The Game Awards
Image: The Game Awards

The Game Awards are like nerd Christmas, and Geoff Keighley is Santa Claus. He's also the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, and he's replacing your dad, and the voice in your head, too. He's everywhere these days, after all: Summer Game Fest, Gamescom, that one THQ Nordic livestream, Death Stranding, and apparently The Muppets Haunted Mansion. Quite the busy chap.

But of course he's hosting The Game Awards, since that's his baby: the awards show that usually brings multiple game announcements, exclusives, and premieres to our screens every December.

Last year's event was broadcast virtually, with no in-person audience, but this year's awards will return to the Los Angeles Microsoft Theatre.

For 2020's Game Awards, the big winner of the night was The Last of Us II, which won Game of the Year as well as six other awards. The PlayStation also won big, with Sony Interactive Entertainment sweeping up nine awards as publisher. Presenters included Reggie Fils-Aimé, Troy Baker, Keanu Reeves, Tom Holland, Gal Gadot, and Nintendo Life favourite, Brie Larson, as well as Keighley's new pal and co-worker Swedish Chef. Performances from Eddie Vedder, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and video game band OFK also featured.

In past years, the Game Awards has been criticised for announcing many of its awards and winners either in the pre-show or as a rapid-fire list in one go, as well as for awarding games that have been criticised for worker's rights violations.

The 2020 Game Awards had 83 million streams, with a peak of 8.3 million concurrent viewers.

Who do you think will win GOTY this year? Let us know in the comments.

[source twitter.com]