Key nominees and what to expect : NPR

The 11th annual Game Awards, one of the world’s most-watched award shows, takes place on Dec. 12. Hosted and produced by video game journalist Geoff Keighley, the event — self-described as “the biggest night in gaming” — has grown increasingly popular.

More than 100 million people streamed last year’s ceremony and about as many are expected to tune into this 10th anniversary show.

But the awards have also sparked controversy. Some have objected to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s consideration for the night’s top honor. Unlike the other five “Game of the Year” nominees, Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t a standalone game — it’s an expansion to the acclaimed 2022 game Elden Ring. As the first expansion ever nominated in this category, its inclusion has raised concerns that it might eclipse newer titles.

NPR’s James Mastromarino joined Morning Edition to preview the awards and discuss what to expect tonight.

Editor’s note: NPR is one of the more than 100 outlets that contributed ballots to The Game Awards, which picked winners based on those tallies and an open online voting system.

Key nominees this year

It’s been a mixed year commercially for PlayStation, but a strong one critically. Two PS5 exclusives top the list with seven nominations each, including Game of the Year.

Astro Bot

Balatro

Black Myth Wukong

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

Metaphor ReFantazio

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: A big-budget role-playing game that’s part remake, part sequel to the beloved 1997 RPG.

Astro Bot: Pure joy to play. It feels like PlayStation finally created something to rival the best Mario platformer games.

The other game of the year nominees are the politically charged Metaphor: ReFantazio,Black Myth: Wukong, an action game inspired by Chinese literature and mythology and Shadow of the Erdtree, the expansion to the 2022 Game of the Year, Elden Ring.

And hen there’s also this little indie game, Balatro:

“You can think of it as a single player poker sort of game — all of the pleasure of gambling with none of the risk. And compared to these other games, Balatro had an incredibly small budget, but has really been blowing up and has been playing all of its cards, right, and may actually take home the big prize this year.”

Why the Game Awards continue to be controversial

“All award shows exist to promote their respective industries, but the Game Awards is very nakedly a showcase. It debuts exclusive trailers and sells advertisement slots for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It broadcasts out of LA and brings out Hollywood celebrities to announce partnerships with game companies. And host Geoff Keighley rattles off some categories so fast that winners don’t have the chance to give acceptance speeches, and even when they do, they often have only about a minute to do so. So there are many examples of heartfelt speeches that get cut off before their time. So I’m curious to see if the awards won’t be quite as rapid fire this year.”

What to expect

“I’m expecting a new trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, which is slated to come out next year. We’re also expecting new information about the new Borderlands game, which is a massive gaming franchise, even as the Hollywood adaptation of it flopped this year. We also know we’re getting the reveal of the new game from the 2021, Game of the Year winner, It Takes Two. They’ll show off what they’ve been cooking up. So there’s always room for surprises. And my guess is, come tomorrow morning, we will have a completely different set of topics to discuss.”

This story was edited for radio by Lindsay Totty and produced for digital by Majd Al-Waheidi.