As we all expected, this year’s edition of The Game Awards had Muppets, like so many before it. This time around it was Statler and Waldorf, two grumpy old men who appeared intermittently to heckle the show. Their role was to give a voice to all the criticisms that people have been expressing over the years. This, mostly, meant wisecracks at Geoff Keighley’s expense.
They cracked jokes about Keighley’s tendency to talk too much and squeezed in a ‘please wrap it up’ dig, referencing last year’s controversy over award winners getting played off stage. They called him a sell-out. They made fun of Keighley absolutely zooming through the awards categories, saying the show was “the game commercials with award interruptions”.
They made fun of Keighley’s weird friendship with Hideo Kojima – it’s unclear from Kojima’s expression if he didn’t get the joke or if he was as uncomfortable as he looked. They fell asleep at the table because the show was too long. They laughed at the DLC nomination for Game of the Year. They called Keighley a moron – “Look at him just standing there!”
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What’s The Point Of Acknowledgement Without Change?
Statler and Waldorf’s purpose was abundantly clear. Their ongoing bit was an acknowledgement that Keighley has heard our criticism, and our annoyance, even anger, isn’t falling on deaf ears. And, to be fair, it did look like some changes had been made to the show in response to those criticisms. For example, there were still celebrity appearances, but fewer than last year, and they weren’t talking complete nonsense for extended periods of time. Overall, the show felt tighter and better organised – nobody got played off, at the very least.
But still, the celebrity thing is an issue. Why, exactly, was Khalid presenting an award? Was Harrison Ford drunk, or did he wave the teleprompter away because he just really didn’t want to read a joke written for him? Why was Abubakar Salim introduced as an actor and not as a developer? How did Snoop Dogg end up on stage for so long, all just for a Fortnite promo?
And beyond that, all the things that the Muppets made fun of were still very much features of the show. Keighley was definitely speeding through the awards. The show was, as the puppets said, a stream of commercials with occasional breaks for awards (Games for Impact was rattled off in the pre-show, and Best Indie was barreled through in the main event). The show was really long. The problems that were present last year were still there. Statler and Waldorf were TGA’s version of a knowing wink at the audience, but it’s all still the same show.
Geoff Keighley Finally Acknowledged The Layoffs
I’d be remiss not to give Keighley some credit for finally, after multiple calls from the industry, acknowledging the terrible straits that developers are in right now. During the show, Keighley gives a short speech about the layoffs and how he’s known since he was a college student that “games were nothing without the people behind them”.
In his words, “The sad reality is that over the past few years the gaming industry has suffered significant and unprecedented industry wide layoffs. Those affect the games we get to play and even more importantly, the people who make the games we love. We can debate and certainly disagree with the reasons why, and honestly as a show we kind of struggle with how to address these topics in a constructive way.”
Well, we know why layoffs are happening, and it’s got nothing to do with developers – but as the show has to establish such close ties with studios in order to have its purpose work at all, Keighley isn’t willing to come out and say that it’s the fault of executives. Instead, he uses this preamble to introduce a new award for an industry Game Changer.
I feel the need to add a disclaimer here: I am very happy for the recipient of the award, Amir Satvat, who was recognised for the pro-bono work he did in helping laid off developers find work. He built resources to help people in need for free. His speech was very moving – he seems like a genuinely good guy. I wish him the best and appreciate his work.
But the fact that this award was created the same year the Future Class was seemingly axed makes this statement ring extremely hollow. Amir and people like him should be recognised for their work, but this is also what the Future Class aimed to do. Knowing what circumstances the Future Class was apparently ended under (more on that here) makes it seem less that the award was created to recognise individuals and more like it was created to reduce the power of a collective’s voice, vocally speaking out against the awards.
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Only Developers Truly Spoke Up For Developers
In the end, Larian’s Sven Vincke was the only person who made any coherent statement against corporate interests in the gaming industry. In his speech before announcing the Game of the Year winner, he said that the formula for creating a Game of the Year contender was simple:
“The studio made their game because they wanted to make a game that they wanted to play themselves. They created it because it hadn’t been created before. They didn’t make it to increase market share. They didn’t make it to serve the brand. They didn’t have to meet arbitrary sales targets or fear being laid off if they didn’t meet those targets.
“And furthermore, the people in charge forbade them from cramming the game with anything whose only purpose was to increase revenue and didn’t serve the game design. They didn’t treat their developers like numbers on a spreadsheet. They didn’t treat their players like users to exploit.”
In the end, as much as Keighley tried to convey to the audience that he was listening to criticism, it all led to the same kind of show. Only when an independent developer got on stage did we finally hear someone willing to say the truth: corporate interests are destroying the gaming industry. As much as The Game Awards are trying to say that it recognises the state of things, it’s still not willing to change all that much.
The Game Awards
Founded by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards is a video games event centered on celebrating the best of the year’s titles, with emphasis on reveals and promos for upcoming launches.