Every year The Game Awards honors those in the industry that elevate us all to a new standard of greatness. The show airs live on Thursday, December 10th, for the first time ever without an audience. The Game Awards usually airs with the quality you would expect from the Grammys or The Oscars. The show is coupled with live musical performances based on this year’s games. Unlike those shows, the Game Awards also debuts world premieres of new game trailers. The show should run just over two and a half hours commercial-free. It will be streamed worldwide over all the major platforms.
With a big audience, major publishers use the platform to make big announcements though they do not hold a monopoly on the news front. Showrunner Geoff Keighley also likes to provide a stage for a few ambitious indie titles. Last year’s show featured a super-secret Xbox Series X announcement. What could this year’s show hold in store? As part of Monday’s Reddit AMA Geoff revealed there will be five games shown during the pre-show. Plus another 12 to 15 games shown during the event.
Confirmed Announcements
- Dragon Age 4 trailer
- Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War Season 1 trailer
- Crimson Desert gameplay trailer
- New Among Us map
- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide trailer
- Fall Guys: Season 3 update
- It Takes Two trailer
- Fortnite related announcement
- GeForce NOW live streaming demos
- The Elder Scrolls Online 2021 update
- A brand new game from Striking Distance Studios
- NieRGame Replicant ver.1.22474487139 trailer
Rumors
The Last of Us 2 PS5 Update and Multiplayer
The Last of Us 2 leads the way with 10 nominations. This would be a great opportunity for Sony to give back and show the TLOU2 multiplayer component that was separated from the game’s original release. Along with that, I fully expect Sony to bring TLOU2 to the PlayStation 5 at some point in 2021. Packing a 4K re-release with the multiplayer component would be a great way to recoup the millions it is going to cost them to bring the game over to the PS5. Adding in 3D audio, visual enhancements, and DualSense support would be a great way to convince PS5 owners to double-dip. Now, do they expand on the story? That’s the real question.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Release Date
Way back when, what now feels like a year ago now, Insomniac Games made Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart one of the headlining games of Summer Game Fest. If you recall, Summer Game Fest was hosted and ran by Keighley and the team behind The Game Awards 2020. During that event this past summer, Insomniac announced Ratchet and Clank would be a “launch window” title for the PS5. That means the game is coming out soon. Unless there has been a delay, expect it to launch sometime before the end of the first quarter. If the release is that close, Sony is due to announce the date soon.
Resident Evil: Village and Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness Release Dates
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness should be hitting Netflix soon. Very soon. If you head over to the “Worth the Wait” section on Netflix, you will find it there between a number of movies and shows coming between the last week of December and the second week of January. What better way to bring the video game audience over to Netflix by making the announcement on the big stage at The Game Awards 2020? Plus, the recent Capcom leaks have Resident Evil: Village releasing sometime in April. Now would be a great time to date both with new trailers. Last year’s TGA’s brought in over 45 million viewers. That’s great advertising for Netflix to buy into.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass 2 Updates
Nintendo and The Game Awards have a great history together. Whether it is the Industry Icon awards given to retiring executives or announcing Joker in Smash there has always been something. Nintendo is overdue to close out the Fighters Pass in Smash. So this would be the perfect opportunity to add at least one fighter to Smash. While Nintendo has been a wildcard all year I think this one is a lock. Although, it would be nice to see them complete the fighters pass and announce the last three fighters at once.
Another Nintendo Update
While it is unlikely Nintendo shows off the new 4K Switch or content tied to the new device. There is a very good chance a game is shown in addition to the Smash update. The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is nominated for the most anticipated game. That is something Geoff knows would be huge for his event. Although I think you see updates for games we already know about at the next Nintendo Direct. The viewership tied to The Game Awards 2020 would be a great opportunity to showcase an unexpected game. Similar to how Nintendo showed No More Heroes 3, as well as Bayonetta 3.
Xbox Studios World Premiere
Last year Phil Spencer and the gang at Xbox made a surprise announcement that not even The Game Awards staff was in on. When the Xbox Series X was revealed during last year’s event, it was a megaton. It is pretty clear Phil appreciates what Geoff is trying to accomplish with the awards. Additionally, Phil will be a part of the pre-show panel with AMD CEO Lisa SU as well as EA Studio head Laura Miele. What better way to follow up the news of last year’s console reveal with a game to go with it? Xbox has confirmed Halo Infinite won’t be shown. This could be a great opportunity to announce, Forza Horizon 5 or the new game by Compulsion Games. There are so many Xbox Studios games that could fit in here.