I’m all for celebrating gaming as an artform and giving honors to the talented folks who make them. However, there’s something to be said when you don’t also acknowledge the rot that permeates throughout the industry. When great games underperform because of a lack of coverage. That snowballs into the studios making difficult decisions because projections weren’t met. Ultimately, these great creators lose jobs, benefits, and so much more. Therein lies The Game Awards with all the credit, but none of the blame.
Last Thursday night, The Game Awards aired and it was a “Who’s Who” of developers, publishers, and journalists with maybe some fans sprinkled about. Announcements were made, awards were handed out, insults were made.
So, let’s start with the good news.
Award Nominations and Winners
Of course, this year’s nominees were filled with heavy hitters for the most part. It’s hard to argue that 2023 was a big year for gaming. Nearly every month was filled with top tier releases from AAA to Indie (whatever that definition means to you). And it shows in this nomination breakdown.
Game Nominations
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 8 |
| Alan Wake 2 | 8 |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | 7 |
| The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | 5 |
| Super Mario Bros. Wonder | 5 |
| Resident Evil 4 Remake | 3 |
Publisher Nominations
| Nintendo | 15 |
| PlayStation | 13 |
| Xbox | 10 |
| Epic Games | 9 |
| Capcom | 8 |
| Larian | 8 |
| Square Enix | 8 |
| Electronic Arts | 6 |
| CD Projekt Red | 4 |
| Riot Games | 4 |
As someone had mentioned a couple of days ago, it looks like the rest of the games that were created during the pandemic may have finally come out and it kind of shows. So, let’s get down to the winners!
Winners
| Game of the Year | Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios |
| Best Game Direction | Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publsihing) |
| Best Adaptation | The Last of Us (PlayStation Productions/HBO) |
| Best Narrative | Alan Wake 2 |
| Best Art Direction | Alan Wake 2 |
| Best Score and Music | Final Fantasy XVI, Composer Masayoshi Soken (Square Enix) |
| Best Audio Design | HI-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks) |
| Best Performance | Neil Newbon, Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Innovation in Accessibility | Forza Motorsport (Turn 10 Studios/Xbox Game Studios) |
| Games for Impact | Tchia (Awaceb/Kepler Interactive) |
| Best Ongoing Game | Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red) |
| Best Community Support | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Best Independent Game | Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio) |
| Best Debut Indie Game | Cocoon (Geometric Interactive/Annapurna Interactive) |
| Best Mobile Game | Honkai: Star Rail (HoYoverse) |
| Best VR/AR Game | Resident Evil Village VR Mode (Capcom) |
| Best Action Game | Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) |
| Best Action/Adventure Game | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo) |
| Best RPG | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Best Fighting Game | Street Fighter 6 (Capcom) |
| Best Family Game | Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo) |
| Best Sim /Strategy Game | Pikmin 4 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo) |
| Best Sports/Racing | Forza Motorsport |
| Best Multiplayer | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Most Anticipated Game | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix) |
| Player’s Voice | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Content Creator of the Year | IronMouse |
| Best eSports Game | Valorant (Riot Games) |
| Best eSports Athlete | Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends) |
| Best eSports Team | JD Gaming (League of Legends) |
| Best eSports Coach | Christine “potter” Chi (Evil Geniuses – Valorant) |
| Best eSports Event | 2023 League of Legends World Championship |
The Elephant in the Room
Now, while there was quite a lot to celebrate as evidenced by the list above, there was definitely something else that could have been mentioned but was just ignored by Geoff Keighley and The Game Awards. I’m talking about the staggering amount of jobs lost in 2023.
With so many games getting acclaim, it means others didn’t. And because of how everything turned out during the pandemic, I still look to Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, to explain how we got here. Every company grabbed up so much cheap capital. While some companies may have had amazing, lofty goals, some didn’t and through a whole bunch of money at problems. However, when those plans didn’t pan out, it meant developers getting the boot. All the while, those at the top still there, and probably even attended The Game Awards.
By the way, you can check out the Tech Talk Thursdays crew cover The Game Awards here.
Source: Polygon
