The Game Awards 2023
The Game Awards 2023 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2023. It was the tenth show hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of the Game Awards, held with a live audience at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, on December 7, 2023. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. The event was live streamed across online platforms globally. It featured musical performances from Loren Allred, Heilung, and Old Gods of Asgard, and presentations from celebrity guests, including Timothée Chalamet, Christopher Judge, and Matthew McConaughey.
Baldur's Gate 3 led the show with nine nominations and six wins, including Game of the Year and Best Performance for Neil Newbon. Several new games were announced during the show, including Marvel's Blade, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, and Visions of Mana. The show was viewed by over 118 million streams, the most in its history to date, with more than 17,000 co-streams from content creators. Journalists criticized the show for prioritizing announcements and celebrities over awards, and its lack of acknowledgement of industry layoffs and the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis.
Background
As with previous iterations of the Game Awards, the 2023 show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalist Geoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie Kim, and Richard Preuss and LeRoy Bennett returned as director and creative director, respectively. Sydnee Goodman returned as host of the 30-minute preshow, titled Opening Act. The presentation took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, on December 7, 2023, and was live streamed across more than 30 online platforms globally, including Facebook, Instagram, Steam, TikTok, Twitch, X, and YouTube.Public tickets became available for purchase on November 6, and sold out within a week, quicker than any previous year. The show increased security following stage interruptions at the previous ceremony in December 2022 and Gamescom's Opening Night Live in August 2023. Keighley said the show and preshow aimed for a collective three-hour runtime, like its predecessor. The Game Awards 2023 was the fourth show to feature Future Class, a list of 50 individuals from across the video game industry who best represent its future, organized by Keighley and Emily Bouchac. The list was announced on December 5, featuring individuals like Marvel's Midnight Suns writer Emma Kidwell, The Sims 4 experience design lead Alister Lee, and accessibility consultant Ross Minor.
Announcements
According to Keighley, the show avoided the term "world premiere" for new announcements, instead treating all content equally. Announcements on both released and upcoming games were made for:- Apex Legends
- Arknights: Endfield
- As Dusk Falls
- Asgard's Wrath 2
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
- Dave the Diver
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Final Fantasy XVI
- The Finals
- The First Descendant
- Fortnite Rocket Racing
- God of War Ragnarök
- GTFO
- Guilty Gear Strive
- Honkai: Star Rail
- Lego Fortnite
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- No Man's Sky
- The Outlast Trials
- Palia
- Persona 3 Reload
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Ready or Not
- Rise of the Rōnin
- Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
- Skull and Bones
- Stormgate
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
- Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
- Zenless Zone Zero
- Big Walk
- Untitled Crazy Taxi game
- Den of Wolves
- Exoborne
- Exodus
- Untitled Golden Axe game
- Harmonium: The Musical
- Untitled Jet Set Radio game
- Jurassic Park: Survival
- Kemuri
- Last Sentinel
- Light No Fire
- Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
- Marvel's Blade
- Mecha Break
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- No Rest for the Wicked
- OD
- Pony Island 2: Panda Circus
- Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
- Streets of Rage: Revolution
- Tales of Kenzera: Zau
- The Casting of Frank Stone
- The First Berserker: Khazan
- The Rise of the Golden Idol
- Thrasher
- Usual June
- Visions of Mana
- Windblown
- ''World of Goo 2''
Winners and nominees
The Game Awards partnered with Nighttimes and Studio 568 to create an in-game hub world in Fortnite, available from November 14, allowing players to vote for their favorite user-created islands among ten nominees; the winner was announced during the ceremony. Keighley had been seeking to create more in-game events since hosting a live show in Fortnite in 2019, and sought to allow in-game live viewership of the show in the future. He felt it was a more effective advertising technique for the show than traditional marketing like billboards. According to Keighley, the hub world surpassed one million plays within three days, with more than 875,000 unique players.
Awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger.Media
| Game of the Year | |
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