The Game Awards 2022 live coverage – All the news as it happens

The Game Awards 2022 showcase is just a few hours or so away. The man himself has been hyping specific games and updates that will feature in his showcase via his Twitter feed, and over on The Game Awards’ own feed too, so we have a good idea of at least some of the games that will feature. Let’s see what they are, shall we?

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Possibly the biggest confirmed reveal for tonight’s event so far is the first look at Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – the upcoming sequel to the critically acclaimed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. So far we’ve had a teaser trailer and some key art for the game – which has divided fans over featuring a grizzled Cal Kestis (opens in new tab). This will be our first gameplay for the title, which is reuniting us with Cal and BD-1 some five years after the last game.

CRASH BANDICOOT

It also looks like we’re going to get something Crash Bandicoot-related later today, as the official account has tweeted (opens in new tab) asking what people are up to. That was then replied to by Geoff himself, and retweeted by the Game Awards account. Subtle, right? Rumors have been swirling about something multiplayer-shaped for some time now, with suggestions it might be a brawler title (opens in new tab). However, officially we’ve got no details from Activision or Toys For Bob, so we’ll have to wait until later to see what Crash and co have in store.

STREET FIGHTER 6

Earlier today, the Street Fighter 6 release date (opens in new tab) leaked on the PlayStation Store itself. Apparently, June 2 is the date, but we imagine the PS Store just gazumped the official announcement that is surely going to happen later today. Previously all we’ve had is a loose «Summer 2022» release window so that June 2 date does feel likely. Capcom has tweeted (opens in new tab) that it’s excited to watch the awards and does say «make sure to tune in», which feels like a gentle tease for something from them at the Game Awards. 

TEKKEN 8

Bandai Namco has confirmed that Tekken 8 will have some kind of appearance at the Game Awards, but it’s been rather candid as to what to expect. So far we’ve had a teaser trailer from EVO 2022 back in August, which was then followed up with the official reveal at September’s PlayStation State of Play (opens in new tab). But since then, it’s been pretty quiet, so it’s all up for grabs at The Game Awards.

DESTINY 2: LIGHTFALL

Ahead of the launch on February 28, we’re getting a new Destiny 2: Lightfall trailer at the Game Awards too. There are no details on what the trailer will contain yet, but we got plenty of details in our recent Lightfall interview with game director Joe Blackburn and assistant GM Dan McAuliffe (opens in new tab), including info on its story, how it’ll fix Power levels, and more. 

***90 MINUTES TO GO***

We’re just an hour and a half away from things kicking off! Set your timers folks!

BALDUR’S GATE 3

Larian Studios has tweeted (opens in new tab) that there’s going to be a reveal for Baldur’s Gate 3 at the Game Awards this evening. The tease seems to suggest the return of a fan-favorite character – Minsc. Back in November (opens in new tab), Larian also said that the game’s full launch is «on track for release in 2023 – and we’ll have more on that in December», which may well mean that tonight’s news also includes that all-important date too. 

WILD HEARTS

Wild Hearts, the new monster-hunting IP from EA, is also confirmed for a presence at tonight’s show. The official Twitter feed (opens in new tab) suggests that it’s going to be a new Kemono that we’ll get to see, aka the game’s monsters. They’ve fused with the environment to give them the power of nature, such as ice or fire, which is making for some very cool creature designs. 

***1 HOUR TO GO***

The Game Awards will start in one hour! You have been warned!

HIDEO KOJIMA’S NEW PROJECT?

We all know that Keighley and Kojima’s bromance is immensely strong, so it does feel like The Game Awards is the perfect place to reveal whatever Kojima has been teasing. Kojima has been tweeting more teasers about his game, asking «WHO» «WHERE» «HOW» and now «WHY» in a recent tweet (opens in new tab) posted just yesterday. This has of course been quote tweeted by Keighley and retweeted from The Game Awards account, so that feels like as close to a confirmation as we’re going to get ahead of any news. Oh, and did we mention Kojima’s literally in LA right now (opens in new tab)?

FORSPOKEN DEMO

A Forspoken demo (opens in new tab) could also be revealed later. It hasn’t been officially confirmed, but sadly another leak from the PlayStation Store seems to suggest it. Well, specifically a now-deleted tweet from the Japanese PlayStation account… Either way, PlayStation announced an 11-minute Forspoken stream will take place on Friday, Dec 9 @ 10am PT / 6pm GMT so we’re definitely getting more Forspoken in our lives before the week is out.

UPCOMING GAMES

Before it all kicks off, let’s sit back and take a walk through all the confirmed new games for 2023 (opens in new tab) and beyond to get excited about that could also appear this evening.

***30 MINUTES TO GO***

Just 30 minutes to go until The Game Awards. Time to gather your snacks.

THE AWARDS THEMSELVES

Geoff Keighley has confirmed that The Game Awards 2022 will run for around 2.5 hours (opens in new tab), with more time spent focusing on the awards themselves. And with over 30 categories – many of which voted on by the public – he’ll need all the time he can get to celebrates the video games and game developers who helped define 2022. As for who will win what? That’s anybody’s guess, but we do know that Sony Interactive Entertainment is leading with 21 nominations across the categories – with 11 of those for God of War Ragnarok, and a further seven for Horizon Forbidden West. 

Elsewhere, Bandai Namco will be hoping that Elden Ring (nominated in eight categories) is able to compete for some of the top prizes – including Game of the Year, Best Art Direction, and Best Game Direction. Still, regardless who wins, it’s been a fantastic year for gaming, so settle in for a few hours and celebrate all the fun that 2022 has brought us.

SPECIAL GUESTS

The Game Awards will of course be hosted by Geoff Keighley, but he won’t be the only presence on stage this year. Expect to see some of your favorite voice actors to make an appearance, such as Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, and more to present awards. There’s also going to be a host of Hollywood talent involved; we know that Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig will be in attendance hot off the heels of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, while stars of the upcoming The Last of Us HBO show Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey will also be in attendance. Naturally, there will be some game development legends there, like FF14 director Naoki Yoshida and Josef Fares of It Takes Two fame. 

Who else will show up is anyone’s guess, but expect a few surprises and special guests to hidden up Keighley’s sleeve.  

And we’re off! Sort of. The various video placeholders for The Game Awards are now live ahead of the pre-show. If you want to listen to some lovely, dramatic music while waiting, that’s something you can do right now.

STARTING NOW

And we’re off! The Game Awards are starting now on YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter. And of course, Steam, if you fancy being in with the chance of winning a Steam Deck. 

First out the gate is a look at what’s next for Dead Cells, which is returning to Castlevania with a new DLC in Q1 2023.

The very first award of the night is Best Mobile Game, which goes to Second Dinner’s Marvel Snap. Not terribly surprising given our own effusive review of the game.

Things are happening fast and furious already!

• Vampire Survivors is out on mobile!
• Valiant Hearts: Coming Home is coming to Netflix
• Returnal finally confirmed for a PC release and is «Coming Soon»

Still trying to get over that trailer for Dead Cells x Castlevania, though.

And another award already! Best Fighting Game goes to MultiVersus, beating out Sifu, DNF Duel, The King of Fighters XV, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R.

And that there is a new Hellboy game! Hellboy: Web of Wyrd looks to be coming to PC via Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Lots of esports awards all in one go.

Horizon Call of the Mountain looking solid in a new teaser.

If you feel like you’re blinking and missing five or six different things, I promise you are not alone.

Relic Hunters Legends has closed beta signups going. Sign me up.

Atomic Heart is coming February 21, 2023!

Among Us is adding a new Hide and Seek mode. Looks like it’ll shake things up a bit for players.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land isn’t forgotten by The Game Awards as it wins Best Family Game. Good for him.

Street Fighter 6! Capcom’s showing off more of the upcoming fighting video game. A look at some generic player characters taking on some minigames followed by some more traditional bouts with fighters like JP. It sure looks like a fighting game, but also I’m genuinely excited? What’s this feeling?

And a release date! Street Fighter 6 releases June 2, 2023

There he is! Geoff Keighley is finally on stage, welcoming various folks in the audience to the event. Xbox’s Phil Spencer, Nintendo’s Doug Bowser, and so on.

…and Animal, the Muppet. Geoff doesn’t play favorites, but you can hear it in his voice how he feels.

Al Pacino is here for some reason. I’m as confused as you are.

«In truth, I don’t play a whole lot of video games,» says Pacino. He’s spent a goodly amount of time watching his kids play, however.

I’ve come back around on this the longer Pacino talks. He’s going on about the performances in games. He’s an honorary video game player in my heart.

Best Performance, as presented by Pacino, goes to: Christopher Judge for God of War Ragnarok. Good for him. His performance is part of why we reviewed God of War Ragnarok so highly.

Judge, first and foremost, thanks his mom followed by his brother. Also? Not to start this back up, but the man is dressed well.

I mean, just look at this outfit.

This is a Christopher Judge appreciation post now as he continues thanking Sony Santa Monica and Cory Barlog, specifically.

Says he initially quit when Barlog initially said he wasn’t directing, but ultimately of God of War Ragnarok director Eric Williams: «he’s a motherf–ing beast.»

Judge about to make this The Game Award, singular, as he jokes about how long his speech is going. He’s getting emotional about his performance for God of War Ragnarok. You love to see it.

I do think he is now being played off. How dare you, orchestra, how dare you.

«I met Al Pacino!» Judge says as finally relinquishes the mic. Geoff jokes that he was trying to give out a few extra Steam Decks.

World premiere! Hades dev Supergiant is back with… something similar? Some godly folks are promising death to Cronos, the god of time.

It’s Hades 2! Sequel to the flamante, Early Access in 2023 similar to the first game.

Hipócrita from Ghost Story is the next reveal. It looks… a lot like BioShock. Ken Levine just can’t escape.

PlatinumGames is doing another Bayonetta title. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon drops March 17, 2023 for the Nintendo Switch.

The action-platformer looks finta a bit different from what’s come before, but seems to keep the vibes.

Commercial break! Time to use the bathroom.

Whispering to my date while Hozier plays at The Game Awards 2022, «That’s Hozier.»

Do I like this? Do I like Hozier? Time has already lost all meaning, but he’s doing a good job up there, I’ll give him that.

Jessica Henwick, of Glass Onion, comes on to introduce director Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig. Among Us apparently features in the movie? Anyway, they’re here for Best Indie Game.

Apologies; Best Estreno Indie, which is functionally and totally different from Best Indie. Stray wins! Congratulations also to GamesRadar+’s very own Sam Loveridge, who was not involved in creating the game but is surely extremely stoked after her review earlier this year.

Destiny 2 Lightfall is here to biombo the apocalypse, according to Keighley. I, for one, believe him.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is here, and Captain Boomerang is having a bit of a time «interrogating» the Flash. But Batman apparently isn’t having it. Harley Quinn specifically says not to worry as Batman doesn’t kill people — but sure looks like that’s not the case here!

«I am vengeance; I am the night; I am Batman!» That’s Kevin Conroy’s voice, folks, who passed away last month. Keighley confirms that it’s not just a solicitud bit; he’s Batman in the game.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches May 26, 2023.

The Last of Us Part 1 is coming to PC on March 3, 2023. Good for them, honestly.

Sydnee Goodman is back to for the Best Adaptation award. Solid contenders but Arcane, which adapted League of Legends for Netflix, wins. Given we called it the best possible introduction to League of Legends last year, we’re inclined to agree with this one.

Keighley hyping up stuff to come — like Final Fantasy 16 and Tekken 8 — before revealing the world premiere for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Cal’s back at it, doing «Jedi who survived» things. Our boy gets his world rocked a bit despite duking it out with all his skills. The trailer is really showing off his various powers and ability to use a lightsaber. Hope always survives.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launches March 17, 2023.

Cameron Monaghan, who plays Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, says it’s the best Star Wars game ever. But then, he would say that.

First vivo solid look at EarthBlade, the next game from the Celeste team. Looking good, Celeste team. EarthBlade coming 2024.

First in-engine look at Dune: Awakening looks… like Dune.

Want to play the demo for Forspoken? That’s a thing you can do right now on PlayStation.

Congratulations to Geoff Keighley, who introduces the first look at the new Kojima Productions title which… looks like a Death Stranding sequel. Is that Troy Baker singing?

Yup. That’s Death Stranding 2, friends. Norman Reedus is back as Sam Bridges, but he looks a bit worse for wear. Also, there is a very menacing hovercraft (?) that Bridges will use to do… something. Also, that was, in fact, Troy Baker singing.

Death Stranding 2 is coming to PS5. Also, the baby pod has a squid in it now?

Hideo Kojima on stage now with Mr. Keighley. Refuses to elaborate on the trailer — good luck, everyone — while also stating he completely rewrote the story because of the ongoing pandemic. A joke? Who could say.

Kojima goes on to tease further projects, though doesn’t really share any details.

Immortals of Aveum is coming 2023. That’s it. That’s the update.

The award for Best Narrative goes to… God of War Ragnarok! Keighley probably thrilled that Christopher Judge did not take the stage for this one; Eric Sophos accepts the award and thanks the crew and all of their families. They’ve apparently learned their lesson, however, as the orchestra plays him off quickly.

And we’ve reached the part of the show where Tekken 8 is allowed to come out and play. Jin, Kazuya, Paul, King, and all the rest wail on each other in the trailer which seems to indicate that Jin is in some sort of predicament. That rapscallion!

We’re back to announcing a whole bunch of awards at merienda, I guess!

• Best Art Direction: Elden Ring
• Best VR/AR Game: Moss: Book II
• Best Sim/Strategy Game: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Best Community Support: Final Fantasy 14

A new look at Nightingale, the shared world survival-crafting game. It goes full Mary Poppins. Anyway, how are you?

Ken and Roberta Williams are here; everybody be cool. They’re here to give out the award for Games for Impact and also have announced the Colossal Cave remake comes out January 19.

As Dusk Falls wins!

Caroline Marchal had notes but forgot everything she was going to say, but manages to say enough for the orchestra to start playing again.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is up now. Trailer is showing off various characters and discussing the mind flayer threat. Combat looks like… Baldur’s Gate 3, which is available in Early Access now. Full release in August 2023.

At the end of the trailer, returning and iconic Baldur’s Gate character Minsc breaks himself out of a mimic. Why was he in a mimic? Who can say.

Airship Syndicate and Warframe’s Digital Extremes announce Wayfinder, a new character-based online action RPG. Trailer looks slick, not gonna lie.

Nintendo is here for Fire Emblem Engage DLC. First wave launches January 20, 2023 and includes new characters from Three Houses in the form of Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude in addition to Tiki and other goodies.

Sky is promoting an in-game concert featuring Aurora. Neat.

Halsey is here to sing for Diablo. Is she supposed to be Lilith? Looks like maybe.

More importantly: Halsey’s performance leads directly into a new Diablo 4 trailer! Somebody’s getting their feet hecka burnt up.

I don’t know if everyone’s aware, but it really looks like Diablo 4 might be spooky. This trailer certainly is. Angels? Demons? We got both of them.

Diablo 4 officially launches June 6, 2023. Yup, very spooky, also apparently we’re in for more Halsey, according to Keighley.

My favorite segment, How Fast Can We Announce Awards, returns merienda more.

• Best Sports/Racing Game: Gran Turismo 7
• Best Multiplayer Game: Splatoon 3
• Best Audio Design: God of War Ragnarok
• Content Creator: Ludwig
• Most Anticipated Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Horizon Forbidden West is getting Burning Shores DLC in on April 19, 2023. LA is not safe, apparently.

Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, Bella Ramsey, and Pedro Pascal (Joel and Ellie’s from The Last of Us game and HBO series, respectively) do their best to jointly announce Best Action Game.

It goes to Bayonetta 3! Doug Bowser’s very excited.

My god, the power Keighley wields. Bowser has barely started sharing a comment from PlatinumGames before the orchestra is already playing him off.

Bandai Namco and Amazon Games show off Blue Protocol. The free-to-play anime-style MMO is launching in the second half of 2023.

Remnant 2 announced! Coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in 2023.

Splash Damage announces Transformers: Reactivate, a multiplayer action title coming to PC and consoles. One assumes Transformers are involved.

Keegan-Michael Key, who voices Toad in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie, is here to introduce a clip for the movie. He also comes out strongly in valía of saying Toad has a cap, not a hat, which is also technically a hat.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie clip sees Toad trying to show Mario around. Mushroom Kingdom shenanigans ensue. That includes, but is not limited to, travel by pipe. Chris Pratt’s Mario is trying an accent here. What accent is it? I am not positive.

I feel you, Mario.

Congratulations for making it this far. Animal from The Muppets is here, and apparently a fan of Elden Ring. Also, the way in which he says «Malenia» is… well, it’s something. Animal concludes with a joke about Animal Crossing — get it? — and petitioning to be in a Kojima game.

In the end, the award for Best Score and Music goes to God of War Ragnarok! Animal sends his praise from afar due to the way puppeteering mechanics work. Composer Bear McCreary is very happy to hear from him, however.

Do not play this man off! He just won an award for music.

Vampyr and Life is Strange developer Dontnod Entertainment has come to The Game Awards 2022 with Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, which looks a lot more like the former than the latter. Coming the end of 2023.

Can I be honest with you? I feel we share a kinship, here in the live blog. There was a Warhammer game shown that I completely missed. My colleagues are telling it was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Anyway, have an image:

Behaviour Interactive’s building/raiding game Meet Your Maker launches April 4, 2023 on PC via Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. Seems fine.

Geoff’s notorious love of puppets on full display as Crash Bandicoot crashes the stage. He’s trying to find his crew and is now calling them on a phone that also apparently has some kind of conferencing capacity.

Oh my. After absolute years of rumors, reports, leaks, and so on have finally proven true with the official reveal of the multiplayer title Crash Team Rumble — which looks like the contemporáneo name for what’s been called Wumpa League by some folks.

The award for Innovation in Accessibility goes to God of War Ragnarok! Acceptee Mila Pavlin manages to almost make it all the way through giving thanks before the orchestra tries to play them off.

The Lords of the Fallen, not to be confused with the flamante Lords of the Fallen, is looking seriously gruesome in the latest trailer.

Michael Madsen is here talking about Donnie Brasco, the 1997 movie he starred in with Al Pacino. But that’s not why he’s here. He’s here to announce Crime Boss: Rockay City, which also has Kim Basinger, Damion Poitier, Danny Trejo, Danny Glover, Michael Rooker, and Vanilla Ice. Also Chuck Norris.

Another rapid-fire round of awards!

• Best Role Playing Game: Elden Ring
• Players Voice: Genshin Impact
• Best Independent Game: Stray
• Best Action/Adventure Game: God of War Ragnarok
• Best Ongoing Game: Final Fantasy 14

Modern Warfare 2 is getting Call of Duty’s first-ever raid on December 14. Looks like Call of Duty.

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé is here to present Best Game Direction. «It’s a particularly exciting award, especially in our industry,» he says.

The award for Best Game Direction goes to… Elden Ring! Not looking forward to that discourse later. Hidetaka Miyazaki is here to accept. «Elden Ring is the biggest game that we have ever worked on,» he says while thanking the people he’s worked with.

That’s Idris Elba in the new Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC trailer, right?

It is! Idris Elba plays Solomon Reed in the DLC. The new trailer is pretty snazzy, and Elba seems happy to be in it.

Surprise! FromSoftware really is working on a new Armored Core game! This was reported some time ago, but this is the first contemporáneo confirmation of it.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is coming in 2023 to PC and consoles.

Naoki Yoshida, Yoshi-P to many, is here to cap things off with a new Final Fantasy 16 trailer. It’s finally Final Fantasy 16 time.

The new Final Fantasy 16 trailer shows off some bloody cinematics mixed with some quick combat. Hard to say where one begins and the other ends at this point. Also chocobos, which is very important. Definitely seems like one of these characters is dying (died?) and somebody’s out for revenge.

Final Fantasy 16 launches June 22, 2023 on PS5.

Josef Fares of It Takes Two fame is here to introduce Game of the Year, but first he throws it to the orchestra after joking about not making waves. Pretty classy, to be honest, though obviously part of the script.

A solid performance from the orchestra. I’m sorry for all the disparaging remarks previously about playing people off; play as much as you like, orchestra.

And the winner of Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022 is… Elden Ring! Miyazaki is back on stage with other members of the team.

«I would like to share this great appreciation with our entire Elden Ring team members,» Miyazaki says. Shout outs to FromSoftware, Bandai Namco, George R.R. Martin, and all collaborators.

«We have faced so many difficulties while developing this game, so as the director I’m really relieved,» he continues. Says he’s determined to create even more interesting games than Elden Ring despite the GOTY award.

He teases that there are «several more things to do» with regards to Elden Ring, however. More DLC on the horizon?

«And finally, we would like to express our utmost gratitude to all the fans that play and have enjoyed and supported our titles,» he states. The award is capped off by somebody thanking Bill Clinton. Geoff’s not fazed, however.

Geoff concludes with something about a concert, I think, that I’ve missed due to still processing whatever that was about Bill Clinton.

That’s all, folks! That’s the show. You’re still here? It’s over. Go home. Go.

Catch you all in 2023.