The Game Awards 2023 have come and gone, and while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may not have won Game of the Year (“Curse you Baldur’s Gate 3!” *I say with mock disdain*), it was fortunate to win Best Action/Adventure game. Nintendo also won awards for Pikmin 4 for Best Sim/Strategy Game and Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Best Family Game. Nintendo has had quite a spectacular year with game releases, and the ones that received awards on their respective categories were more than well deserved.
While it was great to hear Nintendo taking home three awards for their games, it was not without a somewhat bitter aftertaste. For those familiar with The Game Awards, and have watched it for years, will know that it has become less and less about celebrating video game developers for their achievements (which you would think is the whole point of an awards ceremony dedicated to video games and their developers), and more about flexing for clout by getting Hollywood stars coming onto the stage to talk at length about things that gave nothing to do with video games, and long streams of video game trailers branded as “World Premieres” but feel more commercial breaks to increase ad revenue.
We could forgive all that, if it weren’t for the fact that when it came to announcing the actual awards themselves, it was more like a quickfire round that they want to get over and done with so they can get back to the ads, uh, I mean “world premieres”. That isn’t the worst part, though. When the developers were accepting their awards, and giving their their acceptance speech, they were told to keep it short. There was even a teleprompter that would count down how much time they had and spell the words “Wrap It Up” when the timer had gone over.
A good number of people have gotten upset over this online, and I can personally say that it has irritated me as well. After all, an award ceremony dedicated to “celebrating video game developers” and they can’t even have five minutes to talk about their game and say their thank yous but a Hollywood star can come on stage and ramble about any old thing or relying on the muppets for the sake of “Comic Relief” and that’s okay? Well, sorry, I’m not buying it and I am not alone either.
.@GeoffKeighley + @TheMuppets’ @GonzoTheGreat = Twinsies?! 🪞 #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/kVoDw7xkFG
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 8, 2023
Things really do need to change for The Game Awards going forward. I commend what they aspire to do and the orchestral performances are absolutely brilliant. The principle of The Game Awards is admirable at best but the execution leaves much to be desired. If the awards ceremony is about the developers than it should be about the developers, not some kind of parody of everything that is wrong with awards ceremonies.
If The Game Awards are to be taken seriously in the future, Geoff Keighley and his team need to take a step back and rethink about what they want The Game Awards to be. Do they want it to be a prestigious event to celebrate videogames and their developers, or is it just one great big online presentation about games that won’t even be coming out for a few years yet?
I still hold hope that The Game Awards can become what it set out to be, but it will take effort and hard work to set it on the right course. Relying less on Celebrity A-Listers and using them as a crutch for “legitimacy” and status, and more focus on game developers and the challenges they face when making games would be a good starting point.
What are your thoughts on The Game Awards this year? Did you watch it? Did you decide not to? Do you agree that changes need to be made if it is to continue on for years to come? Let us know in the comments.
