Last night was the 10th annual The Game Awards show and in the run-up to it, social media [or more accurately, my view into social media] was full of people who are critical of the show. I haven’t checked in to see if anyone has changed their minds but it’s the Internet so I doubt it.

I have had my criticisms of the show over the years but I do always watch it. I’m one of those who isn’t really interested in the awards themselves but is more there for the trailers than anything.

This year, I don’t really have any criticisms. I thought it was well done. Having Statler and Waldorf, the cranky old guys from The Muppet Show who specialize in heckling, was weird but for me it worked. They were like the voice of the Internet, shooting insults at Keighley as he stood on stage looking uncomfortable. Jokes along the lines of (and I paraphrase) “Why are there empty seats? We all know that Keighley is always a sell-out” brought to mind cringey Doritos ad placements from years past. They also made joked about the Elden Ring DLC being up for game of the year awards (something that seemed to draw a lot of criticism on the socials) and just ranting about how the show is too danged long (3.5 hours).

I feel like Keighley allowing himself to be criticized like this is a sign of maturity. Another was his admission that they really struggle with how to handle the terrible state of the industry right now, with so many thousands of game creators being laid off in the last few years (going from memory I think the figure was 34,000 creators losing their jobs).

The answer to that last bit was the creation of a new award, I think it was The Game Changer, and giving it to Amir Satvat, a guy who loves gaming and decided to try to do something to help those who have lost their jobs. He created a free service to help folks find new positions in the industry. Heck why not just take a look at the segment:

There were some wet eyes in our house when we watched that segment.

Another new addition was having winners from last year come in to introduce awards from this year, which was a subtle but welcome change.

Other improvements, in my opinion, was what was removed from the show. While there were some celebrities, none of them were super cringey. In fact the most uncomfortable moment may have been when Harrison Ford came on-stage just because (remember he is 82) he seemed to have trouble reading the teleprompter. But hey he is Harrison Ford, we cut him some slack, right?

In general the show just didn’t seem to be trying too hard to be hip, y’know? There were no edgy “influencers” on stage. The whole show was hosted by Keighley and Sidney Goodman; both of whom of course have a lot of experience with hosting events like this.

As to the game trailers themselves, there was a pretty good mix of styles and genres, though to some extent what gets shown depends on what is getting made, which right now means a lot of grim-dark melee-based souls-likes.

So yeah overall I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to next year. To heck with the haters!

Oh and maybe it’s because I have kind of a nerd crush on Laura Bailey, but this was one of my favorite segments: