Noclip documentary: Why Did Geoff Keighley Create The Game Awards?

7threst · Jan 3, 2019

I always enjoy the content of Noclip, who create videogame content on YouTube. Recently they filmed a documentary on Geof Keighley and why he created the TGA's:

Of course this year TGA (as every year) wasn't free from criticism, but I keep admiring Geoff for persisting in this industry with formats he believes in. I really enjoyed this documentary which also gives a closer look on where Geoff comes from. I thought it would be cool to share on here.

Deleted member 5593 · Jan 3, 2019

How exactly does Geoff afford the theatre, orchestra, plane tickets/hotel for guests, + all the other costs when he's financing it all himself?

HotsauceDragon · Jan 3, 2019

AAK said:
How exactly does Geoff afford the theatre, orchestra, plane tickets/hotel for guests, + all the other costs when he's financing it all himself?

Advertising, advertising, advertising.

BernardoOne · Jan 3, 2019

Looking at the last one, it definitely didn't have anything to do with awarding anything

Terror-Billy · Jan 3, 2019

Where's that "EA handling money" gif when you need it? TGA is such a strange beast for me. It feels like the awards are the least important thing in there. I find very disrespectful to throw away some of the awards during breaks and just say "here's a recap of like 10 awards. Now ladies and gents, please welcome CHVRCHES!"

spam musubi · Jan 3, 2019

BernardoOne said:
Looking at the last one, it definitely didn't have anything to do with awarding anything

This is a bad, cynical take. I'm sure the Celeste devs or the guy who got the long-standing achievement award would disagree. Also all the people who got emotional on stage for winning. I hope I never become this jaded.

carlsojo · Jan 3, 2019

BernardoOne said:
Looking at the last one, it definitely didn't have anything to do with awarding anything

Do you wanna expand on that or just drop in with this weird cynical take?

BernardoOne · Jan 3, 2019

AAK said:
How exactly does Geoff afford the theatre, orchestra, plane tickets/hotel for guests, + all the other costs when he's financing it all himself?

By skipping most of the actual awards and sell every space and time possible to add instead

carlsojo said:
Do you wanna expand on that or just drop in with this weird cynical take?

rewatch it and see how many awards were quickly skipped

Wulfric · Jan 3, 2019

I think the show still has room to grow. Geoff has come a long way from the Spike TV days .

Dothraki Horse · Jan 3, 2019

Easy answer. To give Sony and Microsoft some props.

BriGuy · Jan 3, 2019

As lame as this show is now, it will probably become quite the cash cow in years to come.

Chrno · Jan 3, 2019

carlsojo said:
Do you wanna expand on that or just drop in with this weird cynical take?

he's referring to the fact that the last "best" show concentrated mostly on ads and very little on awards.

metsallica · Jan 3, 2019

Some of the takes in this thread are just embarrassing. Keighley is the closest thing this industry has to an ambassador, and he's been doing it for decades. Nobody has the passion or drive that he does, and he does it all in service of the industry. All he's ever wanted is to create a legitimate play-field, so much so that he'll literally drag the industry kicking-and-screaming all the way there if he has to. I have always been a fan, I will always be a fan, a supporter, and a believer, and everyone who cares about games must be too. I just hope he continues to gain support and develop a team he can delegate to (tough as a perfectionist) because the amount of energy and passion he devotes to his goal would destroy most normal people. The guy deserves to take a break every so often!

VariantX · Jan 3, 2019

HotsauceDragon said:
Advertising, advertising, advertising.

Indeed. On top of that, you think the big three and some of the other big publishers ain't throwing a little change towards the production just so they can get a captive audience of hundreds of thousands of viewers watching the latest trailers for their upcoming products? Its damn near a Mini E3 in terms of announcements.

Bony Manifesto · Jan 3, 2019

BernardoOne said:
By skipping most of the actual awards and sell every space and time possible to add instead
rewatch it and see how many awards were quickly skipped

I guess it comes down to whether it's better to have a lot of award categories and brush over a bunch of them quickly, or to significantly cut down the number of awards and make sure each is given a decent amount of time.

I think most of the nominees would prefer the former as even if you don't get much time in the event itself, you still get that 'Game Awards 2018 Winner/Nominee' credit that you can use in your store page and marketing.

Napalm_Frank · Jan 3, 2019

VariantX said:
Indeed. On top of that, you think the big three and some of the other big publishers ain't throwing a little change towards the production just so they can get a captive audience of hundreds of thousands of viewers watching the latest trailers for their upcoming products? Its damn near a Mini E3 in terms of announcements.

Funny enough last few TGAs easily would surpass most E3 conferences in terms of announcements and showcases. And even with the ads and stuff it still mostly has better pacing than some E3 shows I have seen lol.

entremet · Jan 3, 2019

Even the Oscar, the gold standard of award shows, heavily relies on sponsors. Strange to criticize TGA for it. People need to get the paid and these productions don't have people working for free only lol.

Redcrayon · Jan 3, 2019

Awards dos are massive commercial enterprises, it's not really much of a mystery. In publishing it's usually more profitable to run an awards do and make bank on entry fees, table sales, advertising space on the night, multimedia rights and on the promotional material, than it is to run an issue of a magazine.

Jiggy · Jan 3, 2019

entremet said:
Even the Oscar, the gold standard of award shows, heavily relies on sponsors. Strange to criticize TGA for it. People need to get the paid and these productions don't have people working for free only lol.

What's funny is that when we got video game awards show that are nothing but awards, nobody actually watches them

Like it or not Geoff's got a winning formula here

BernardoOne · Jan 3, 2019

entremet said:
Even the Oscar, the gold standard of award shows, heavily relies on sponsors. Strange to criticize TGA for it. People need to get the paid and these productions don't have people working for free only lol.

But the issue isn't being sponsored, the issue is cutting it up so much it's not even a awards show anymore.

saenima · Jan 3, 2019

metsallica said:
Some of the takes in this thread are just embarrassing. Keighley is the closest thing this industry has to an ambassador, and he's been doing it for decades. Nobody has the passion or drive that he does, and he does it all in service of the industry. All he's ever wanted is to create a legitimate play-field, so much so that he'll literally drag the industry kicking-and-screaming all the way there if he has to. I have always been a fan, I will always be a fan, a supporter, and a believer, and everyone who cares about games must be too. I just hope he continues to gain support and develop a team he can delegate to (tough as a perfectionist) because the amount of energy and passion he devotes to his goal would destroy most normal people. The guy deserves to take a break every so often!

This reads like a cultist manifesto.

Keighley is merely managing his business, which is promotion. Of anything really. He'll sell you Dewritos one minute and Zelda or CoD the next. Not hating. Just business facts. He's a salesman and he's pretty good at it.

Timeaisis · Jan 3, 2019

entremet · Jan 3, 2019

BernardoOne said:
But the issue isn't being sponsored, the issue is cutting it up so much it's not even a awards show anymore.

Clearly that doesn't get views alone. We have those. No one watches those.

Sephzilla · Jan 3, 2019

AAK said:
How exactly does Geoff afford the theatre, orchestra, plane tickets/hotel for guests, + all the other costs when he's financing it all himself?

Ads

BernardoOne · Jan 3, 2019

entremet said:
Clearly that doesn't get views alone. We have those. No one watches those.

So don't call it an awards show meant to award people in the industry, because it isn't. It's nothing but a show to market stuff where the most anticipated stuff has jackshit to do with it and people are coming to watch trailers of unnanounced stuff.

7threst · Jan 3, 2019

Jiggy said:
What's funny is that when we got video game awards show that are nothing but awards, nobody actually watches them

Like it or not Geoff's got a winning formula here

Exactly. Even though I think every award is a winner, I don't think every award should be presented on stage, simply because that would take away the pacing.

Also, I'm surprised at a lot of cynism in this thread. Like, do people think a show like this is gonna pay for itself? Of course there is ads and reserved space for publishers and devs to talk about or reveal upcoming games. I fully expect and understand that. The show itself isn't behind a paywall so I'm not complaining.

Plus, I personallt think the VGA's can rival with the best E3 presentations. Geoff really worked hard at creating a yearly show that's worthwhile. You might hate it, but it's the closest we have to an interesting awardshow in the videogameindustry.

demosthenes · Jan 3, 2019

Will watch later. Geoff has had some missteps here and there but he's doing more for gaming than nearly everyone that's going to post in this thread.

shaneo632 · Jan 3, 2019

I think it is too top-heavy with advertising to be taken seriously by a lot of people. It has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years but it also feels pretty schizophrenic to have aggressive advertisements for games 15 seconds away from awards being given out.

Also WTF was all that anti-vaping stuff last year?

Deleted member 3897 · Jan 3, 2019

Love the game awards, hope it continues.

massoluk · Jan 3, 2019

To prove he's Kojima's best friend

Sasliquid · Jan 3, 2019

The game industry could really do with something akin to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts, Keighly could even be a core figure but without that central force the VGAs remain too reliant on advertisers and satisfying the big companies

Phil's Empty Chair · Jan 3, 2019

All hail the pope

Qudi · Jan 3, 2019

fantomena said:
Love the game awards, hope it continues.

Yeah me too. The show gets better every time. And there were much less ads than in the previous shows.

Rotobit · Jan 3, 2019

Sasliquid said:
The game industry could really do with something akin to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts, Keighly could even be a core figure but without that central force the VGAs remain too reliant on advertisers and satisfying the big companies

I'd really recommend everyone watch the BAFTA Game Awards, it can get a bit too UK developer centric, but it's pretty much all awards and discussions with developers.

It makes me a little sad it has such low viewing figures despite being the serious awards show everyone wants. Airing in April, way after GotY talks, doesn't help its case though.

chandoog · Jan 3, 2019

AAK said:
How exactly does Geoff afford the theatre, orchestra, plane tickets/hotel for guests, + all the other costs when he's financing it all himself?

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excelsiorlef · Jan 3, 2019

metsallica said:
Some of the takes in this thread are just embarrassing. Keighley is the closest thing this industry has to an ambassador, and he's been doing it for decades. Nobody has the passion or drive that he does, and he does it all in service of the industry. All he's ever wanted is to create a legitimate play-field, so much so that he'll literally drag the industry kicking-and-screaming all the way there if he has to. I have always been a fan, I will always be a fan, a supporter, and a believer, and everyone who cares about games must be too. I just hope he continues to gain support and develop a team he can delegate to (tough as a perfectionist) because the amount of energy and passion he devotes to his goal would destroy most normal people. The guy deserves to take a break every so often!

Oh please, his show celebrates Total Biscuit and Boogie, he gave them bloody awards.

Pyro · Jan 3, 2019

I think TGAs are kind of hamstrung by the need to have announcements for new games and not just focus on what came out that year, but there's always the BAFTAs for that.

Uno Venova · Jan 3, 2019

Geoff is doing great things, hope he doesn't actually try to please cynical forum posters who's never sniffed running a show of that size.

Nairume · Jan 3, 2019

excelsiorlef said:
Oh please, his show celebrates Total Biscuit and Boogie, he gave them bloody awards.

That's the biggest black mark on the show. For all the good moments that do exist in the show, they are matched with Keighley doing poor work in filtering out the rotten parts of gaming. For somebody being claimed as an ambassador for games, he sure does give promotion to some of gaming's worst elements.

Keldroc · Jan 3, 2019

To make money and to raise his profile in the industry as much as possible. Same reason anyone embarks on any major business venture, really. It's not that complicated.

Deleted member 9135 · Jan 3, 2019

saenima said:
This reads like a cultist manifesto.

Keighley is merely managing his business, which is promotion. Of anything really. He'll sell you Dewritos one minute and Zelda or CoD the next. Not hating. Just business facts. He's a salesman and he's pretty good at it.

This is spot on.

Geoff is selling his name and using games, developers and "influencers/content creators " to do it. They are simply the means to an end, but not an end.

Uno Venova said:
Geoff is doing great things, hope he doesn't actually try to please cynical forum posters who's never sniffed running a show of that size.

Doing great for himself. The industry will do just fine if he weren't in it.

saenima · Jan 3, 2019

demosthenes said:
Will watch later. Geoff has had some missteps here and there but he's doing more for gaming than nearly everyone that's going to post in this thread.

He's certainly doing more for the promotion of bigots like Boogers than most people in this thread, i'll give you that.

MrS · Jan 3, 2019

The discerning viewer knows that TGA is nothing more than an advertising extravaganza. The awards are secondary and, for the most part, the nominations are risible and not representative of excellence in the field. In a way, it's the awards show our industry deserves because games are full of fuckery and consumer-fleecing, so it's fitting that the award show that considers itself the most important should be too. The BAFTA Game Awards is certainly a better ceremony and something for TGA to aspire to.

Uno Venova · Jan 3, 2019

Somewhatgroovy said:
Doing great for himself. The industry will do just fine if he weren't in it.

And giving more exposure & recognition to gaming and their personalities. What does the state of gaming have to do with anything?

metsallica · Jan 3, 2019

saenima said:
This reads like a cultist manifesto.

Keighley is merely managing his business, which is promotion. Of anything really. He'll sell you Dewritos one minute and Zelda or CoD the next. Not hating. Just business facts. He's a salesman and he's pretty good at it.

I'd rather come off as proselytizing than overly dismissive. Nobody is denying the man's right to a livelihood, but if you think he doesn't genuinely love games and want to advance the medium I don't know what to tell you. Read the Polygon piece if you haven't, it's just the tip of the iceberg.

excelsiorlef said:
Oh please, his show celebrates Total Biscuit and Boogie, he gave them bloody awards.

A panel picks the nominees and, I believe, a larger group of industry people vote. While he has overall control over the show, there does need to be some separation of "church and state" as it were, lest this truly be the repugnant endeavor many in this thread seem to want to believe it is. And please don't take that as me downplaying whatever those people did, though I must admit to being ignorant to that fact as I don't really follow that space.

JayBee · Jan 3, 2019

The man is okay in my back.

Deleted member 9135 · Jan 3, 2019

Uno Venova said:
And giving more exposure & recognition to gaming and their personalities. What does the state of gaming have to do with anything?

How does your first sentence not tie into the second? Lastly, how do you quantify 'giving more exposure'? Someone like Ninja brings more to Geoff's table than vice versa. Why do you think he was nominated?

excelsiorlef · Jan 3, 2019

metsallica said:
I'd rather come off as proselytizing than overly dismissive. Nobody is denying the man's right to a livelihood, but if you think he doesn't genuinely love games and want to advance the medium I don't know what to tell you. Read the Polygon piece if you haven't, it's just the tip of the iceberg.

A panel picks the nominees and, I believe, a larger group of industry people vote. While he has overall control over the show, there does need to be some separation of "church and state" as it were, lest this truly be the repugnant endeavor many in this thread seem to want to believe it is. And please don't take that as me downplaying whatever those people did, though I must admit to being ignorant to that fact as I don't really follow that space.

Geoff literally calls Boogie his friend and has made it clear he's always welcome at the show.

potatohead · Jan 3, 2019

Terror-Billy said:
Where's that "EA handling money" gif when you need it? TGA is such a strange beast for me. It feels like the awards are the least important thing in there. I find very disrespectful to throw away some of the awards during breaks and just say "here's a recap of like 10 awards. Now ladies and gents, please welcome CHVRCHES!"

I think part of it is maybe not every team shows up and the other part is emphasizing game trailers and new content

But yea at some point every award would be nice for someone to accept it on stage

Nairume · Jan 3, 2019

metsallica said:
A panel picks the nominees and, I believe, a larger group of industry people vote. While he has overall control over the show, there does need to be some separation of "church and state" as it were, lest this truly be the repugnant endeavor many in this thread seem to want to believe it is. And please don't take that as me downplaying whatever those people did, though I must admit to being ignorant to that fact as I don't really follow that space.

That still doesn't forgive them giving the award to hate movement apologists/participants.

Even nominating TotalBiscuit in 2014 of all years was especially tone-deaf, even if the excuse of his illness was there.

Noclip documentary: Why Did Geoff Keighley Create The Game Awards?

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