In a year packed with so many great games, there was always going to be some disappointment atThe Game Awards.Marvel’s Spider-Man 2was nominated in an incredibly impressive seven categories this year but didn’t get any wins. This was a very different night toBaldur’s Gate 3, which won six awards, includingPlayers' VoiceandGame of the Year.
This prompted some fans to feud online,with Spider-Man players dunking on Baldur’s Gate 3 and saying it didn’t deserve to take home Game of the Year. However, after a weekend of fighting, actors from the games are spreading a message of unity, not division, celebrating both titles instead of pitting them against each other.
This kicked off when Yuri Lowenthal, the actor behind Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Peter Parker, shared a picture of Spidey with Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3. The image reads, “Spread love, not hate,” a sentiment Lowenthal encourages, saying, “This. So much this.”
Astarion’s actor, Neil Newbon, agrees, calling Lowenthal an “incredibly talented leading light in our industry.”
This is a much more positive end to the awards season, especially after the show itself has come under heavy fire for not promoting game creators and actors as much as an awards show should. Viewers were quick to notice that the winners, Newbon included, were made to rush their speeches, as a message telling them to “please wrap it up” could appear on screen as soon as 30 seconds after they accepted their awards.
Following the backlash from viewers,host and producer Geoff Keighley denied that anyone was cut off from making their speech, but agreed that the music intended to encourage them to wrap it up was kicking in too early. It’s not clear why everyone was put on such a tight time limit this year, especially in comparison to previous shows, but it’s certainly not gone down well with the community. We’ll have to see if this improves next year.
