How The Game Awards became one of gaming’s most-watched shows, and one of the most watched shows in the entertainment industry at large, is a storied process of knowing and designing its show with its audience in mind. Since its first airing in 2014, The Game Awards has experienced significant increases in viewership each year. The Game Awards 2021 show will likely feature much of the same format and style that has help propelled its success and grow an enthusiastic fanbase.
The Game Awards first aired in 2014 and garnered a viewership of 1.9 million. Last year in 2020, the total viewership reached 83 million, an 83-percent increase from its total viewership in 2019. The show’s format and style blend the hallmarks of award presentation, orchestral music performances, and direct participation from the gaming industry’s top developers.
In an age when viewership for other awards shows, such as the The GRAMMYs and Oscars, is down significantly, The Game Awards continues to boast great success and a growing following each year. This year, predictions for The Game Awards already include Ratchet & Clank, Deathloop, and other top-tier contenders in its various categories, adding fuel to existing excitement. With each show, producers set out to tweak and improve its style, format, and presentation to reflect changes within both the gaming and entertainment industries. Much of The Game Awards’ success can be attributed to its acute awareness of what motivates and excites its intended audience.
The Game Awards’ Success Comes From Its Format, Style, and Content
![How The Game Awards Became One Of Gaming’s Most-Watched Shows](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/The-Game-Awards-2021.jpg)
How any company or organization brands itself is a key factor to its success. The Game Awards has implemented noticeable and worthwhile changes to its own brand since its inception. Pre-show content has evolved as the show has gone on, and now even includes player-led voting with the Player’s Voice Award, already going to Halo Infinite in 2021. Back in 2015, the show’s producers and designers acknowledged the brand potential behind its own statue, and by 2017, the logo depicted the clean, intersecting lines that take the form of wings of what has become The Game Awards’ iconic symbol.
In 2015, The Game Awards departed from an opening orchestral performance, opting instead for a montage of game clips and the relevance of gaming to an individual’s sense of self. In 2016, the show changed its opening format to include a pre-show interview between Kyle Bosman and The Game Awards’ own Geoff Keighley waxing poetic about the show’s format, content, and style, as well as announcing award winners not to be featured in the main show. Continuing forward, The Game Awards has kept this opening format, acknowledging the importance of an appealing blend of pre-game insights, artistic overview of the year’s games, and inspiring music to build up and reward its audience’s anticipation and excitement.
The Game Awards Has Become A Hotspot For Game Premiers
![The Game Awards Trophy Red](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Game-Awards-Trophy-Red.jpg)
Perhaps the show’s most attractive feature for viewers, aside from the ongoing buzz around The Game Awards nominations, however, is its inclusion world premieres for upcoming titles, but it also reaches the global arena of entertainment in ways other awards shows often don’t. Where films and other entertainment formats can feel a bit segmented as they represent different cultural experiences, the gaming industry represents a more global experience of differing cultures, from the design and content of games to the individuals responsible for creating and producing them. That said, this is a particular aspect of its content that The Game Awards could seek to improve through a greater inclusion of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ representation in not only producing its show, but also as presenters and representatives of developers pitching premiers.
The Game Awards 2021 airs in-person and online across multiple platforms, and given this year’s releases, many observers anticipate a fully packed presentation. Moreover, its continued success and growing audience each year further demonstrates the influence and importance of games within the entertainment industry across the globe. While there will be a number of big winners after tonight’s airing, the biggest winner is set to be The Game Awards itself.