Review: The Game Awards ceremony needs to evolve

A character holds a lighted torch in a cave in the video game "Elden Ring"

By Todd MartensGame Critic

Dec. 9, 2022 10:03 AM PT

The Game Awards are a course study in giving an audience what it thinks it wants.

And if you’re a consumer of interactive entertainment, the Game Awards believe you want teasers, previews and a whole lot of marketing. “Elden Ring,” a complex and, for many, a captivatingly convoluted fantasy role-playing game, won big at the show, but it was, as is typical for the Game Awards, overshadowed by looks ahead at new games and prods from host Geoff Keighley to take advantage of demos and sales, sometimes for games and sometimes for food delivery services.

No surprise that the Game Awards are a palace for cheerleading — Keighley is an adamant advocate in believing games should be taken as seriously as film, television and literature, and he seeks to accomplish that goal without pretension. He ended the show by revealing that next year there would be a Game Awards-branded concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and he gushed over quick glimpses at upcoming games.

“It’s moments like this that get me excited for the medium,” Keighley said before introducing a clip from “Judas,” the upcoming game from “Bioshock” architect Ken Levine. While the game is hyped as one that will experiment with narrative, what we saw was a lot of violence, hints of magic and twisted takes on retro decadence. Later, Keighley exclaimed that he was excited that “all of us together get to experience the global announcement from one of industry’s most visionary studios,” before introducing Hideo Kojima’s typically cryptic “Death Stranding 2,” a visual feast but one that offered no discernible hints at where the story is going.

That “Elden Ring,” the latest from acclaimed director Hidetaka Miyazaki, a designer who believes in the artistry of difficulty, won game of the year signaled something of a return to form for the Game Awards. “Elden Ring” is a game that, in the words of Miyazaki, deeply explores “mythos,” this time one imagined by “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin. It became something of a surprise hit — a surprise only in that Miyazaki games are deeply challenging — but it’s also a lengthy tour of exploration and punishing combat. It has a reputation as a game for gamers, and it bested, among others, the more linear “God of War Ragnarök,” which led the field with 10 nominations and took home the narrative prize.

Last year was a celebration for a very different game. “It Takes Two” , a wacky, colorful and blissfully erratic action adventure, won game of the year for constructing a world where puzzles, platforming and cooperation are paramount and constantly in a tug-o-war with one another. It’s also narratively risky, as it delves into a relationship on the verge of disintegration, and it’s the most gleeful game about divorce ever created. Where “Elden Ring” represents the game industry at its most precise and expansive, “It Takes Two” is joyfully messy and leans far more experimental.

It was, in other words, business as usual at this year’s Game Awards. Last year, the Game Awards began with a proclamation: “Game creators need to be supported by the companies that employ them,” Keighley said. “I think we all agree with that. So let me just say this before we get to any of the news or announcements or awards: We should not and will not tolerate any abuse, harassment and predatory practices by anyone, including our online communities.”

It was a not-so-subtle nod at the workplace harassment lawsuits and stories that befell Activision Blizzard. But this year there was no allusion to anything happening outside the doors of the Microsoft Theater, once again returning the Game Awards largely to a vacuum of marketing. The tone is one of constant confetti being blasted out — all buzzwords all the time.

Some cut through the noise. Roberta and Ken Williams, the founders of Sierra and the team behind the vaunted “King’s Quest” games, were on hand to introduce the “games for impact” award, a game that, in the words of Roberta, is designed to affect the “way people think and feel about the world.” The very fine “As Dusk Falls” won the award, a game that navigates life’s struggles, from debt to deaths to relationships falling apart. Director Caroline Marchal said the goal was to create a game in which normal people grapple with real-life issues in the hopes “that players would feel empathy with them and learn a little bit about their values.”

Christopher Judge, the actor who plays the gruff Kratos in “God of War Ragnarök,” gave a lengthy impassioned speech in accepting his award for top performance, the only one that completely veered from industry-speak. “Thank you for believing me,” he said to Cory Barlog, who cast him in “2018’s “God of War.” “Thank you for having me read for the role. I was the last actor in California to read for it, and Cory said he didn’t think I would do it. If I had known it was a video game back then, I might not.”

And Al Pacino, on hand to present the performance award, generated some laughs. “It may come as a shock to you,” he said, “I don’t play a lot of video games.”

To be sure, there are plenty of games worth celebrating this year, including “Elden Ring.” The latter isn’t my type of game, but I appreciate its lack of hand-holding and the way it lets players slowly discover an abstract story. Other games, such as “Immortality,” Sam Barlow’s examination of Hollywood told via an assemblage of live-action clips, is an argument that there is plenty of experimentation yet to be had when it comes to presenting a story. And “Stray,” which won multiple awards including the indie game prize, is a bold proclamation that players want different characters to play, including (perhaps specifically) a cat.

But there was a nagging sensation that things were just a little too comfortable inside the Microsoft Theater — or worse, too promotional. Even a performance from Halsey, designed to promote Blizzard’s “Diablo IV,” was abbreviated, as if each verse was being held for a later reveal.

And while those seated around me screamed at all the appropriate moments, such as when shown a clip for an upcoming “Final Fantasy” game or the “Super Mario Bros.” animated film, the biggest news of the day wasn’t referenced. Hours before the Game Awards, the FTC revealed that it would challenge the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, raising doubts about one of the biggest deals in the history of the game space. Even the promotion of “Diablo IV” felt a little off, coming shortly after a Washington Post report of a stressful, draining work environment inside the Blizzard offices.

All of this is to say that Keighley has succeeded in his mission. The Game Awards have been a worthy advocate for the games industry, now regularly bringing in more than 80 million streams. Games are taken seriously, so much so that their workplaces are examined, and protesters outside the Microsoft Theater sought to raise awareness for unionization efforts, income disparity, workplace harassment and a host of other issues the industry is grappling with.

The game industry no longer lives in the vacuum the Game Awards pretend it does. It’s time to let the telecast breathe a little.