The Game Awards lastly finds itself at a breaking level. It’s turning into clear that it might probably’t be each a honest ode to recreation makers and an E3 showcase that caters to hyped-up followers – no less than not in its present, profitable kind.
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For viewers who simply come to The Game Awards to see recreation trailers, 2023’s present had no scarcity of “world premieres.” Arkane’s Blade recreation received the loudest response of the night time, whereas God of War Ragnarok’s free roguelike DLC was a real shock. Keighley managed to maintain the traditionally leaky present underneath lock and key this yr, creating some left-field moments that gamers count on (a Crazy Taxi revival definitely wouldn’t have been on any bingo playing cards).
Though there have been a handful of highs, the barrage of trailers appeared to exhaust the gang by the top of the present. Games like Stormgate received mild reactions from followers as an extended third hour winded down. Potentially thrilling bulletins felt diluted within the context of a marathon present the place expectations are all the time too excessive. A closing reveal of Monster Hunter Wilds, which isn’t set to launch till 2025, served as a closing clue that subsequent yr is perhaps a slower one for big-budget video games.
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While the present delivered a glut of forward-facing trailers, it typically did not rejoice the creators behind 2023’s largest video games. As has been the case in earlier years, solely a handful of awards have been formally introduced to winners on the present. Most classes, together with heavy hitters like Best RPG and Best Action, have been breathlessly rattled off in lightning-fast segments between trailers. The builders of Street Fighter 6 or Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon didn’t even get to stroll on stage to just accept their trophies.
That’s not new for the present, however there was a big change for individuals who really did get to handle the gang. This yr, winners solely received 30 seconds to provide an acceptance speech. An enormous teleprompter within the crowd ticked down the seconds earlier than warning audio system to “Wrap it up.” Most speeches have been performed off by music in underneath a minute, whereas one was prematurely lower off by a trigger-happy toss to the subsequent section. It was an instantaneous level of rivalry amongst viewers as trade legends like Remedy’s Sam Lake and Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma barely received time to thank their groups. Developers I spoke to on the bottom after the occasion expressed frustration over the present’s setup.
The quick speeches won’t have stung a lot if different moments had felt equally rushed, however there was some uneven prioritizing all through the night time. Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima received an infinite section in the midst of the present to introduce his new recreation OD regardless of solely having a brief, cryptic teaser to indicate. Celebrities like Matthew McConaughey and Anthony Mackie received ample time to go off-script and ham it up with the gang. Gonzo of the Muppets received to do an prolonged bit about his love of chickens forward of a truncated acceptance speech for Cocoon.
The Game Awards
And but, the present didn’t have a second to spare to handle actual points the trade had urged Keighley to talk on forward of the present. The ceremony didn’t acknowledge the present layoff wave within the trade, which has left hundreds out of labor. It was a obtrusive omission contemplating that Keighley had beforehand used the platform to name out toxicity and abuse points within the trade. Keighley additionally ignored calls from the present’s earlier Future Class recipients (an annual collection of numerous voices meant to characterize the way forward for the trade) to handle the present humanitarian disaster in Palestine. The request wasn’t unfounded; final yr’s present featured vocal acknowledgment of the conflict in Ukraine and provided phrases of help for the nation.
Regardless of the place one stands on the problems, it was an evening outlined by double requirements.
The actuality
There’s seemingly a really chilly, scientific clarification for the best way this yr’s present was constructed: cash. The Game Awards has change into a profitable occasion for Keighley and his crew because the present has pulled in additional viewers. Getting a trailer into the present can value studios within the excessive six-figure vary, in accordance with trade professionals I spoke to on the occasion. Those eye-popping prices assist fund a giant gala on the costly Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, that includes head-scratching cameos from disinterested celebrities like Timothée Chalamet.
When I spoke to Keighley forward of final yr’s ceremony, he burdened that the present was “for the fans.” It’s an method that invitations skepticism. Isn’t an awards present the one night time that shouldn’t be for the followers? Shouldn’t or not it’s for the creators receiving awards?
The Game Awards
It’s an particularly odd justification contemplating that acceptance speeches are a big attraction for awards exhibits like this. Ceremonies just like the Oscars have constructed their repute on memorable speeches that change into viral moments on social media yearly. Speeches can construct iconic moments for exhibits like this, whether or not they encourage viewers or ship taboo statements that get individuals speaking. That’s even true of The Game Awards; viewers could wrestle to call a single trailer that debuted throughout final yr’s present, however I’d guess many nonetheless keep in mind Christopher Judge’s lengthy, impassioned acceptance speech for God of War Ragnarok. The second was so memorable that Judge received to kick the exhibit this yr with a self-referential callback to the second that had the gang in stitches. This yr’s Game Awards didn’t give any winners the identical alternative to create their very own second.
Humanity was briefly provide throughout the mechanical ceremony, and that made the present’s few shreds of sincerity stand out. The night time’s finest section noticed Surgent Studios founder Abubakar Salim taking the stage to introduce Tales of Kenzera: Zau. Salim gave an emotional speech earlier than displaying off the standout trailer, explaining how the sport was constructed to assist him course of grief after his father handed away. It was a second the present desperately wanted, one which reminded viewers that video video games don’t simply magically seem. They’re made by passionate individuals with tales to inform. Those efforts need to be celebrated, not swiftly rushed off the stage to squeeze in one other world premiere.
The Game Awards
The longer the ceremony dragged on, the extra its viewers philosophy rang hole. The Game Awards isn’t even for the followers; it’s for the advertisers. It’s a good way to get advertisements in entrance of tens of millions of eyes with out the concern that they’ll seem subsequent to an argument. That actuality grew to become clear once I rewatched Keighley’s opening deal with, which set the stage for the night time with an advertiser-friendly line that nearly taunted anybody who wished the platform would do extra to help a troubled trade and world.
“More than anything, this is a show about bringing our community together … to focus on something we can all agree on: There’s nothing more powerful or more immersive than an extraordinary video game,” Keighley proudly declared earlier than the present’s most dissected night time but.
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