Game Awards founder on COVID-19 precautions and Keanu Reeves

A few months ago, Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley started holding Zoom meetings with fans, putting out a call for those who wanted to join on Twitter. One stated reason was to stay in touch with fans of the awards show, which will be broadcast live Thursday from a Hollywood sound stage, as well as in numerous venues around the world.

Now Keighley has a confession to make.

Sure, he wanted to hear what aspects of the Game Awards fans were connecting with (last year, the online show boasted 45 million live streams), but that wasn’t what ultimately motivated him to spend his Sundays through the afternoon in a video conferencing app with strangers.

“I think it was just me being selfish,” Keighley says Sunday night, admitting he wanted some free feedback and validation that what he was doing mattered.

But more than that, he wanted company.

“I mean, part of that was probably just being a little lonely,” he says, noting that 2020, with the lack of in-person gaming events, many of which Keighley participates in, created what many of us have been feeling: a social void.

Keighley was in a reflective mood. He’s definitely excited for the show. As has been well documented, video games not only thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also helped connect many of us, such as simple games like “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” “Fall Guys,” and “Among Us. “. , ”Like many others, they have become media sensations. “Animal Crossing” is among the nominees for Game of the Year, competing against “The Last of Us Part II”, “Hades”, “Ghost of Tsushima”, “Final Fantasy VII Remake” and “Doom Eternal”.

But there is also an underlying mantle that cannot be entirely avoided.

“I open the LA Times every hour,” Keighley says, noting that she can’t help but constantly watch the growing numbers of COVID-19 infections.

When he pledged last spring to host a live awards show in 2020, there was hope that by December the virus would be at least a little under control.

That is far from the case. Instead, Southern California is experiencing one of the most dangerous and fastest-growing waves of the pandemic.

“Certainly, there is a version of the show that we can do where I would just be sitting at home like I have been all summer,” says Keighley. “That is one of the contingencies that we have, that we will have a satellite truck parked outside my house and I will do the show from here. This week, if things get particularly bad, we can spin. We have three or four folders of other plans that we may have to spin and run, given everything that is happening. It’s stressful. ”

Right now, the plans are for it to be just Keighley and a skeleton crew on the awards show set.

It also weighs on Keighley: the tone of the show. As much as you want to celebrate in the middle, you don’t want to appear deaf in the middle of a pandemic. Keighley notes that the online gaming fanbase, who are often extremely vocal and not always well behaved, can trick one into thinking that everything is fine, even when it isn’t.

“I feel like fans generally don’t really realize that new consoles have been shipped and that all of these games are coming out, and it’s crazy that this is normal,” says Keighley. While movies have been delayed or moved to streaming services, the gaming industry has seen minimal pandemic-related derailments. “Here’s ‘Cypberunk.’ Here’s Xbox. Here’s PlayStation. So yeah, the audience on Twitter acts like nothing is different. “

For now though, all the systems are working and the Game Awards are not running too late. The presenters, all remotely, include “Tenet” director Christopher Nolan and “Cyberpunk 2077” star Keanu Reeves. In Seattle, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam will perform, whose song “Future Days” is heard on “The Last of Us Part II.” In London, composer Lorne Balfe will conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra from Abbey Road Studios.

Keighley, a lifelong fan of the Muppets, will also bring them back after Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker were the highlight of last year’s show. And as always, Keighley has lined up more than a dozen looks for the upcoming games. The Game Awards, after all, are part of celebrating the year that was and part of a look to the future. The festivities begin at 3:30 PM Pacific Time.

“I think the best days of video games are yet to come,” says Keighley. “This year was amazing, but wait until you see what comes in 2022 or 2023. I want to capture people’s imagination. That forward momentum is what motivates me to dedicate my life to building these things. I get contagiously excited when I see these things. ”

But let’s get back to the logistics of the awards. Keighley notes that the 2020 edition, despite being essentially remote, has been the most expensive to produce. In 2014, Keighley invested $ 1 million of his own cash to get the gala going, but budgets have skyrocketed, especially this year, in part due to COVID-19 testing for him and his crew and in part due to costs related to remote camera setups around the world with all nominees.

Keighley, who closely watched this year’s Emmys, said she wants the Game Awards to have a sense of spontaneity. Winners will not be notified in advance (they are voted largely by the global gaming media, of which I am a part. But after this year’s Emmys, which Times TV critic Lorraine Ali hailed as one of the Weirdest but also the most entertaining, Keighley believes that awards can change forever for the better.

“I thought the Emmys, when I looked at that, were better than normal Emmys,” Keighley says. “Sometimes being forced to do things differently can create opportunities. We still wanted to be somewhat ambitious, rather than just making pre-recorded videos. All of us who work on the show, and the game publishers who support us, feel that this was an important and exceptional year for video games. The game, despite everything, has been able to comfort and entertain people. I’m crossing everything I have so we can continue to do so on Thursday. “

Additionally, the ability to be at a distance has increased the level of talent that Keighley has had access to. In previous years, contestants flew to Los Angeles on their own to perform at the Microsoft Theater downtown. This year, the program pays to ship broadcast equipment around the world, but that also allows more developers to participate in the proceedings. And also, Keighley believes, it’s better television, despite the Game Awards being streamed online via numerous social media and gaming sites.

“These virtual awards are perhaps the way it should be done in the future,” says Keighley. “With the Emmys, it was great to see people at home. They felt more identifiable and accessible. “

It’s important to note that Keighley, a former journalist, really loves the awards show. Despite the fact that games are at the forefront of entertainment and technology, he never considered experimenting too much with the format this year. So no, he didn’t consider a virtual reality broadcast, nor did he consider the idea of ​​setting up a show in an online world like “Fortnite” or “Minecraft.”

But that also comes down to Keighley’s main motivation for the show: expanding the audience of gamers by showing the world that games can be accessible.

“I’ve always said I do the Game Awards as not a video game awards show,” says Keighley. “It’s an awards show for entertainment that happens to be about video games. This is how we grow this industry, getting other audiences to come in and hopefully see it and say, ‘That sounds like an interesting thing.