One of my favorite moments of The Game Awards was when Abubakar Salim came on the stage to reveal his game, Tales of Kenzara: Zau. Salim was given some real time to talk and set up the trailer he was about to show. You could visibly see his excitement, nerves, and the grief for his father that he had lost, who helped inspire the game. It subsequently made the game trailer that much more powerful, because you saw the passion that built the trailer in front of you.
When you see the emotion Salim had just revealing a game, imagine the emotion some of these creators had after winning an award at the biggest award ceremony the industry has, in front of thousands of people. Unfortunately, we were robbed of seeing those moments time and time again, as award winners were quickly rushed off the stage before they could get more than a few thank yous off. In many cases, award winners didn’t even get a chance to go on stage at all. I can’t imagine how much winning best independent game meant to the developers of Sea of Stars, and I’ll never know because for whatever reason, they didn’t get to go on stage. If Tales of Kenzara: Zau were to have won an award this year, odds are Salim would not have had even a quarter of the stage time he had last night.
This seems to have been an extreme overreaction to Christopher Judge speaking for 8 minutes during an award acceptance last year. But ironically, he had a bit during the show playing off of this that went on for longer than any of the award acceptances this year! A lame bit with Gonzo the Muppet also went on way longer than any acceptance speech.
The Game Awards Are Actually Important To The Game Awards
I’m certainly not saying the awards should be the entire Game Awards show. The reveals and surprises are the main reason the Game Awards has continued to grow in popularity, as other major awards show in other industries continue to dip. But I also think that there is symbiotic relationship between the reveals and the awards. And if the awards continue to be diminished, that could slowly hurt the importance of the entire show. The Game Awards always seem to have the better trailers and surprises over Summer Game Fest, and I think publishers are incentivized to help make the Game Awards a big deal because they get some incredible free marketing from the awards element. Only a few games got any real shine last night, but I imagine games like Cocoon, Alan Wake 2, and Baldur’s Gate 3 are all going to see sales bumps after some big wins they had. Despite winning “Best Sim/Strategy”, Pikmin 4 probably doesn’t acquire much additional interest from those who hadn’t bought it yet, because it literally got a 5 second segment.
Perhaps we get to a world where publishers don’t even bother sending the devs anymore because it’s not worth it. We still get some reveals, but they won’t be as big as they were before, and the audience in turn continues to shrink. In 2022, the Summer Game Fest had 27 million livestreams, while The Game Awards had 103 million. Once again, the reveals are important, but it’s also the awards that give the entire show that extra viewership and legitimacy that make it as big as it is today. I love the concept of the Game Awards, but if it is just “Winter Gamefest” instead, it won’t end up being as good for anyone involved.
Greg Miller from “Kinda Funny Games” loves to say that “people make your games”. It has to be said because people really do seem to forget this. Not only do people make the video games you play, but those people are very passionate about those games. Developers got into the industry because they love video games. And that love shines through whenever you ask a developer about what they are making. When you let developers talk, it helps sell their games, which is good for the industry, it can help make them stars in some cases, which is good for the industry, and it helps humanize them, which is a good thing for an industry with some very toxic fanbases.
There has been a lot of outcry from others after The Game Awards, and I truly hope Geoff Keighley takes it to heart and adjusts in 2024. Let the developers speak, and good things will happen.
Big Nerd Gaming 
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