The Game Awards 2021 aired on December 9, celebrating the year’s best games and the people who make them–or, at least, that’s the program’s intention. If you think you might have missed some of the winners, you’re probably right.
“i love to not remember the last time this show gave out an award,” Polygon editor-in-chief Maddy Myers quipped on Twitter as the show sped through announcements about future games without actually acknowledging those who made this year’s biggest hits.
Over the ceremony’s 230-minute run time, showrunner Geoff Keighley introduced trailers for new titles, such as Remedy’s Alan Wake II and Quantic Dream’s Star Wars Eclipse–a problem in itself thanks to the developers’ history of toxic workplace culture, as Jason Schreier also pointed out. There were plenty of updates on in-development projects too, including FromSoftware’s Elden Ring and Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Meanwhile, award winners had roughly 30 seconds to acknowledge their achievements before being rushed off the stage for the next announcement or commercial.
“All these people were invited to be ‘celebrated for their hard work’ but I think maybe only 5 or so awards were physically handed to winners,” Disruptive Games’ community lead said on Twitter.
Several rewards, including Games for Impact and Best Indie Game, were given out during the pre-show. Others received only a passing mention without acknowledging the people they were intended for, and as many viewers pointed out, no women–aside from the winner of Best Performance–were allowed to speak on stage after their teams won an award.
While the show continues to draw criticism among the media, it’s also drawing extensive attention outside the industry. For a time, The Washington Post’s live update piece was the publication’s most-viewed page, dethroning even current political news. Despite “awards” being in the program’s title, NPD Group director of gaming Mat Piscatella said on Twitter it’s these people The Game Awards are meant for, the ones who only want to see new announcements and care little for the developers themselves.
Barring any surprises, The Game Awards is likely the year’s last round of announcements and reveals. The quiet will be short-lived, though. 2022 already has a full schedule of highly anticipated releases, including The Pokemon Company’s Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Guerrilla’s Horizon: Forbidden West, Elden Ring, and at least two Square Enix titles, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Triangle Strategy.
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