It goes without saying that this has been a weird year for the gaming industry (and, of course, everything else). Granted, the output of worthwhile games hasn’t really slowed down much from the COVID-19 pandemic, but gamers have had to make do without many of the major events that have long been pillars of the gaming calendar, or at least not in the way they’re used to. With the rest of 2020’s gaming events moving online, it’s been confirmed that this year’s installment of The Game Awards will be following suit.
The show’s producer and host Geoff Keighley has been busy lately with the four-month-long Summer Game Fest, which is set to wrap up with the digital version of Gamescom starting in a few days. In addition, IGN reports that Keighley touched upon his plans for 2020’s Game Awards in the latest episode of its video series IGN Unfiltered.
The episode itself won’t be out until tomorrow, but IGN did share a few choice quotes from Keighley ahead of time. When asked if the show will be going virtual like Gamescom, he said, “Yeah… what I will say about it is, we have a very interesting plan for the show this year. We’re definitely doing it. A lot of people are [asking], ‘Are you delaying it? The Oscars are being postponed, are you postponing The Game Awards?’ We are absolutely not. We’ll share more in the coming weeks about it, but it’s actually probably going to be our biggest show yet.”
Obviously, Keighley said, they won’t be able to get thousands of people together in a theater like in previous years. However, he stressed that the team is working hard to figure out ways to make the virtual show capture the vibe of that live experience, adding that fans should see “a little bit of this” with Gamescom later this week. “So, yeah, we’re working on some scenarios for ways we can present the show live with a bit of spectacle to people… without the public [being] able to buy tickets to come to the show, and things like that, this year.”
Specifics haven’t been revealed yet, but it’s safe to assume that the virtual Game Awards will take place in the usual time slot of December. It’s too soon to guess which games might be announced, but as for the potential winners at The Game Awards, it seems safe to assume that critically-acclaimed games like The Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons will definitely be in consideration for multiple awards, including Game of the Year.
The Game Awards 2020 is confirmed to be happening in virtual form later this year.
Source: IGN
