The Oscars of video games, the Game Awards, will hold today at the Microsoft Theatre, Los Angeles, USA. Now in its ninth edition, the awards reward the best in video games, eSports and content creators, writes Vanessa Obioha
About 108 games are nominated in the 31 categories of awards, including the latest addition, Best Adaptation of a Video Game IP into another form of media. Most of the nominees in this category are collaborations with Netflix, such as ‘Arcane’ which is based on ‘League of Legends’ and produced by the streaming giant in collaboration with Fortiche and Riot Games.
The nominees of Game Awards are selected by a jury of around 100 media outlets. The winners are determined by fans who cast their votes before the ceremony.
This year boasts many big contenders such as ‘God of War: Ragnarok’, which scooped 10 nominations, the highest of the edition. It was nominated for Game of the Year, Best Performance, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Action/Adventure, and the award for Innovation and Accessibility, among others.
Produced by Santa Monica Studio, ‘God of War: Ragnarok’ is the sequel to 2018’s ‘God of War’. It is an action-adventure and narrative-driven game that follows Kratos and his son, Atreus, as they try to survive the dangers of the nine realms.
Another fan favourite is the action role-playing game developed by From Software, ‘Elden Ring’. The video game has scooped up positive reviews since it launched in February 2022.
Other contending games include ‘Horizon Forbidden West’, ‘A Plague Tale: Requiem’ and ‘Stray’.
Beyond the contest, Game Awards serve as an avenue to reveal upcoming video games. Game Awards host and producer Geoff Keighley hinted there would be at least 40 announcements at the event.
Expected announcements at the awards include Electronic Arts’ debut of the full trailer of ‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’. The sequel to ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ was officially announced in May 2022, with a teaser trailer showing the return of hero Cal Kestis and his trusty droid companion BD-1.
‘Tekken 8’, ‘Elden Ring DLC’ and ‘Dead Space’ are expected to be announced at the occasion. This year’s Game Awards marks the first time the award is returning to an in-person gathering since 2019. Nonetheless, the award, which Keighley revealed would be shorter than previous editions, can be streamed on social media platforms such as Twitch, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Perhaps one of the highlights of the night will be the appearance of former James Bond star Daniel Craig as well as the performance of ‘Blood Upon The Snow’ from ‘God of War: Ragnarok’ by popular musician Hozier, and the live presentation by Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida.
