The Game Awards 2019
The Game Awards 2019 | |
---|---|
Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles | |
Country | United States |
Hosted by | Geoff Keighley |
Preshow host(s) | Sydnee Goodman |
Highlights | |
Most awards | Disco Elysium (4) |
Most nominations | Death Stranding (10) |
Game of the Year | Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice |
Website | thegameawards.com |
Online coverage | |
Runtime | 2 hours, 40 minutes |
Viewership | 45.2 million |
Produced by |
|
Directed by | Richard Preuss |
The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best
Background
As with previous iterations of
Keighley spent most of the year preparing for the show,[6] as did about eight of the production's full-time staff; hundreds of contributors worked on the final show.[5] In November, Kim worked 11-hour days to coordinate the show with contractors and decipher its pacing.[7] During the ceremony, Keighley spoke to the animated character Mirage from Apex Legends for the announcement of the game's holiday event. The interaction took place in real-time, with actor Roger Craig Smith performing the movements through motion capture in a studio besides the Microsoft Theater. The game's creative director Drew Stauffer approached creative production studio The Mill in October 2018 with the idea. The Mill partnered with Cubic Motion to develop the technology, and with Animatrik for the motion capture movement.[8] The production teams considered revealing the technology during the show, but opted to maintain the illusion until afterwards.[7]
The show featured presenters such as
Announcements
Valve announced it would showcase Half-Life: Alyx at the ceremony, but pulled out several hours prior to the event.[13] Announcements on recently released and upcoming games were made for Apex Legends, Beat Saber, Black Desert Online, Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Gears Tactics, Ghost of Tsushima, Humankind, Magic: The Gathering Arena, New World, No More Heroes III, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. New games announced during the ceremony included:[9][14]
- Bravely Default II
- Convergence: A League of Legends Story
- Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance
- Fast & Furious Crossroads
- Godfall
- Magic: Legends
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- Nine to Five
- Path of the Warrior
- Prologue
- Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
- Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
- Sons of the Forest
- Surgeon Simulator 2
- Ultimate Rivals: The Rink
- Weird West
- The Wolf Among Us 2
Additionally, Microsoft revealed the
Winners and nominees
The nominees for The Game Awards 2019 were announced on November 19, 2019.
Awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).[19]
Video games
Game of the Year
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Best Game Direction |
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Best Narrative | Best Art Direction |
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Best Score/Music | Best Audio Design |
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Best Performance | Games for Impact |
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Best Ongoing Game | Best Independent Game |
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Best Mobile Game | Best VR/AR Game |
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Best Action Game | Best Action/Adventure Game |
Best Role Playing Game | Best Fighting Game |
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Best Family Game | Best Strategy Game |
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Best Sports/Racing Game | Best Multiplayer Game |
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Fresh Indie Game[d] | Best Community Support |
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Player's Voice[e] | |
Esports and creators
Best Esports Game | Best Esports Player |
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Best Esports Team | Best Esports Coach |
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Best Esports Event | Best Esports Host |
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Content Creator of the Year | Global Gaming Citizens[f] |
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Games with multiple nominations and awards
Multiple nominations
Death Stranding received ten nominations, the most in the show's history to date.[a] Other games with multiple nominations included Control with eight and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice with five. Nintendo had 15 total nominations, more than any other publisher, followed by Sony Interactive Entertainment with 12 and Activision with 10.[17]
Nominations | Publisher |
---|---|
15 | Nintendo |
12 | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
10 | Activision |
8 | 505 Games |
7 | Capcom |
Electronic Arts | |
6 | Annapurna Interactive |
Square Enix | |
4 | Devolver Digital |
Private Division | |
Ubisoft | |
ZA/UM
| |
3 | Epic Games |
Xbox Game Studios | |
2 | 2K Games
|
Bungie | |
Codemasters | |
Panic
| |
Valve |
Multiple awards
Awards | Game |
---|---|
4 | Disco Elysium |
3 | Death Stranding |
2 | Fire Emblem: Three Houses |
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice |
Awards | Publisher |
---|---|
5 | Activision |
4 | Nintendo |
ZA/UM
| |
3 | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
Presenters and performers
Presenters
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or introduced trailers. All other awards and trailers were presented by Goodman in the preshow and Keighley in the main show.[3][9][28]
Name | Role |
---|---|
Lual Mayen | Presented the reveal trailer for Salaam in the preshow |
Jeff Spock | Presented the gameplay trailer for Humankind in the preshow |
Jonathan Nolan | Presented the award for Best Narrative |
Phil Spencer | Presented the reveal trailer for Xbox Series X and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
|
Stephen Curry | Presented the award for Best Esports Player[29] |
Keith Lee | Presented the reveal trailer for Godfall |
Steve Gibson | |
Rebecca Ford | Presented the trailer for Warframe: Empyrean[30] |
Daniel Ketchum | Presented the Theros: Beyond Death trailer for Magic: The Gathering Arena |
Ikumi Nakamura | Presented the award for Best Art Direction |
Donald Mustard | Presented a teaser for the Fortnite collaboration with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker |
Joe Madureira | Presented the gameplay reveal trailer for Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
|
Norman Reedus | Presented the award for Best Action Game |
Jeff Hattem | Presented the reveal trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance |
Mirage[g] | Presented the Holo-Day Bash Event trailer for Apex Legends |
Bunsen Honeydew | Presented the award for Games for Impact |
Beaker | |
Raphaël Colantonio | Presented the reveal trailer for Weird West[31] |
Julien Roby | |
Ninja | Presented the award for Best Multiplayer Game |
Sydnee Goodman | Presented the award for Best Ongoing Game |
Matias Myllyrinne | Presented the reveal trailer for Nine to Five |
Reggie Fils-Aimé | Presented the award for Fresh Indie Game |
Lee Thomas | Presented the reveal trailer for Convergence: A League of Legends Story[32] |
Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez | Presented the winner of the QLED television
|
Ashly Burch | Presented the award for Best Game Direction |
Michelle Rodriguez | Presented the reveal trailer for Fast & Furious Crossroads and introduced Vin Diesel |
Vin Diesel | Presented the award for Game of the Year |
Performers
The following individuals or groups performed musical numbers.[3][9]
Name | Song | Game(s) |
---|---|---|
Chvrches | "Death Stranding" | Death Stranding |
Grimes |
" 4ÆM " |
Cyberpunk 2077 |
The Game Awards Orchestra[h] | "Way of the Ghost" | Ghost of Tsushima |
Game of the Year medley | Control | |
Death Stranding | ||
The Outer Worlds | ||
Resident Evil 2 | ||
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | ||
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | ||
Green Day | "Welcome to Paradise" | Beat Saber |
"Father of All..." |
Ratings and reception
Nominees
Death Stranding's record ten nominations prompted allegations of impropriety and a conflict of interest due to Keighley's friendly relationship with game director Hideo Kojima and his cameo appearance in the game.[6][36] Keighley said he understood and appreciated the concern but reiterated he does not partake in the jury nominations or award selections, noting he intentionally distances himself due to his close working relationship with developers and publishers.[36][37] Additionally, while Kojima sits on the advisory board for the Game Awards, Keighley asserted the board had no direct influence on the selections.[38][39] Kotaku's Heather Alexandra wrote that the close relationship would continue to reflect poorly on the ceremony, regardless of Keighley's clarification.[38]
Ceremony
The show received a mixed reception from media publications.
Viewership
The Game Awards 2019 was the most-viewed ceremony to date,[c] a feat that surprised Keighley as he suspected the show had hit its peak in 2018.[2] Over 45.2 million streams were used to view the show, an increase of 73 percent from the 2018 ceremony's 26.2 million. At its peak, the show had over 7.5 million concurrent viewers, including over 2 million across Twitch and YouTube.[10] The show had increased viewership in China, which Keighley partly attributed to the League of Legends announcements.[7] The increased viewership reassured Keighley that a digital show was more effective than a television broadcast.[10] He partly attributed the viewership increase to "a general rise in live-streaming" but felt it was difficult to cite a specific factor.[2]
Notes
- ^ a b Death Stranding's ten nomination record was beaten by The Last of Us Part II's eleven nominations at The Game Awards 2020.[24]
- ^ a b Disco Elysium's four win record was tied with 2016's Overwatch[25] and 2018's Red Dead Redemption 2.[26] It was beaten by The Last of Us Part II's seven wins in 2020.[27]
- ^ a b The viewership record was beaten in 2020 with 83 million streams.[45]
- ^ Awarded for the best debut game by an indie studio in 2019[23]
- ^ 100 percent fan-voted award that had a three-round nomination process that began with 24 games. Fire Emblem: Three Houses won with 45 percent of the vote, followed by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with 22 percent.[21]
- Facebook Gaming[22]
- ^ Animated character from Apex Legends portrayed by Roger Craig Smith[8]
- ^ Conducted by Lorne Balfe[4]
References
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- ^ a b c Robinson, Martin (December 13, 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 live report". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
- ^ a b Takahashi, Dean (December 5, 2019). "The Game Awards expands its streaming broadcast to India". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
- ^ a b Takahashi, Dean (November 14, 2019). "The Game Awards will air in 53 Cinemark theaters alongside Jumanji sequel". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
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