Summary
Later today, the nominees forThe Game Awardsare going to be announced, and in a year like this one, there are going to be a lot of conversations around each category. In previous years, scraping together six contenders for Game of the Year has been a struggle. This year though is more like 2020, when all six will be worthy of the stage, and several more besides will be unlucky to miss out. We’ll have debates over what the difference is between Action and Action/Adventure, what Best Direction really means, andBaldur’s Gate 3even floated (then quickly walked back) its eligibility for Best Indie. But I’m also curious what Geoff Keighley will have to say.
My personal predictions for Game of the Year are Baldur’s Gate 3,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,Alan Wake 2,Final Fantasy 16,Spider-Man 2, andSuper Mario Bros. Wonder.
As I wrote about a few months ago, this has beenan excellent year for video games and an awful year for gaming. Several more studios have made sweeping staff changes (EpicandUbisoft combinedmade over 1,000 job cuts) and others have closed (Hyenas was struck down before it even launched) since I wrote this, whileUnity was forced into a climbdownfor its plans to restructure its monetisation, aftermass criticism that several indie studios would not survive it. And, to amplify the dichotomy between the games 2023 is giving us and what 2023 is giving to video games, we also saw the launches of Spider-Man 2, Mario Wonder, and Alan Wake 2, all of which I expect to see nominated for the big one.
Geoff Keighley isn’t going to stand on stage come December 7 and talk about unions. He isn’t going to mention any wars, or politics, or anything of that nature. You might as well hope he stands up there and announces your name as the winner of the $50 million lottery jackpot. But he might saysomething, and it could define exactly how he wants The Game Awards to be perceived by the world.
The Game Awards is a highly populist award ceremony. Though it is jury-voted, this jury swells so large that smaller critical darlings don’t stand a chance. It’s always the blockiest, bustingest blockbusters that walk away with the crown. The show also puts a huge emphasis on the Player’s Voice award (expect chaos this year), and most notably, considers adverts to be so crucial to the ceremony that speeches are cut short and in some cases, awards are announced at breakneck speed off stage so there’s more room for commercials. World Premiere might as well be the show’s tagline.
While Baldur’s Gate 3 will almost certainly not be up for Best Indie, Dave the Diver could be, and that will also spark debate over what exactly ‘indie’ meansgiven it’s published by Nexon.
And fans are growing concerned. It’s different to, say,the issues around AI.The public still hasn’t settled on how it feels yet-AI is a cool new toy, so while there is a loud percentage of folks vehemently against it, Johnny Gamer remains undecided. But developers who make all the great games 2023 has given us being laid off to protect profits does not have public support. You occasionally end up in a strange situation where gamers both love and hate the games they play, and are glad the people who make them get fired because they ruin it or make it woke (as was a complaint with Destiny), but mostly, gamers care more about good games being made and those behind our favourite games having their jobs and rights protected, than they do about studio profits.
TGA’s viewership has grown year on year, and after a colossal year for releases, I expect 2023 to break the record yet again. Keighley’s style, to focus on what people want, spotlight only the awards the masses care about, and wheel out cameos amongst the crown jewel (the ads), is a successful one. But how long can you be a populist and ignore the voice of the people? Wanting fewer job losses is not a niche political issue or just noise on social media. Gaming’s development costs and times are unsustainable, especially when they lead to mass layoffs to cover losses. A sentence or two from Keighley wouldn’t change this, but it would be a sign of how the public feel, and a signal to studios. Silence would be a sign and signal too.
The Game Awards are ultimately a celebration of this year in gaming, and after so many hits, there is a lot to celebrate. But some of the people who made those games probably don’t feel like celebrating much. On December 7, it will be interesting to see how Keighley feels about gaming’s 2023.
