The Game Awards 2022 cuts back with “fewer bigger games”

Ahead of The Game Awards 2022 on December 8, the show’s creator and host Geoff Keighley says the team has “cut back pretty significantly in terms of the runtime on the show” with “fewer bigger games that’ll be in there,” as rumours swirl and chatter bubbles about which of the biggest upcoming games we’re likely to see in action. Tekken 8 is confirmed to appear at the show, as is a presentation from Final Fantasy 16’s producer, while Bethesda’s Starfield, EA’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor, and the latest from Hideo Kojima are all potentially on the cards.

Speaking on a behind the scenes chat for The Game Awards on Twitter Spaces ahead of rehearsals, Keighley discusses some of the plans for the show. He explains, “I won’t say anything officially until we’re through our rehearsals but we think it’s going to be a significantly shorter show than in past years,” suggesting those of us in territories such as the UK and Europe aren’t going to be kept up too far into the small hours of the morning to get our new game fix.

Asked about developers pulling out of his previous show, Summer Game Fest, Keighley remarks, “Things move around all the time,” citing that presentation’s re-reveal of a Dead Island 2 release date as something that had been previously planned for a reveal at a prior Game Awards event but was pushed back. He talks a little about “games that we all are courting,” speaking to some of the biggest names and commenting that when such games don’t appear “it’s not because we didn’t ask for it, it’s because they didn’t want to show it then or they weren’t ready.”

“Overall, I think it’s a really good lineup, the games that we’re showing,” Keighley says, saying that viewers can expect “lots of gameplay, there are a couple of CG pieces.” He addresses the challenge of matching up to hype: “Someone’s biggest game of the show might be someone else’s worst game of the show – that’s sort of what’s difficult, to please everybody.”

Keighley promises that the show is “definitely packed with a lot of stuff across the industry,” but comments that the production team has “cut back pretty significantly in terms of the runtime of the show” and that there are “fewer bigger games that’ll be in there.” He does note, however, that “We’ve got a lot of small, independent studios and bigger studios showing games – the industry is so big now I don’t think it’s all dependent on ‘we’ve got to have this one game or it’s not worth doing.’”

The Game Awards 2022 start time

The Game Awards airs on December 8 from 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET, which is 12:30am GMT on December 9 for UK viewers. You can check the chart below for your region’s time. It’ll be available on all The Game Awards social channels, including YouTube and Twitch alongside other platforms such as Twitter, Steam, and Facebook Live. We’ll be sure to bring you all the big news along the way, so keep your eyes on PCGamesN throughout.

As for what we can expect to see, it’s mostly being kept a surprise for the day. Bandai Namco confirms on Twitter that Tekken 8 will make an appearance, while Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida is confirmed to also be presenting at the show. Also there is Hazelight director Josef Fares, creator of previous TGA Game of the Year winner It Takes Two, though there’s no news yet suggesting whether he’ll have anything to show.

Among the other rumoured games is Starfield – the next game from the Bethesda Games Studio team behind Fallout and Skyrim recently asked the community to contribute to its Starfield Constellation Questions video series. Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor also seems likely to appear, with the EA Star Wars account on Twitter recently changing its profile banner to a logo for the sequel.

Of course, Keighley’s fondness for Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima means there’s always a chance the Kojima Productions head could make an appearance for any number of reasons, whether or not he has a new game to show.

But what about Half-Life 3? Keighley jokes, “There are definitely studios and games on my bucket list – when I was just starting out the show of course I was like, ‘Oh I want Gabe [Newell] to walk out and announce Half-Life 3’ or something like that, right.” With a knowing laugh, he continues, “But you need the game to actually exist first!” Perhaps next year, then.

While we wait to see what’s likely to appear, why not take a look at the Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 launch trailer, or any of the other great picks in our list of the best free games on PC. You may also want to read our reviews of Warhammer 40K: Darktide, The Callisto Protocol, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and WoW Dragonflight to see how the latest game releases have tickled us.