Game Awards return in December with live-streamed broadcast available in VR

By Danny Cowan Published November 2, 2016

The Game Awards, video game journalist Geoff Keighley’s annual gaming showcase event, will return in December with a live-streamed ceremony honoring the year’s best multiplatform releases.

Pitching this year’s ceremony as “one of the most widely distributed digital events in history,” The Game Awards’ organizers revealed plans to host “a first-of-its-kind live VR broadcast with NextVR” from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

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The upcoming event marks the Game Awards’ third annual ceremony. In addition to honoring standout games across multiple categories, the Game Awards will reveal a slate of previously unannounced upcoming releases during hosted segments throughout the show.

Gamers will have multiple options when viewing the Game Awards this year, as the event will be broadcast live via Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Steam, Facebook, and NextVR’s virtual reality platform. The ceremony will also be simulcast in China as part of a partnership with Chinese media company Tencent.

“Video games have the power to unite communities from all over the world, and this year we will share the power of gaming with more people than ever before,” Keighley, the Game Awards creator and producer, said.

“For 2016, we will expand our all-digital, no-friction path to global distribution through partnerships that include the first live awards show broadcast on Twitter, an initiative with Tencent to bring The Game Awards live to China, and our innovative, first-of-its-kind live VR broadcast with NextVR.”

Nominees for this year’s event have not yet been named, but viewers can expect to see intense competition across categories like Best Independent Game, Developer of the Year, and Game of the Year. Developer CD Projekt Red made an especially strong showing during last year’s ceremony, where its landmark RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was named Best Role-Playing Game and Game of the Year.

The Game Awards 2016 will kick off on December 1.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 lead this year’s Game Awards nominations

Key art for The Game Awards 2023.

The nominees for The Game Awards 2023 are here following a livestream hosted by Geoff Keighley on Monday morning. It's been an excellent year for video games, and the nominations reflect that, at least in the AAA space. Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 garnered the most nominations, with eight each, but titles like Marvel's Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder also garnered several nominations.

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Key art for The Game Awards 2023.

Geoff Keighley announced when the 10th The Game Awards will take place ahead of his latest show, Gamescom Opening Night Live.
The Game Awards 2023 will happen on December 7 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Like last year, the show will have a live audience and an orchestra conducted by Lorne Balfe. For those who can't attend it in person, Keighley doesn't plan on rolling back streaming efforts and is already promising that this year's The Game Awards will have official streams across YouTube, Twitch, Steam, X, Facebook, and TikTok.

This will be the 10th annual The Game Awards show. It began in 2014 as a successor to the Spike Video Game Awards, which Keighley also had a part in creating. While this is a significant anniversary for the show, according to Keighley, it won't break from the established awards and announcements formula that much.
"Each year, we look forward to hosting a show that honors the standout games of the year, while also announcing and previewing some of the world’s biggest and most anticipated video games," Keighley explained in a press release. "With so many beloved video game franchises exploring new mediums and developers creating new experiences across platforms, whether in games, television, movies, and beyond, the industry continues to expand in many surprising ways, and we can’t wait to honor the year’s best games and to show viewers around the world what’s next."
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