The Game Awards 2021 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2021. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 9, 2021. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. The event was live streamed across more than 40 digital platforms. It featured musical performances from Imagine Dragons, JID, Darren Korb, and Sting, and presentations from celebrity guests including Reggie Fils-Aimé, Keanu Reeves, Ben Schwartz, and Ming-Na Wen. Activision Blizzard was excluded from the show outside of its nominated games after the company was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on allegations of sexual harassment and employee discrimination in July 2021; Keighley's comments about the company received some criticism.
Deathloop led the show with nine nominations; it won Best Game Direction and Best Art Direction. Forza Horizon 5 and It Takes Two tied for the most wins with three awards, and the latter won Game of the Year. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was awarded Best Narrative, and Maggie Robertson won Best Performance for her role as Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village. Several new games were announced during the show, including Alan Wake II, The Expanse: A Telltale Series, and Sonic Frontiers, and the first full trailers for Halo and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 premiered. The show was viewed by over 85 million streams, the most in its history to date. It received mixed reviews, with some praise directed at new game announcements and criticism for its length and focus on announcements over awards.
Background
As with previous iterations of The Game Awards, the show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalist Geoff Keighley; the 30-minute preshow was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. Following the success of The Game Awards 2020—which was broadcast virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic—Keighley received suggestions to follow the same format; around mid-2021, he decided the show would return to an in-person event at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles as he "really missed the energy of people accepting their awards live and the reactions". Several safety protocols were put in place, including halving live attendance, mandating vaccines, and requiring face masks; contingency plans were also established in case of unexpected COVID-19 variants or other issues. Keighley noted an excitement to return to the in-person event, stating it was the first time in two years the industry was able to gather.
The Game Awards partnered with Spotify to produce a four-episode podcast titled Inside the Game Awards, hosted by Keighley and featuring IGN Tina Amini, Giant Bomb Jeff Gerstmann, and The Guardian Keza MacDonald; it was released weekly from November 22, 2021, with episodes focusing on the history of the show and musical performances, the 2021 nominees, and a post-show recap. The Game Awards 2021 was the second show to feature Future Class, a list of individuals from across the video game industry who best represent the future of video games; the inductees included industry professionals such as Capybara Games producer Farah Coculuzzi, Xbox social marketing manager Hailey Geller, Gayming Magazine editor-in-chief Aimee Hart, disability rights activist Amy Kavanagh, and Deck Nine Games narrative director Felice Kuan.
The show was executive produced by Keighley and Kimmie Kim, with LeRoy Bennett serving as creative director and Richard Preuss as director. The presentation was aired on December 9, 2021, live streamed across more than 40 online platforms. The show partnered with Nodwin Gaming for distribution in India, where it was broadcast on platforms such as Disney+, Jio TV, MTV India, MX Player, and Voot. It was available to watch in the interactive environment of Axial Tilt, built within the video game Core; players could interact with the red carpet before the event and a virtual party after it. Several days before the show, Alice O'Connor of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described the experience as "dead boring", which she said "seems perfectly fitting" for The Game Awards.
Relationship with Activision Blizzard Keighley said he was reevaluating the show's relationship with Activision Blizzard after the company was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on allegations of sexual harassment and employee discrimination in July 2021, adding he wanted the show to support employees and developers without diminishing individual achievements; Kotaku Ethan Gach characterized Keighley's statement as a refusal to "take sides", and noted the show's advisory board included Activision president Rob Kostich. After some criticism, Keighley stated Activision Blizzard would not be part of the ceremony outside of its nominated games, and wrote the show was committed to "work together to build a better and a more inclusive environment".
Before the event, some Activision Blizzard employees and supporters stood outside the Microsoft Theater in protest of the company's recent laying off of around 20 workers at subsidiary company Raven Software. Early in the show, Keighley denounced abuse in the industry; Kotaku Gach criticized Keighley's statement, noting he did not refer to Activision Blizzard by name and his statement failed to "meaningfully expand" on his promised commitments, and PC Gamer Rich Stanton described it as a "statement you expect from a producer who doesn't want to take any position that will threaten valuable industry relationships". Stanton and Bloomberg News Jason Schreier identified the hypocrisy of following up Keighley's statement with the announcement of a game by Quantic Dream, a studio accused of a hostile workplace culture of racism, sexism, and misconduct. Keighley stated he wanted to ensure that spreading a message was balanced with the show's upbeat nature; he said using its platform to reprimand poor behavior is "always something worth thinking about, but it's not a referendum on the industry".
Announcements
According to Keighley, the show featured around 50 games, with new announcements "probably in the double digits"; he later claimed there would be six major reveals and several film trailers. He said it was a busy year for announcement pitches, noting the show's popularity and accessibility meant more developers and publishers sought involvement. Keighley claimed some studios had specific requests for the placement of their announcements within the show, but he decided about a month prior to allow for all submissions. He felt some of the game announcements were taking advantage of the new generation of consoles for the first time. Keighley noted the show would attempt to include related media, including television shows and films; the first full trailers for the television series Halo and film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 premiered during the show. Keighley described the show as "half an awards show and half a look into the future". Announcements on released and upcoming games were made for:
A Plague Tale: Requiem Babylon's Fall Chivalry II Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Elden Ring Evil West Fall Guys Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Forspoken Genshin Impact Homeworld 3 Horizon Forbidden West The King of Fighters XV Lost Ark The Matrix Awakens Monster Hunter Rise Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Planet of Lana Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Somerville Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Tchia Tunic Warhammer: Vermintide 2
New games announced during the ceremony included:
Alan Wake II Among Us VR ARC Raiders Dune: Spice Wars The Expanse: A Telltale Series Have a Nice Death Nightingale Rumbleverse Slitterhead Sonic Frontiers Star Trek: Resurgence Star Wars Eclipse The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Thirsty Suitors Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Wonder Woman
Winners and nominees Nominees were announced on November 16, 2021. Any game released for public consumption on or before November 19, 2021, was eligible for consideration. The nominees were compiled by a jury panel composed of members from 103 media outlets globally. Winners were determined between the jury (90 percent) and public voting (10 percent); the latter was held via the official website and on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Bilibili until December 8. The exception is the Players' Voice award, fully nominated and voted-on by the public; the winner was announced on December 8 after three rounds of voting. Specialized juries decided the nominees and winners for categories such as accessibility and esports. Voting for the best esports team category was also held through the show's Discord server and through direct messages on Twitter. More than 23.2 million votes were submitted on the official website, a 27 percent increase over the previous year.
Keighley found his ownership of the show led to him receiving blame for snubs in nominations, despite not being involved in the voting process. Regarding potential winners, Keighley felt "it's kind of anyone's game this year" but, as the show's producer, he prefers shows like The Game Awards 2018 with the rivalry between God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2. He noted future shows could see the addition of awards for adaptations and user-generated content, but felt "there's just not enough yet".
Awards Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger ().
Video games
Game of the Year It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts Deathloop – Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks Metroid Dread – MercurySteam / Nintendo Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment Resident Evil Village – Capcom | valign="top" | Deathloop – Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment Returnal – Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy – Eidos Montreal / Square Enix Deathloop – Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks It Takes Two – Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts Life Is Strange: True Colors – Deck Nine / Square Enix Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios | valign="top" | Deathloop – Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks Kena: Bridge of Spirits – Ember Lab Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment The Artful Escape – Beethoven & Dinosaur / Annapurna Interactive |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Nier Replicant ver 1.22474487139 – Keiichi Okabe Cyberpunk 2077 – Marcin Przybyłowicz and Piotr T. Adamczyk Deathloop – Tom Salta Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy – Richard Jacques The Artful Escape – Johnny Galvatron and Josh Abrahams | valign="top" | Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios Deathloop – Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment Resident Evil Village – Capcom Returnal – Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu – Resident Evil Village Erika Mori as Alex Chen – Life Is Strange: True Colors Giancarlo Esposito as Antón Castillo – Far Cry 6 Jason E. Kelley as Colt Vahn – Deathloop Ozioma Akagha as Juliana Blake – Deathloop Life Is Strange: True Colors – Deck Nine / Square Enix Before Your Eyes – GoodbyeWorld Games / Skybound Games Boyfriend Dungeon – Kitfox Games Chicory: A Colorful Tale – Greg Lobanov / Finji