The Game Awards 2023: how to watch and what to expect

Ten years ago, Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards began, and it’s once again returning later today to celebreate the hard work of developers in one of the best years for quality video games ever. Plus, it will feature trailers for games coming out soon and reveal some titles we haven’t heard about before. We know all the category nominees now, so you might wonder where and when you’ll need to tune in to get the full The Game Awards 2023 experience later today. We’ve rounded up all that information right here so you can set aside time to watch and set your expectations for The Game Awards 2023. The Game Awards 2023 starts with a 30-minute pre-show at 4:30 p.m. PT today, December 7. The main show is then expected to begin at around 5:00 p.m. PT. The Game Awards tend to last anywhere from three to four hours, depending on the length of the award acceptance speech and developer conversations, which are done live. In a recent live stream, Geoff Keighley said he hopes this year’s event is a bit shorter. The Game Awards 2023 will be streaming on lots of platforms today. Official channels will host the event livestream for free across YouTube, Twitch, X, Facebook, Steam, TikTok, Instagram, and even Kick. We’ve embedded the YouTube version of the livestream above so you can watch it right from this article. You can also expect co-streams and reaction streams from websites like IGN and GameSpot as well as content creators. If you can’t tune in while the awards show is airing, a VOD of the event is always posted to YouTube afterward, as are individual segments and trailers. If you’re in China, India, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, or Germany, alternate streaming options are also outlined on The Game Awards’ website. As is typically the case with this show, The Game Awards 2023 will mix in lots of game reveals and trailers between all of the awards. When it comes to Game of the Year, we’re wondering if Alan Wake 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, or The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will win. As for the announcements happening at the show, below is a list of every game confirmed to be at The Game Awards 2023. We’ll continue to update it as more titles are teased:
Crusader Kings 3 Hardcore strategy games have typically been a genre locked to PCs. While plenty of recent games have done an admiral job of adapting the complex controls and systems for controllers, the genre is clearly best played with a mouse in almost every example. The Switch 2’s new Joy-cons may look like a larger version of the original, but they come with a simple yet brilliant feature that opens the doors for these types of experiences to sing. By holding the Joy-con on its side and placing it on a flat surface, you can use it as a mouse pointer. This would be the ideal way to play a game like Crusader Kings 3, which is built on being one of the most dynamic and deep simulations set in the Middle Ages. Being able to take your empire on the go and still be able to easily manage all the systems without fumbling over the controls would easily get us addicted all over again.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Earlier this month, The Game Awards gave out statues to the best video games of 2024, from Astro Bot to Balatro. There’s a catch, though. Since the show airs in early December, no game released after late November in a given year is eligible for awards that year. They can compete in the 2025 show, but that requires voters to remember what’s eligible. This year, December 2023 games like Sonic Dream Team, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Arizona Sunshine 2 were all shut out (that last one is especially odd, as Arizona Sunshine Remake got a Best VR nomination instead). While 2025’s show is a a full year away, the jury already has its hands full. This December has been an unexpectedly fantastic one for games. We got one of the best puzzle games of the year in Lok Digital, a successful early access launch for Path of Exile 2, and a much welcome console port of Apple Arcade hit Fantasian. On top of all that, though, we’ve gotten what already feel like some serious Game Awards contenders in a variety of categories — including Game of the Year. As the first announcement of The Game Awards 2024 Opening Act, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound kicked off a retro revival trend that permeated throughout Geoff Keighley’s gaming event. In the hours following Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s reveal, new games in series like Pac-Man, Virtua Fighter, Screamer, Onimusha, Turok, Okami, and Double Dragon games were announced. Some were radical reimaginings, like Shadow Labyrinth turning Pac-Man into a gritty action platformer, and the new Screamer game giving the cult classic 3D racer a new anime-inspired aesthetic. Others, like Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, look like modern takes on a formula that was perfected in the 8-bit era.