So after watching the awards and spending some time thinking about them, I have come to a sour final opinion. The show does not give enough time to actually presenting the awards to the people who make these games. Instead it spends much of its time with adverts and "World Premieres". In addition to the number of world premieres, I saw more than a few trailers for games that have already released and more than one trailer for Dead by Daylight, PUBG, and those Truth vaping prevention ads. Please give more time to the actual awards. The world premieres themselves are always nice to see but even they really encroached on the award presentations themselves. World premieres are great but the show should be more than that. More than once did a game get main stage time just to be announced. The Duffer Brothers were only there to announce that Stranger Things game on the main stage. It began to feel like Geoff was just waiting for a moment to run through a half dozen awards on that side stage so they could get to more announcements.
This show is for awards. Game developers behind Obra Dinn, Into the Breach, Florence, etc. deserve some time in the sun. So do the big game developers. Developers work so very hard for recognition. Get these people up on stage let them be recognized. It seems as though the advertising has been encroaching further into the awards that it was often hard to tell when an award was being presented and when it was just another premiere. I remember That Dragon, Cancer winning and the emotional speech on stage more than anything else from the 2016 show. In 2017 when Melina Juergens won for best performance you could see how big a moment that was for her. Same with Roger Clark this year who said, later on, he ran out of time on stage with the "Wrap It Up" prompt. If this is an awards show make it about recognizing the people who won over the world premieres. If it is not, they should drop some of the pretenses. I won't lie and say the primaries don't matter, I am sure Geoff and the rest of his team have data to show that is what people tune in for. For them, it must be an excruciating balance between trying to get some of the awards time and getting to the next premiere. Yet, if this is about the games and about the people the trailers should be secondary. This year it felt like the awards were a mild inconvenience between trailers. It makes me uncomfortable knowing that some of these developers might have had something to say, to thank their audience or otherwise and were never given the chance.
Over the years seeing game developers on a stage full of that nervous energy has been great. These people spend years of their lives on these games. Pour their heart and sould into them the least they deserve is minute or tow on stage. I feel that is being missed in exchange for some World Premieres that could take place during the pre-show or even at other events around the year.
I am happy for the show, it is a great recognition of the steps the industry is taking. Nonetheless, I hope Geoff and the rest of his team take caution that new game announcements and adverts do not swallow the awards whole. With that, I will "wrap it up".
EDIT: I would just like to add in a small note. I am not complaining about the announcements. I simply believe that the developers themselves should receive recognition. This is the one awards show that has quite broad notoriety. It should use that notoriety to give the people more time to be honored. I think Geoff and his team could find a nicer balance that allows that. The announcements are great, love them, but still my point stands.
This show is for awards. Game developers behind Obra Dinn, Into the Breach, Florence, etc. deserve some time in the sun. So do the big game developers. Developers work so very hard for recognition. Get these people up on stage let them be recognized. It seems as though the advertising has been encroaching further into the awards that it was often hard to tell when an award was being presented and when it was just another premiere. I remember That Dragon, Cancer winning and the emotional speech on stage more than anything else from the 2016 show. In 2017 when Melina Juergens won for best performance you could see how big a moment that was for her. Same with Roger Clark this year who said, later on, he ran out of time on stage with the "Wrap It Up" prompt. If this is an awards show make it about recognizing the people who won over the world premieres. If it is not, they should drop some of the pretenses. I won't lie and say the primaries don't matter, I am sure Geoff and the rest of his team have data to show that is what people tune in for. For them, it must be an excruciating balance between trying to get some of the awards time and getting to the next premiere. Yet, if this is about the games and about the people the trailers should be secondary. This year it felt like the awards were a mild inconvenience between trailers. It makes me uncomfortable knowing that some of these developers might have had something to say, to thank their audience or otherwise and were never given the chance.
Over the years seeing game developers on a stage full of that nervous energy has been great. These people spend years of their lives on these games. Pour their heart and sould into them the least they deserve is minute or tow on stage. I feel that is being missed in exchange for some World Premieres that could take place during the pre-show or even at other events around the year.
I am happy for the show, it is a great recognition of the steps the industry is taking. Nonetheless, I hope Geoff and the rest of his team take caution that new game announcements and adverts do not swallow the awards whole. With that, I will "wrap it up".
EDIT: I would just like to add in a small note. I am not complaining about the announcements. I simply believe that the developers themselves should receive recognition. This is the one awards show that has quite broad notoriety. It should use that notoriety to give the people more time to be honored. I think Geoff and his team could find a nicer balance that allows that. The announcements are great, love them, but still my point stands.
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