Geoff Keighley Responds to The Game Awards & Death Stranding Criticisms
It’s the time of year where all of the biggest award shows for gaming are upon us and in just a few weeks time all eyes will be on The Game Awards. It’s returning for the fifth year in a row to honor the greatest in the industry for 2019. It’s no surprise to see some big names on the list of nominees, like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Outer Worlds, and Death Stranding, but this year Hideo Kojimo’s latest title is causing a bit of controversy. Geoff Keighley, the host of the show, has recently come out and addressed the big debate.
Death Stranding has received a whopping 9 nominations for The Game Awards, more than any game this year, which has sparked some controversy over the connections between Hideo Kojima and Geoff Keighley. Some are concerned there there’s an inherent bias and potential conflicts of interest with these nominations. As such Geoff Keighley recently spoke to Kotaku to clear the air. He stated that while he appreciates the concern, he assures the fans, and overall industry that he has no direct involvement with the voting process or selection of the nominees. In fact he says this is all made clear on The Game Awards website. “This is why we have the FAQ right at the top of the website to make the process clear.”
Geoff Keighley also confirmed that he does work closely with the game publishers and developers, but that the overall judging of the games is left to outside media outlets. “In my role as show producer I work closely with game publishers and developers on a number of levels, so [I] leave the judging to media outlets that provide a wide critical assessment.”
In the event that you aren’t aware, the voting jury for The Game Awards is made up of over 80 different media outlets, and representatives of the game industry and these individuals/companies are responsible for nominating all of the games in each category. Once the nominations have been made the jury decides 90% of the final result, and the online fan votes make up the other 10%.
The Game Awards 2019 are just a couple of weeks away, taking place on Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 5:30 PST/8:30 EST in the evening. Will you be watching? What do you think about all of this controversy? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to keep it locked for updates!