how the Game Awards work behind the scenes (and why they don't need you anymore)
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- Опубликовано: 14 дек 2024
- It's awards season for video games this year, which begins a discussion in the gaming sphere around the comparative value of games. So which game TRULY deserves the title of Game of the Year 2022? And who is actually deciding this behind the scenes at The Game Awards?
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The Future of Writing About Games by Jacob Geller: • The Future of Writing ... 
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Hey! It's our second video! If you watch to the end, I respond to a few of your comments on the first video so check that out! I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this one too so let me know your opinion on game awards, and what games this year you'd like to see win Game of the Year!
I have a question, why is your channel called voxel? It sounds cool yet random but still coool
Hey! Your videos are super high quality in all aspects, I'm loving it so far! That bell is on all the way haha, keep it up! Rootin for ya.
I'm genuinely surprised by how good these videos are! I just found you channel randomly and after watching two videos, I wanted to look at your other videos and was very surprised to see that you only have 2 videos! The production quality is great and it really gives off popular youtuber vibes. I hope more people find your channel because you can see the passion you have towards video games by the quality of your content. I really hope you keep making videos because they're really entertaining!
Wow, thanks so much! We put a lot of love and work into this one - thanks for seeing it and saying something! I've already started writing for the next video, so there's more coming! :D
Agreed, this channel is the best thing to show that the RUclips algorithm actually promotes good videos.
100% can confirm
I just found your channel from your video about why games aren't more popular and I am honestly surprised that this is such a new channel. Everything seems to professional, the videos are well-written, you seem confident on-camera. Great work and I can't wait to see more!
As a new channel, you have a lot going for you. Good mic, camera, editing, scripting, pacing. You've earned a sub. I was recommended your "why don't we play games with our friends" video, and I hope the algorithm gives you the boost you need. Cheers.
this video has changed my views on award shows i used to take them very seriously because i thought the vote was in the hands of the voters but it turns out its just a thing to show big people in the games industry
Hence why Xenoblade Chronicles 3 didn’t win…
Holy, you deserve some more views, great video quality and talks, excited to see you succeed!
Really incredible quality editing and writing, its rare to see a new channel that just falls into a flow like this.
Good stuff, i had no idea how the game awards were judged! I just go along for the experience and don't lose sleep if i don't agree. Quality video, keep it up! Also, I love the V in Voxel is a link on the ending part of the video too, soooo good
I didn't know how they were judged either. Eye opening!
this is an amazing video. im incredibly surprised this is only your 2nd one!
Super excited to have discovered you channel. Fantastic writing and I look forward to seeing where you take it!
As someone who never watches award shows, this was interesting.
I’m not one to comment on videos (for some reason) but after watching the two videos you’ve put out, I simply had to show my appreciation. I find myself in the same place as yourself, where I’m unsure what is the right path, not for others but for myself and after seeing how passionate and humble you seem, it is really inspiring! Great videography, pacing and editing you should feel really proud and you show why being a gamer is more than the stereotypes. I’d love to be be able to reach out and talk as concise and professional as yourself. Keep up the great work! Much love from Wales, Nos da
also, the tissue joke (shakes head while laughing)
I just hope my mom never watches this video. 😄
i have been aware for a very long time (mid late 90's or so) that Award Shows are in service to The Industry and have very little to do with merit, content or integrity. Once I started playing music I became more and more aware of how hollow mainstream/popular music culture is/was, The Music Industry is very much attempting to influence how people consume and celebrate music with various mechanisms (radio, streaming services, visual media, Award Shows). All this stuff promotes and pushes the product that sells the most units and attempts to make people feel good about liking and celebrating The Current Thing, and this Thing must [by necessity to reach the largest audience] be Easy To Consume.
These Easy To Consume things, therefore, can't challenge you in various ways or else they become harder to consume. Things that are harder to consume sell less units.
luckily, in video games and most other media, indie scenes are incredibly healthy. finding content that is deeper and more challenging than stuff you find at awards shows has never been easier and there has never been a higher quality or quantity of it.
amazing video, youre gonna get pretty far if you keep this up. yall came out of the gate swinging, cant wait to see notifications pop up when yall upload more content. thank you!
Hey, just found your channel today and watched both your videos, figured you might see a comment here better than the first video. My dad got my and my brother into D&D as kids and now 10+ years since he had given up on his interest in games as a pass-time and he recently started getting into video games! It's been a blast teaching him and finding games he might be interested in and learning them together. Just thought you would enjoy the story as keeping in touch back and forth to set up gaming nights is all it takes to keep us consistent :)
Love the content, great quality both visually and narratively. I can't wait for the next one!
People have a deep need to have their taste validated and publicly enshrined as having the “correct” taste.
Same goes with PS vs Xbox, iPhone vs Android, Mac vs PC rivalries.
That's exactly right. It feels good to "fit in" with other people - by sharing the same tastes or experiences with others. It becomes problematic though when it becomes an "us" vs. "them" issue. Looking back on this video, I wish I had hammered more on the issue of tribalism and how distracting it can be from the reality - that ultimately we all just love video games. We have more in commonalities with one another than differences. And we shouldn't be so caught up by what other people say about the games we love. :)
wait thats it? only 5.2k subs? Damn. Also kinda sad that there are only 2 vids, these are really good!
Thanks! We're working on the third video! It'll be out sometime in February!
Hey! Thanks for the video! Good luck with the new channel!
Honestly going into this with a channel name like "Voxel" my expectations were really, really low.
Suffice it to say this is one of the most intricately high quality videos I've seen in a long time. Subbed!
Just found this channel after watching your other video, honestly crazy high quality content for the sub count, definitely will be watching this channel whenever there is a new video.
Beautifully done video, once again.
Both videos so far are really good, I just watched them back to back. Music is great as well. Keep it up!
Good Points all around dude. I've never really put much stock in award shows in general, much less for games for a lot of the reasons you describe here. For me, there's just too much variance out there to really ever be able to sit any two side by side and measure them against each other. Don't get me wrong, that variance is good! IT allows this media to appeal to every facet of its audience. Games can literally reach out and touch everyone, and should. I even feel like the stand outs in specific "Genres" stand out specifically because they test the limits of what we collectively consider to be the limits of that Genre! This is all well and good, and pushing the boundaries is rarely a bad thing; but, at what point do things start to less represent their allocated genre and start to represent something new and unique? Is it then fair to continue to try and measure something pushing the limit against something that executes itself within those limits extremely well. Take something like Rocket League vs. MLB The Show for instance. Technically both sports games, both exceptionally executed for extremely different reasons. How could even start to compare?
Great questions! Boiling it down, it's the question of whether we should award games for their innovation higher than we should award games that just "do it right". It reminds me a bit of my time in Japan. There are restaurants in Japan that have menus with only two or three items on them. They make the same dish over and over and over again, and they've probably by now perfected it. You go to one of these restaurants because you know exactly what you're going to get, every time. No fancy stuff, no weekly specials, no special requests to replace one ingredient with another.
These restaurants were some of the best food I'd ever eaten and they were far from "innovative".
I was pleasantly surprised by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II this year actually. I was never a big Warzone person - so the failure of that game mode doesn't really affect me - but the base multiplayer modes felt like the team really went back to basics and produced a GOOD Multiplayer FPS - without too much innovative garbage placed on top. That's all anyone really asked for! There's joy to be found in simplicity.
hey man, just wanted to leave a quick comment congratulating you for such a good work.
this channel is criminally underrated and I’m completely sure your subs and views will skyrocket soon enough, you deserve it!
Absolutely amazing video. I really appreciate the thought and time put into these videos. It had never occurred to me that Game Awards aren't solely for the consumer. It really personified developers in way that I never have before.
The quality of these videos is just one of the factors that astound me that you're such a small channel. Both your two videos captured me in a way on Essay-type of video has in a long time. The writing is super amazing, to such a point I actually got actual goosebumps and teared up a little @15:15. That my friend could have not been said any more poetically, or in a more beautiful way.
I never cared for the game awards, and before watching this before, had ZERO interest in watching them. Now, I might give it a shot and tune in.
I hope to see the New Star Wars game, the sequel to Fallen Order, on the roster this year. It might be minuscule and biased, but they have my 0.000000000000000000000000000001% vote.
Also, you've earned yourself a long-term sub. Excellent work.
Your videos are very well done, very professional, as if you have been on youtube for a long time
Before I say anything else, I want to say that these videos are absolutely incredible, from production to writing, from A to Z, these have been some of my favourite video to watch over the last couple of months. In fact, I think I watched the first video at least 5 or 6 times. Second, of all the games that I've played in the last year, two of them were real stand out hits, and one of them released over 20 years ago. First and Foremost, my favourite game of the last few years, Pokemon Legends: Arceus. I'm a bit of an RPG guy, and my favourite Pokemon game before this was the original Diamond and Pearl. A bit of a self defining game, in that I'm a massive RPG fan because of it. The modernization and historical context of the game along with its narrative truly made me feel something that I haven't felt with games in the longest time. A sense of exploration and curiosity, as well as the most important, a genuine sense of fun. For all the games I've played this year, Pokemon Legends is one I still play consistently. The second game is the classic PS One RPG, Final Fantasy VII. After playing the remake, I fell in love with characters that I had never the proper opportunities to meet and appreciate, but after falling in love with the contemporary renditions of these characters, it only made sense to finally play the original, and I'm in love.
THE OVEN IS NOT WHERE GAMES GO!!!
It is if you're brave enough 🤣
GEEEOOOOOFFFFFFF! That little jokester. 😏
I feel like there is genuine value in giving accolades to deserving folks. I think it would be really interesting to hear about the things that surprised various Devs/Studios throughout the year. Rather than boiling it down to this "Sellable" moment, a more long form, inside, look at various moments of merit from gaming that year and perhaps a deeper dive on how those moments happened, from the Devs themselves. Pull the focus off the market and back on the art. It would have to be industry led but ...i dunno, id watch the hell out of it.
That would actually be amazing. Like mini-documentaries from games industry at the end of the year, highlighting the important moments behind the scenes. I like it!
Really man, I've been loving these new videos. Also, 2017 had some good games. Both Cuphead and Hollowknight are some of my favorites. Although Hollowknight I'd say made more of an impact on me and changed my view on the kind of games I enjoy.
2017 was STACKED wasn't it? Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Destiny 2, Shadow of War, Splatoon 2, PUBG...the list goes on and on and on and on!
@@VoxelShow Super true! I'm hoping for a year like that to happen again.
@Voxel Yeah that's what happens when a new console drops and comes out of the gate swinging. There was a major drop in the amount of quality titles from 2019-2021 tho most of that is due to the pandemic. 2022 was the first year in a while that the number of games I want to play was more than I count on my hand
@@doodlegame8704 Yeah I was thinking the same when we were in the pandemic. I was struggling to find new games that I would enjoy. Although there were definitely some old games that I hadn't found out about yet that I could have played. Hoping for some bangers this year
18:39 You should check out Lost and Hound then. It is a game that was made blind accessible and has a really interesting sound design.
Wow, I've just watched the video and immediately became curious about it. Thanks for the shout!
Amazing so glad found this channel ! Keep up the work
the only real problem I have with the game awards is how they dont seem to categorize stuff properly, mainly because someone put shifu in the fighting game genre, shifu is great but its a action/ beat-em-up not a fighting game, and I think that slot could have gone to rumbleverse, which also may not be a fighting game but its WAY closer than shifu is
Damn. What quality videos! I cant believe you just started the channel... ill be watching the growth!
Tastes are specific and niche. I'm pretty sure almost any X I consider best in it's niche, won't be considered the best or sometimes even known X by general population.
Absolutely! There's a brewing conversation about the Best Simulation/Strategy Game category. There were MANY great simulation games that came out in 2022 but the nominees this year were VERY mainstream. It was a shame to see so many good games get snubbed but also...makes you wonder why the Simulation and Strategy games have to compete against one another this way...
Loving these videos man!! Wicked content quality especially so early on
15:37 *OH SHIT* Atreus is a whole man now😨😨
Also, great editing, you deserve more subscribers with your editing skills👍🏿
Wow... Just found this channel and your content is excellent. Easiest subscribe of my life, can't wait to see what comes next :)
It's ColorBlend FX: Desaturation. It's sad that I wasn't able to release it.... On time. But being indie isn't easy but every sense of success matters and makes me feel better 😊
14:12
What game is that? Sort of looks like Unpacking, but not quite.
Such an underrated channel. My guy you’re a great creator keep on doin what u do! Couldn’t resist a subscription
Honestly, this video was a lot more positive than I was expecting. Personally, I've never cared enough about the awards shows to watch it. I instead do my best to show my love, support, and appreciation for the games that I like, rather than have it be determined by someone else. Just because your favorite game wasn't picked for game of the year, doesn't mean you shouldn't support them any less. :)
Can't believe that small such a small youtuber can have such big production quality.
Wow. never realised how the game awards were judged. (not that i ever voted myself) but it begs the question. What do you think would happen if they had a category every 10 years for Game of the Decade? Do you think the winner would be one of the previous game of the year winners, or do you think that it would be an indie game that just stuck with you in memory that you go back and play every once in a blue moon.
it would be the game of the year winner because the most people still remember and just played it
I have an issue with this willingness we have to rank everything, even more so when we add "objectivity" to the mix.
You can compare aspects of a game, but it's impossible to state that something is generally better than something else while still being objective. You can say that A is better than B at doing X, but not at doing Y.
The only thing that impacts the A > B ranking is how much weight you put on X and Y.
Maybe you prefer photorealistic graphics, or maybe you like being able to run game on a toaster while still having a graphical identity. But A isn't objectively better than B, nor is X objectively more important than Y.
By always striving to rank things, we only foster more pointless tribalism. We try and validate our own opinions just so we can say I was right.
Comparing things can be useful for learning, understanding why something worked in one game and not in another. But as soon as we label one "better", we lose sight on everything else this lesser game achieved.
Love what you love, who gives a shit what other people think.
Completely agreed! Art is subjective! And so many elements of games - even individually - are mini art pieces that can't possibly be *compared* to one another in a ranking. I can understand objective rating guides from companies like IGN and Gamespot: Does the game sound great? If not, deduct .5 points. If it sounds terrible, deduct one full point.
But even then, rating a game wholistically loses sight of the things that "good" games do greatly. And that "great" games do...just ok...
I don’t mind if game awards are geared torwards creators. I don’t mind if triple A games are the only ones being considered. I don’t even mind if voting makes no difference and it’s just a placebo effect. What I do mind is when a game wins an award just because it ticks some boxes to fit an agenda. The awards should be given to games that are genuinely great in their respecting judging department. I remember certain years when one game would take almost all the categories it was nominated in and one was left wondering how it was possible when there were amazing nominees that could’ve been a better choice…
I get the feeling that you have a bunch of stories and conversations you want to share about (World of) WarCraft, Voxel.
I’ve recently rekindled my interest in that series’ universe and I’m trying to salvage as much positivity out of it as I can, amidst its currently overwhelming amount of negativity.
Would love to hear anything you have to say about it.
I have SO many stories about WoW, almost all positive. I hadn't thought about it yet, but maybe I'll make a video talking about the game. 😁
Another superb video. thx for the great work.
Before a few years ago I might not have been able to pick a favorite game of all time. But since I played outer wilds, nothing else can even compete. It's not only the greatest game I've ever played, it's my favorite piece of art/media ever made. I don't think anything will ever come close
Another very well crafted video!
Good stuff man! Enjoyed your vid
Great video
this is only the second video holy shit 0_o
award shows really are nothing but publicity and recognition. TGA specifically is great though cuz its a mini E3 and you love to see all the announcements
that channel is good, i definetly want to view more videos
We're working on the next video right now! Should be out very soon!
12:50 my god. That was me with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I guess niche life changing games have that effect on people huh?
This channel perfectly executed on the proper launch of a RUclips channel
I absolutely love this channel and where it's going. You earned a sub and alike today my friend
Magnificent video, keep it up
Responding very late about the Cuphead vs Hollow Knight thing. Idk why the popularity contest wasn't considered for professionals too, because it's a *big* part of games that won. Of course between AAAs everyone plays, maybe not. But Cuphead vs Hollow Knight?
On Metacritic, Hollow Knight had ~30 reviews on PC and Switch. Cuphead had 30 review on PC, but 70+ on Xbox. And with the hype cycle and press coverage, Cuphead was obviously a winner. Outlets who hadn't played / cared about indies could just vote for Cuphead because it seemed like the best one as an external viewer. And yeah, outlets don't take voting seriously enough for this not to be partly a thing.
That's how you end up with Stray and Kena winning best indies too, that's just the two indies every outlet played because they looked like AAAs and were marketed by Sony. There's a *huge* console bias too in these awards, since the press tends to be about consoles. Another good example of that are the mobile and VR awards where it's obvious almost nobody plays the games and they only vote for the names they recognise (or the game they played on other supports). I'm not surprised when gamers vote for what they've heard good things about, but media outlets aren't really better at that.
Also fun fact, because I looked through different winners etc last year: every single GOTY winner (except one because of delays) was previously a "most anticipated" winner, usually the year before. Most Anticipated is 100% a community voted award, and it's obviously based on popularity since people haven't played the games. Yet it's the most precise way to predict the winner of the most important award of the show, voted by professionals. So yeah, it's a popularity contest all the way.
Your channel is my new favorite you rock dude ❤😊
"If voting worked, they wouldn't let us do it" - Mark Twain
Tribalism is something I've literally never felt
Keep going, great content
if you dont mind me asking. What do you do for a living? In your last video you said you work from home im just curious on what you job may be.
that interpolated cuphead tv show and GOW: ragnarok clip have me seeing cartoon birds like I just got hit over the head. Curious to ask, did you interpolate it yourself to avoid copyright or did you find it like that off a reupload? amazing video btw, I had no idea he public vote meant so little. (though one look at Metacritic and I can see why)
It was an accident actually. We encoded our video at 29.97, but it was uploaded to RUclips at 30p. We're going to try to encode in the future at 30 or 60!
That reddit comment trying to say using music as a gameplay cue is more accessible than the plethora of settings God of War had had me dying inside. That was before I even read them trying to say Xenoblade couldn't win GOTY only because it's anime💀
Game awards are just for fun, people gotta chill before they say things they may regret later lmao
To some, I'm sure the musical cues in the game were enough! But you're right - God of War's accessibility settings went above and beyond almost anything we've seen in gaming before now - it deserves the award hands-down. I think it can be difficult for those unfamiliar with the wide range of disabilities to understand the needs of others. Not impossible! But it takes time and research and understanding to really *get it*. I mean...it's taken us *how long* in the AAA space to get to a game like God of War's Accessibility? And that's only one game!
The key with people like this on Reddit and Twitter, is to explain patiently and persistently. There will always be people who don't want to listen, or are there to troll rather than actually have an informed discussion. But speaking up about these topics is important. It's what brought us to where we are now - where disabilities are actually being recognized and considered in major games like GoW:R.
Great video, really looking forward to more to come! Outer Wilds really affected me and is one of my all time favourite games, so I was very disappointed that it didn't win anything at TGA 2019 (though I didn't play it until it came to steam) but I also loved Sekiro and Death Stranding so it wasn't all bad
But please get rid of the 60fps interpolation in some of the clips, it makes them look worse imo
I'm kinda new to editing and matching frame rates across a video like this. I think my camera is recording in a different FPS than the footage we use for some games and clips - though I've tried to keep them as standardized as possible. Would you mind explaining what you mean by the "60fps interpolation"? And can you point to a clip or two that you see an issue with so I can learn what that looks like?
@@VoxelShow What I meant was where it adds extra frames to try and smooth out the video. Can't remember many specific examples but in the shrek clip at the start you can see it warp a bit between shots
I love how everytime a game wins an award the fanboys of other games flip the tables in a fit of children tantrums. That's the only reason I keep up with it now, I don't give a fuck about new Ip's,franchises, or even buying games for that matter I have such a huge backlog that I'm still playing MadMax in 2023.
Your vids are amazing considering how small your channel is
Thanks! They take tons of hours to produce but I just love making them. So glad you enjoy!
Love youre content . Dont give up 👊
I'm your 420 subscriber...
Nice
Nice
But Silksong not being the most anticipated game 2023 was another sting tho
I think that's a lot to do with the way the team handled announcements for the game. We've only really heard from the team twice about the game ever - we got 20 minutes of footage back in 2019, and literally less than 1.5 minutes of footage at the Xbox/Bethesda Showcase last year in June.
I can't WAIT for Silksong! But I remember being a bit disappointed that we saw so little footage of it this past year. Feels more like a marketing disappointment than anything. I'm expecting a much bigger announcement this year - especially because of Xbox's silence at the Game Awards. It sounds like they're preparing for a major announcement of their own soon.
"Should I have said my opinion or agree with everyone else?"
Wait what
great points, literally stole all my lines and made video.
Ah, yes, the rich people in charge have been distracting the masses from their power grabs since before the Gladiator Games heh
wth i thought u had like, millions of subs
another banger
You definitely should have played cuphead though. I
How the fuck stray win over tunic???😭😭😭😭😭
Popularity + Ease of gameplay = Mainstream eats it up
top quality
It's actually not hard to not watch award shows. I can think for myself. I don't need nor care what some poser that can't even beat a FromSoftware game thinks about a game.
your website is dead and the ssl certificate expired are you still making videos or is that it
Still making videos (actually we just STARTED making videos!) but we haven't created a website yet and probably won't for a long time. What I'll do is redirect the website back to the RUclips channel for now. At least that way people don't get an empty directory! Thanks for the heads up!
I actually don't watch awards. They are pointless to the customer base. There is no need for an award to tell me what I should or shouldn't like. My game preferences change depending on mood, which makes me biased towards what I enjoy at the time. I could still pick all of the aspects where a game fails to be as close to perfect as possible for me, even games I enjoy.
My opinions matter about as much as anyone else's: zip, zero, zilch.
Oh favorite game of the year, I couldn't tell you because that would mean having to find every single game made in the year, play them through beginning to end, and then use that information to make up my mind. Or I could just put a few random game titles on a cork board, throw a dart, and just carelessly pick that one the dart lands on.
You have NO idea how many games get released in a single year. The online stores alone are flooded with so much garbage, it is pretty much a paid job to sort through.
Oh god. Elden Ring. A rather meh experience done to death, retaining the worst aspects of its predecessors. Also some markets outright lied what to expect this game to feature, but that isn't the game's fault.
Yeah I completed it. Open world begs to have good co-op, and jeez does this fail to make the game open world. Even with most of the issues that multiplayer brings, I could still pull appart a lot of aspects from this game that did not get an upgrade/update.
As picky as this sounds i'm tired of the repetitive "roleplaying" fantasy games. Yes some of them do have "race options" where you can have a variety of different race classes such as human...human with pointy ears and magic (elf), human drunk who's tough and short (dwarf) Like give us a choice of a proper monstrous "brutish" race like gnolls especially in MMOS. Always playing the good guy humans is just so stupid and overdone
It's funny, because as visual fidelity in games as improved, visual diversity in the types of characters we get to control has worsened. If a game lets you play as various non-human races, designers need to map and re-skin each piece of equipment for each race. If you can only play humanoids of different sizes, then there's a lot less work to re-skin every equipable item - they typically only need to be re-sized.
I'm with you though. Character choice in games has gotten a bit stale. It's a question of whether gamers would rather have visual fidelity or a variety of diverse species options.
@@VoxelShow I'm honestly fine without the choice if they don't then say "this game is a action RPG (standing for roleplaying game) there is no other roles apart from "human hero dude" and lets be real if you're playing lets say a gnoll who has leathery skin anyways an automatic natural armor why not just "imply" armor by saying yes it's equipped but due to reasonable conditions you can't really even see it
FIRST
Secundus!
:)
I can't believe anyone would cry for gow, it was such a predictable play it safe game with WAY too many unskippable walking sections and generic hollywood tropes.
7K bots think you did a good job on this video! 2k people actually watched and had opinions.
Either way it doesn't matter because all the nominees are trash anyway.
Are you Sam Hyde?