Highlights
- The Game Awards is open to adding new categories each year, with consideration for categories like Best Remake and Best Supporting Actor.
- Adding new categories has both pros and cons, such as the challenge of finding enough worthy nominations each year and the risk of making a game ineligible for Game of the Year.
- The Game Awards has reservations about adding categories that focus too much on the narrative side of games, as they prefer to maintain emphasis on gameplay. Exciting announcements about future games can be expected at the upcoming awards show.
The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley confirmed that the production is open to adding new categories in the future, and is something they consider on a yearly basis. During a Q&A, Keighley explained the group's thought process behind adding potential categories to The Game Awards.
The Game Awards is a yearly event in which video games are recognized for achieving various feats of excellence. Its categories include predictable ones like Game of the Year, Best Narrative, and Best Multiplayer, while also including more particular categories like Best Audio Design, Best Community Support, and Best Innovation in Accessibility. In 2023, it will give out awards for a total of 31 categories, which is a number that often changes as the awards show grows. Keighley detailed that these changes will likely continue going into the future.
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Keighley explained that The Game Awards is considering introducing categories like Best Remake and Best Supporting Actor, but added that there are pros and cons to adding either. The Best Remake award has been widely requested following hits like this year's Dead Space and Resident Evil4 remakes. And although The Game Awards already hosts a Best Performance category, the proliferation of motion capture technology in narrative-based video games has made some feel that supporting actors are worthy of recognition as well.
Although these categories would be an exciting addition to The Game Awards, Keighley explained their potential drawbacks. Although 2023 has seen some exceptional remakes, it's not every year that there are five worthy nominations. And additionally, a game's nomination to the Best Remake category could make it ineligible for Game of the Year. This would have created some problems for the Resident Evil 4 remake, which is nominated for Game of the Year.
As for the potential Best Supporting Actor category, Keighley further explained that The Game Awards has sometimes received criticism for focusing too much on the narrative side of games. He says that they've definitely considered adding the category, but reservations about The Game Awards becoming the Oscars of video games have kept them from doing so, instead choosing to maintain their emphasis on the gameplay side of video games.
As The Game Awards is approaching its December 7 date, two possible world premieres have gotten fans excited. It's a recurring tradition that various high-profile games are revealed during the awards show. This year, speculation has grown about the possible showing of Grand Theft Auto 6 and Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. While neither has been confirmed to be revealed at The Game Awards yet, fans can expect exciting announcements to be made about future games in one way or another.