The Game Awards 2023, the video game industry’s year-end celebration, was bigger than ever this year, according to the kudosfest’s producers.
The 10th annual awards show, held Dec. 7, 2023, generated an estimated 118 million global livestreams, up 15% over 2022’s showcase, according to The Game Awards. The festivities were streamed live from the Peacock Theater in L.A. across more than 30 platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, TikTok Live, X (Twitter), Steam, WeChat, Bilibili, Huya, DouYu, Xiaohongshu and Instagram Live. In addition, more than 17,000 individual content creators and online influencers co-streamed the show to their fans.
By comparison, the first Game Awards in 2014 garnered 1.9 million livestreams.
On YouTube, the Game Awards’ 4K feed saw a 53% jump in year-over-year peak to more than 900,000 concurrent livestreams. Overall on YouTube (including 4,000 co-streams), the awards show was up 35% to over 1.7 million peak concurrent streams. On Twitch, co-streaming was up 24% year over year, with over 13,680 creators co-streaming the show; peak concurrent audience on Twitch hit 1.94 million, with total live watch time up 10% versus 2022.
Larian Studios’ “Baldur’s Gate 3” was the big winner at this year’s Game Awards, taking home six trophies, including Game of the Year. The also earned prizes for Best Community Support, Best RPG, Best Multiplayer, Players’ Voice and Best Performance (for “Astarion” actor Neil Newbon). Remedy Entertainment and Epic Games Publishing’s “Alan Wake 2” took home three awards, including Best Game Direction, Best Narrative and Best Art Direction.
This year’s Game Awards featured appearances from Anthony Mackie, Ed Boon, Hideo Kojima, Jordan Peele, Matthew McConaughey, Simu Liu, Timothée Chalamet, Vince Zampella, Caroline Marchal, DJ and producer Zedd, and the cast of Prime Video’s “Fallout” (Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins).
The show also featured first-looks at upcoming projects, including “Exodus” (Archetype Entertainment), “Big Walk” (House House), Marvel’s “Blade” (Arkane Lyon/Bethesda), “God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla” (Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment), “Monster Hunter Wilds” (Capcom), “Light No Fire” (Hello Games), “OD” (Kojima Productions/Xbox Game Studios) and “Tales of Kenzera: ZAU” (Surgent Studios and EA Originals). In addition, Sega announcedplans to reboot retro franchises including “Crazy Taxi” and “Streets of Rage.”
The Game Awards is executive produced by Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim. Richard Preuss is the director, LeRoy Bennett serves as creative director, and Michael Peter is co-executive producer.
Pictured above: Amazon’s Prime Video “Fallout” cast members Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins onstage at The Game Awards 2023.
