Reaction: The Game Awards' 10th Anniversary Special Was Its Biggest and Best Ever 1
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We’ve been saying for a few years that The Game Awards is just about the best it can possibly be, but credit where credit’s due, host Geoff Keighley put on a barnstormer last night. There was talk of multiple “holy sh*t” moments prior to the event from those ITK, and we think it delivered.

Like, who had a new Okami from Hideki Kamiya on their bingo card? Or a new Onimusha? Or the next game from Naughty Dog? Or a lengthy cinematic from The Witcher 4? Or a new game from the makers of Yakuza? Or a first look at the next effort from industry icon Fumito Ueda? We could go on…

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Just one or two of these things would have been the basis of a good show; putting them all together, in the same place, in an admittedly overly long three-hour span was unprecedented. This was comfortably the most surprising video game livestream of the year.

Reaction: The Game Awards' 10th Anniversary Special Was Its Biggest and Best Ever 2

All of that, of course, jars with the fact that it’s also supposed to be an awards show. Many of the categories were rattled through in record time, leaving us pondering their purpose in the first place. As has been the case in previous years, some of them were reserved for the pre-show.

But Keighley deserves some credit for responding to criticism of past events. Security was notably and visibly tighter, leading to no snafus or stage invasions; funny, viral moments in years past for sure – but also potentially dangerous and unsafe.

The speeches from the awards winners were short but didn’t feel constrained, and it felt like all of the biggest games of the year got a moment in the spotlight, even if Astro Bot ultimately took home the top gong.

There was even a nice segment dealing with the industry’s ongoing layoffs; Keighley side-stepped the awkwardness of calling out his corporate partners, instead focusing on inaugural Game Changer Amir Satvat, who is working to uplift developers. This was a good angle, putting a positive spin on a series of negative stories that have been happening for a while.

Reaction: The Game Awards' 10th Anniversary Special Was Its Biggest and Best Ever 3

Keighley said that the show’s goal was to celebrate 2024 and also provide a glimpse of the future, and the show did that. As always, the event did feel like it dragged in the latter half – extra difficult for those watching in the UK, where the clock ticked past 4AM by the time the curtain closed – but it feels like that’s just a consequence of it needing to include enough ads and sponsors to sustain itself.

The problem Geoff may face moving forwards is that it may take another ten years to deliver a show with quite this many surprises and shock-and-awe reveals. But that shouldn’t discredit what we just witnessed: an E3 calibre livestream with a cavalcade of big reveals and an earnest emphasis on the year’s best games.

One other thing worthy of note: PS5 has been criticised for having a down year, but with many of the big winners on the night console exclusive, Sony will be feeling sneakily smug right now we suspect. That was a hugely successful evening for PlayStation, with Astro Bot in particular being the biggest winner in a highly competitive field.

What did you think of The Game Awards 2024 this year? Did it live up to its billing and did Geoff Keighley silence some of his critics? Let us know in the comments section below.

How would you rate The Game Awards 2024?