Host of the annual Game Awards, Geoff Keighley, has been talking about this year’s show – how it’s been impacted and altered by its 2014 reveal of No Man’s Sky, the highs of hype following it, and the crushing lows as it crashed back down to Earth.
Will this year’s show see more titles added to our upcoming PC games list?
“I have thought about the story of No Man’s Sky a lot,” Keighley told Polygon. “Did we create this black hole of hype that the developers couldn’t pull themselves out of? Some of that was authored by me.
“There is a good moral of that story and it’s part of what I’m trying to address this year; to have developers be more transparent about the state of their game.”
The Game Awards were created by Keighley to replace Spike’s VGX, and you’ll be able to catch the 2016 edition on streaming services like Twitch on December 1. The show is mainly about giving a nod to the best games of each year, but there are usually a couple of reveals to go along with the accolades.
Telltale are expected to show a Guardians of the Galaxy game this year. As mentioned, the Game Awards 2014 showed the first footage of No Man’s Sky – something Keighley admits he pushed for – and expectations grew from there. Keighley also thinks the game didn’t live up to these, which were based on a brief look at a game very early in development.
“I agree with the feedback and told that to [developer] Sean Murray,” he said. “That game, when it was announced, everyone in their mind’s eye came up with an idealised notion of what it was going to be. I knew the team and it was eight guys. The vision was never going to be achieved.”
To combat similar happening this year, Keighley says the show will be “diving deeper into games and gameplay”.
“We’re going to get deeper looks at premieres; they’ll run four or five minutes,” promises Keighley. “I think people will be surprised at the depth of some of the game content we will show this year.”