Today is a big day for the games industry, as The Game Awards is returning tonight. Not only will the show dole out awards to a variety of games across many categories, but we’ll also be getting some new game reveals as well. In short, there’s going to be a little something for everyone, even those who aren’t interested in awards shows in general.
How and when to watch The 2021 Game Awards
Luckily for those interested in watching, The Game Awards traditionally livestreams on a large number of platforms. The easiest way for most of us to watch will probably be on YouTube (via the livestream we’ve embedded below) or Twitch. On YouTube, the show will be streaming in 4K, while Twitch will offer a special Game Awards extension that will allow viewers to interact with the stream. On both platforms, co-streaming is allowed, so you’ll be able to watch other streamers co-stream the event too.
If YouTube and Twitch aren’t quite your style, there are more platforms beyond those that will be hosting the show. The Game Awards website lists platforms like Facebook, Twitter, IGN, GameSpot, and TikTok as global streaming partners, so there are many more places to watch beyond just Twitch and YouTube. The Game Awards also has a number of streaming partners worldwide, so if you live outside of the US, it might be worth checking that page we just linked to see if there are any platforms hosting the stream in your region.
While the main show doesn’t kick off until 8 PM EST tonight, there will be a pre-show beginning at 7:30 PM EST. While the biggest award of the night is undoubtedly Game of the Year – the nominees for which include Deathloop, It Takes Two, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Resident Evil Village – there are 30 awards in all that span gaming and gaming-adjacent categories.
What we expect at The Game Awards this year
Aside from the obvious awards ceremony, The Game Awards also serves as a place for developers to reveal their upcoming games. The description on that YouTube livestream we’ve embedded above gives away a couple of those reveals, noting that Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz will be on hand to reveal Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the movie, not the game from 1992), while Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will debut The Matrix Awakens.
The Game Awards host and producer Geoff Keighley has been making the rounds hyping up his show, saying in a recent interview with ForTheWin that there will be several game announcements on the level of the Elden Ring reveal we saw over the summer.
In a recent AMA on Reddit, Keighley also said that the show should last around three hours, so plan on settling in if you want to watch the show from start to finish. He also confirmed that there will be some surprise guests at The Game Awards, so we’re in for at least a couple of surprises. We don’t have much longer to wait before The Game Awards is underway, so tune in to one of the livestreams we’ve linked above at 7:30 PM EST, 4:30 PM Pacific if you want to watch the show play out live tonight (December 9, 2021).
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