The Game Awards 2019 had a bunch of memorable moments during its three hour broadcast. From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won the coveted Game Of The Year award, Grimes dragged her boyfriend to her band performance, and Geoff Keighley once again got to show his undying admiration for his hero, and one of the gaming industry’s biggest legends, Hideo Kojima. As he does every year, Keighley went all out for the production of this event and it led to some great interactions between characters, both animated and real, from Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez’s little geek-out moment to Elon Musk awkwardly standing up to applaud on-camera.
First aired in 2014 after a split from Spike TV’s partnership, The Game Awards is an annual awards program that honors notable titles throughout the year (that is, any title that releases up until the cut-off point in mid-November of that year).
Though the main point of the program is to honor these titles, the other major aspects of the show are announcements and premieres. To add more to the mix, the production usually involves widely known actors, sports stars, and general public figures either performing some variation of a sketch or just handing out awards to the nominated games and their developers. As with any event, sometimes these bits do not pan out. Other times, they actually end up being great.
Xbox Series X Reveal Trailer
One of the first and most surprising announcements to come out of The Game Awards 2019actually came right after a slightly awkward moment during a previous award acceptance speech. When the award for Best Narrative was given to Disco Elysium, four delegates from developer ZA/UM were ecstatic. Helen Hindpere delivered her acceptance speech proudly which was followed by a hearty applause from the crowd. Strangely, stage direction and the orchestra then tried to guide the developers off of the stage as quickly as possible.
This slightly awkward scene was confusing at first but in hindsight indicated that a big announcement was about to drop and production wanted everyone to clear the stage. The next generation of Xbox, officially called Xbox Series X, was announced out of nowhere at The Game Awards 2019, along with the sequel to Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Though there were several rumors as to what would appear at The Game Awards 2019 leading up to the event, there was not any kind of public indication that the new console, or line of consoles, would be revealed there. This announcement could be one of the biggest pieces of news to ever come out of any iteration of Geoff Keighley’s show.
To set the stage, Microsoft now has, presumably, a couple of months worth of a head start in marketing the next generation over PlayStation. The PS4 was revealed at an event in February 2013 (not the console itself but the Dualshock 4 at least). Assuming Sony sticks to a similar announcement schedule, the PS5 will possibly be revealed February, the months after, or at E3 2019 (which Sony has not ruled out this time).
With this slight advantage, Microsoft can begin to shape the next generation of console gaming by marketing the Xbox Series X all the way until launch. As the title of the console suggests, this new series of Xbox will feature a few versions that will tackle various different audiences, such as those who prefer streaming over everything and those who prefer the most powerful tech they can find in a console.
Ikumi Nakamura
Lighting up the crowd and the stage with her energy before the announcer even finishes introducing her, former art designer and director at Tango Gameworks, Nakamura came out to present the award for Best Art Direction. She started her speech on art direction by jokingly noting her difficulty with English, “please ‘bear’ my English.” Whenever she messed up a line, she would laugh it off and try it again with more enthusiasm. After the nominee footage reel, she held the winner envelope to her forehead saying, “as you know, I am a fortune teller,” and kept messing with the audience.
She finished her speech off with the signature pose that the internet has come to love her for but right after handing the award over to the developers of Control, Nakamura reciprocated a bow from one of them by fully prostrating on the ground in a charming and respectful moment between everyone involved.
The Muppets Meet Untitled Goose Game
In perhaps the nerdiest moment in Geoff Keighley’s production career, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his long-time wacky assistant, Beaker, were featured on stage presenting the award for Games For Impact.
This sketch was a big highlight in the program, as the Muppets’ delivery was natural and funny. Beaker kept getting into unfortunate situations like he always does, but this time involved a new Muppets VR headset with super glue and a particular goose shaped surprise. It turned out that Dr. Bunsen Honeydew was there to showcase their latest game Untitled Beaker Game, which was of course just Untitled Goose Game with Beaker as the playable character.
As Beaker was chased off by the titular goose in Untitled Goose Game, the real Beaker was freaking out in his VR goggles. After the nominees were shown, the untitled goose went on the loose, out of the game, on stage as a Muppet and started a bunch of shenanigans (as a good goose tends to do). Several interrupting honks later, Gris was announced as the winner of the Games For Impact award. The finishing touch came from Gris developer Roger Mendoza who started with, “thank you to The Muppets,” which was met with a giggle, a beep, and a honk.
Other notable mentions include smaller interesting moments like the fact that every nominee in the category for Best Family (which Luigi’s Mansion took home) was in fact a Nintendo game. Apex Legends’ Mirage showed up virtually to showcase the newest Christmas content for the game. The Game Awards’ live orchestra was also especially impressive, laying out pieces of video game music and supporting trailers, like Ghost of Tsushima's, with live music. Another notable moment was the passionate speech on the video game industry’s impact on the world by Reggie Fils-Aime, all of which made the night memorable.