LOS ANGELES — The Game Awards are a course study in giving an audience what it thinks it wants.
And if you're a consumer of interactive entertainment, the Game Awards believe you want teasers, previews and a whole lot of marketing. "Elden Ring," a complex and, for many, a captivatingly convoluted fantasy role-playing game, won big at the show, but it was, as is typical for the Game Awards, overshadowed by looks ahead at new games and prods from host Geoff Keighley to take advantage of demos and sales, sometimes for games and sometimes for food delivery services.
No surprise that the Game Awards are a palace for cheerleading — Keighley is an adamant advocate in believing games should be taken as seriously as film, television and literature, and he seeks to accomplish that goal without pretension. He ended the show by revealing that next year there would be a Game Awards-branded concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and he gushed over quick glimpses at upcoming games.
