The Game Awards

Overview

The Game Awards or TGA is an annual awards ceremony honoring outstanding achievements in the video game industry. Created by Geoff Keighley in December 2014, the event has gained significant attention from the gaming community over the years and serves as a platform to showcase upcoming games and innovations within the industry. Its "Game of the Year" award, among others, has become highly coveted by studios, developers and publishers in the gaming industry since it began. The award show has also sparked memorable memes like Bill Clinton Kid or the 2022 Player's Choice drama, as well as various controversies and backlash for award selections.

Background

The first Game Awards^[1] took place on December 5th, 2014, evolving from previous award shows dedicated to gaming, such as the Spike Video Game Awards.^[2] The official YouTube^[3] channel of the event uploaded a video of its first full show that same day (seen below), which garnered more than 1.2 million views and 17,000 likes in a decade.

Since its conception, the ceremony has grown in relevance within the gaming industry and has become a major event on the gaming calendar, drawing millions of viewers and featuring an array of performances and announcements alongside the awards presentations, particularly world premiere showcases and other teasers or trailers of upcoming games.

Developments

Game Awards 2022 Player's Choice

The 2022 Game Awards Player's Choice competition notably sparked drama that spread widely online surrounding the "Player's Choice" award at the December 2022 event, with the fanbases of Sonic the Hedgehog and Genshin Impact clashing publicly on social media.

Reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton

In a memorable moment during the 2022 Game Awards, hosted on December 8th, 2022, YouTuber Matan Even unexpectedly appeared during the acceptance speech for the "Game of the Year" award as he took the microphone and nominated the award to "my Reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton" before walking offstage. This incident sparked widespread discussion and memes on social media, later earning Even the nickname "Reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton."

Fortnite Code 2023 The Game Awards

The Fortnite Code 2023 Game Awards refers to a code to access the ceremony's special map on Fortnite that coincidentally had a similarity with an Indonesian phone number from someone named Tajudin. Following the promotional event at the 2023 TGA, Tajudin claimed that it made his phone constantly ring as many people asked him for the code.

2024 Game Awards DLC and Remakes Controversy

For the 2024 Game Awards event, the award show changed its rules to allow DLC and remakes of games eligible for awards, sparking controversy online. In November 2024 after TGA unveiled its nominees for different categories, many gamers began complaining and debating if such content or remakes should be allowed in the competition, with the discourse largely centered around Shadow of the Erdtree, the DLC for 2022's Elden Ring, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Online Presence

The Game Awards has built a strong online presence over a decade since the award show began, with dedicated social media channels and platforms where fans discuss nominees, predictions and winners each year. The show is streamed live every December, attracting millions of viewers from around the globe, and the hashtag "#TheGameAwards" generates widespread participation and conversation during the event.

For example, on December 10th, 2022, YouTuber^[4] CircleToonsHD posted a parody video summarising the events of the 2022 Game Awards show. The video (seen below) amassed more than 1 million views and 79,000 likes in two years.

On December 9th, 2023, Redditor^[5] u/baiisun posted a montage featuring all the 2023 Game Awards winners (seen below), which received over 11,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments in a year.

Search Interest

External References