While the Game Awards claim to be gaming’s Oscars, it’s really just its Super Bowl

Share This Post

  • Geoff Keighley’s yearly awards program The Game Awards, now in its eighth year and set to air on December 8 of next month, is making every effort to persuade viewers that it is the Oscars of gaming. This means that it is a gaudy, business-friendly celebration of the medium’s safest bets and most typical achievements that no one really seems to appreciate or respect all that much, but which we are all forced to acknowledge does in fact exist for reasons that are, at best, ambiguous.

The 2022 TGA nominees, which were announced earlier this week, fit the group’s mold: The most costly games of the year occupy the top slots, with a few “indie” games thrown in here and there to make things interesting. The majority of these games received significant trailer releases or other promotions at previous iterations of the Awards.

It’s not that games like God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West are bad; in fact, as the person who reviewed both games for the website, I can attest to the fact that they’re both excellent examples of the AAA gaming form. Rather, it’s that the intense corporate buy-in Keighley and his team have managed to achieve with this show makes the entire endeavor feel inextricably bound to The Money Machine.

This year, the biggest conversation surrounding the Awards—besides popular gaming account Nibellion quitting Twitter on just about the same day that their calm and collected approach to gaming news was nominated for “Content Creator Of The Year”—has been the conversation about “Best Narrative,” and specifically about Elden Ring`s inclusion in the nominees for the honor. But this conversation — between those who advocate more traditional storytelling and FromSoftware’s indirect approach to weaving chaotic tales of conflicting divine brothers in a fragmented world — is Elden.

It’s more of a hazy description of the category than an endorsement of the ring’s quality. The Narrative Award is a tribute to former winners, including well-known word geek games like Disco Elysium and Red Dead Redemption 2. It is fairly obvious that this award is meant to correspond to something like Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. Medium; game narration takes place as the player moves through the game’s world, sometimes even more so than the actors move through the written dialogue. Separating classic stories like God of War Ragnarok and Elden Ring from purposefully enigmatic stories like Immortality and attempting to compare them to one another invites disaster.

Read More:

Partnership Between Mitsubishi Electric and Nozomi Networks Strengthens Operational Technology Security Business

Mitsubishi Electric and Nozomi Networks Partnership Mitsubishi Electric and Nozomi...

Solidion Technology Inc. Completes $3.85 Million Private Placement Transaction

**Summary:** 1. Solidion TechnologyInc. has announced a private placement deal...

Analyzing the Effects of the EU’s AI Act on Tech Companies in the UK

Breaking Down the Impact of the EU’s AI Act...

Tech in Agriculture: Roundtable Discusses Innovations on the Ranch

Summary of Tech on the Ranch Roundtable Discussion: ...

Are SMEs Prioritizing Tech Investments Over Security Measures?

SMEs Dive Into Tech Investments, But Are...

Spotify Introduces Music Videos for Premium Members in Chosen Markets

3 Summaries of Spotify Unveils Music Videos for Premium...

Shearwater to Monitor Production at Equinor’s Two Oil Platforms

Shearwater GeoServices secures 4D monitoring projects from Equinor for...

Regaining Europe’s Competitive Edge in Innovation: Addressing the Innovation Lag

Europe’s Innovation Lag: How Can We Regain Our Competitive...

Related Posts

Government Warns of AI-Generated Content: Learn More about the Issue

Government issued an advisory on AI-generated content. All AI-generated content...

Africa Faces Internet Crisis: Extensive Outage Expected to Last for Months, Hardest-Hit Nations Identified

Africa’s Internet Crisis: Massive Outage Could Last Months, These...

FTC Investigates Reddit for AI Content Licensing Practices

FTC is investigating Reddit's plans...

Journalists Criticize AI Hype in Media

Summary Journalists are contributing to the hype and...