For the thousands of talented artists, directors, and programmers in the colorful world of gaming, few honors are more sought after than recognition at The Game Awards, a yearly ceremony that celebrated its 10th anniversary this year in downtown Los Angeles.
Thursday night’s event was the most-watched rendition of the awards show ever. Over four million viewers tuned in on streaming platforms, and thousands of fans, developers, and celebrities attended the ceremony in-person at the Peacock Theater.
In the show, hosted by USC Marshall alumni Geoff Keighley, audiences were treated to a plethora of announcements about the future of gaming, live performances, and of course, the award reveals themselves.
Throughout the night, 27 awards were given out to various games released in the past calendar year, and four awards were given to pivotal figures in e-sports, game-development, and online content creation.
Team ASOBI’s “AstroBot” took home the most awards, winning four, including the coveted designation of “Game of the Year” at the end of the show.
While not every gamer may have heralded the quirky adventure title as their own personal favorite, many attendees seemed satisfied with “AstroBot” taking home the night’s most anticipated award.
“I wanted Metaphor to win,” said King Bee, a content creator and attendee at the event, “But also, I’m not mad at ‘AstroBot’ because that game is a good representation of Playstation overall…it’s a new IP.”
However, shedding light on some gamers’ alternate preferences is not to say that AstroBot didn’t have a fanbase of its own. Many fans were enamored by the Team ASOBI’s ability to innovate on the 3D platformer, a genre that’s become a scarcity over the past dozen-or-so years of gaming.
“I think ‘Astrobot’ was an incredible game that definitely should have won Game of the Year. It’s an incredible amalgamation of so much work that Playstation and Sony in general have put forward in the last 30 years,” said attendee Jonathan Williams, a junior USC student studying game design.
Indie developer Localthunk’s “Balatro” and ATLUS’ “Metaphor: Re-fantazio” tied for silver at the event, taking home three awards each. Game Science’s “Black Myth Wukong,” was also a hit, taking home two trophies including the “Player’s Choice Award,” delegated based on online fan vote.
Aside from the awards, another highlight of the event was the amount of new game announcements. The event showed dozens of first-look trailers for projects that were to be released in 2025 and beyond—there was truly something for everybody.
Bee stated that his favorite announcement was the orchestra-assisted reveal of “Okami 2″, a sequel to the fan-favorite Wii and PS2 title nearly 20 years in the making, while Drew Henderson, a USC junior in Game Design, stated that “Ninja Gaiden: Rebound,” the latest entry in the historic hack-and-slash franchise, was the game he was the most excited to get his hands on.
Other attendees also cited the final announcement, the unveiling of Naughty Dog’s first new IP in 14 years, “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet,” to be exciting news as well.
Star power was also in force at a degree unseen in prior shows. Keighley made sure to bring out the big guns for their anniversary event. Countless industry titans in voice acting, game directing, and game design, such as Hideo Kojima, Troy Baker, and Laura Bailey, were enlisted to present awards to developers.
“The best part, easily, [was] seeing one of my favorite voice actors on stage, Laura Bailey,” said Williams. “I’ve been a fan of hers, for many, many, years.”
The show also widened its scope of special guests to include celebrities in broader popular culture as well. Harrison Ford, Khalid, and Snoop Dogg all also presented awards that night, with the Long Beach rapper delivering a live performance near the end of the show.
Admittedly, the decision to perform old-school hip-hop in front of an audience full of passionate gamers did not result in many audience members having the familiarity to sing along, but the enthusiasm was undeniable regardless. The crowd bopped their heads and danced, off-rhythm and in bliss.
The Game Awards has been the recipient of some harsh comment criticism in years past, with many considering the presentation of previous shows to feel corporate, and out of touch with the industry it was trying to represent.
However, this year’s edition of the awards show is one of the first in recent memory to be widely well-received, with many praising the show’s ability to honor the accomplishments of this year in gaming whilst not shying away from the mistreatment some in the industry have suffered.
“I would say that, actually, this was a nice [show]...there’ve been a lot of layoffs and everything, and the fact that they tackled that in The Game Awards was actually amazing. The gaming industry is pretty small, and they said that 34,000 jobs have been laid off? The fact that they mentioned that was pretty nice,” said Kennedy Thompson, a first year USC Master’s student in Game Design.
The scope and success of the show was a marker for not just how far The Game Awards had come, but gaming as a whole.
“How exciting is it that we validated The Game Awards at the end of the decade with Harrison Ford and Snoop Dogg?” said Michael Stancliff, a sales manager for Box Art Studios—the team behind designs in Diablo IV, Hogwarts Legacy, and The Last of Us Part I.
“It doesn’t get bigger than that.”