There are several significant events that fans of the video game industry tune in to each year. It also seems like we are always seeing something new pop up throughout the year to highlight further new exciting games coming our way. But again, there are some staple events fans will tune into, such as The Game Awards. It’s a ceremony event that’s been going on for over a decade now, and if you’ve been following it over the years, you know it’s a bit of a mixed show.
On one hand, you have the award ceremony part of the show. It’s what the show is called after all. This is where the industry comes together to celebrate achievements from releases this year. The biggest being the Game of the Year category. There are some big hits in that category this year, and we can’t wait to see what studio takes home the achievement. Of course, we also have a plethora of trailers scattered throughout the entire ceremony.
The Game Awards Is A Balancing Act
While awards are handed out to development teams, fans who tune in to the show are also shown a wide range of trailers highlighting exciting new games coming our way. There are trailer updates to showcase a game further, or brand-new world premiere events. It’s not easy to determine what to showcase and how many trailers to cram into the show.
Geoff Keighley, who oversees The Game Awards, spoke with The Game Business, revealing it’s a balancing act for the entire show. Some viewers want to see more of the award side of the show, while others tune in just to see the new game trailers. So finding how to pace the show for everyone is not an easy task.
There are many different constituents that tune in. And it is a balancing act. You correctly pointed out that there’s the awards aspect of the show, there’s the announcement aspect, and yes, there are some people that would like to see the show be all awards. Some would like to see all announcements.
My view always is that the announcements create a very wide audience that tunes into the show. And because of that, when we do give out these awards, they’re seen by a lot of people. Lots of games get sold out of The Game Awards. Balatro had a huge boost. So hopefully it’s a good thing for developers. But that careful balance is a hard thing to strike and we don’t always get it right.
Of course, Geoff went on to say that it’s hard to predict how any of the show’s reactions will turn out. All they can do is put on the show and wait for the next few days to see what fans are talking about regarding the event. Then there’s also the struggle to determine which games to showcase, as that’s a whole different obstacle course to navigate.
We look at different genres, and we think about the global nature of game development. I’m not saying that we do it perfectly. [But] we realize the responsibility we play, and it’s always heartbreaking when we say we can’t fit in certain games.
They’re things that we proactively go out and ask for, because we assume they’re happening, or they’re teams that have done great things before. But what we love is discovering new teams and projects that no-one knows about yet. Dispatch was a great example last year. They told a bit of their story, but they were not sure what they were going to do with the game. I saw it and I said, ‘we believe in this. Let’s put this on our stage.’ And it turned out awesome.
If you haven’t already marked your calendar, viewers can tune in to the show this week, on December 11, 2025. The show will begin streaming at 7:30 PM EST and is expected to wrap up at 11:00 PM EST.
