The Recreation Awards are extra well-liked than ever

The Recreation Awards truly turned out to be a very good present this time round, a minimum of in comparison with earlier years, and it appears the followers agree — Geoff Keighley introduced by way of his Twitter that The Recreation Awards in 2022 “hit a brand new viewership milestone” of “103 million livestreams,” making it “the most-watched Recreation Awards in historical past.” Keighley goes on to element a number of the stats within the thread underneath his tweet, together with that Twitter’s stream of the occasion was successful this yr with 11.5 million viewers, and that the Steam Deck giveaway drew 9.5 million viewers to the platform’s native stream, with a peak of over 850K concurrent viewers.

That’s a staggering quantity of people that tuned in, and I’ve my very own theories as to what prompted the numbers to skyrocket this yr. One in every of them is that there have been some rivalries heating up this yr, significantly with followers of Elden Ring pitted in opposition to God of Conflict Ragnarok, and Sonic followers in opposition to Genshin Affect. The fandoms have been squabbling within the weeks main as much as the awards, so it’s doubtless extra individuals than ordinary tuned in to see if their “crew” received.

This yr #TheGameAwards hit a brand new viewership milestone: 103 million livestreams.

Thanks for making this the most-watched Recreation Awards in historical past.

See you in 2023! pic.twitter.com/bOyvbTtv7H

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 16, 2022

Then there’s the truth that musicians like Halsey and Hozier carried out. I’m certain there have been a very good portion of players who don’t know who they’re, however I’d guess cash that some viewers who don’t even play video games tuned in simply to observe their favourite artists onstage. If I do know something about Hozier and Halsey followers, it’s that they’re loyal as hell. Lastly, video games are simply changing into increasingly more well-liked on a regular basis, so it is sensible to me that the dwell occasions surrounding the passion could be garnering extra consideration as nicely.

Look, I do know that we’re all bored with speaking about The Recreation Awards for the yr, however I’ve to confess that it is a fairly spectacular milestone. The 2022 Tremendous Bowl had a staggering 99.8 million viewers, and TGA was capable of prime that simply this yr. I don’t know if that has extra to say about sports activities followers or players, however the truth that one of many yr’s largest gaming occasions was capable of surpass one of many largest sporting occasions of the yr in viewers solely additional solidifies the pattern of Gen Z being far much less in sports activities than the generations earlier than them.