The Game Awards 2023 met some backlash due to the limited speech time that was given to the developers upon receiving their awards on stage.
Fans Calls Disrespect to Devs for Limited Speech Time
During the ceremony, awardees were given a signal for their speeches and while it is common practice to have an allotted time for each speech, fans felt that the awards show was too much.
Photos from the event showed how winning devs are told to "wrap it up" through the teleprompter with only one minute to talk on stage. Once their time is up music will be played shortly after that. Many fans can't help but compare the given time to devs to celebrities and special guests.
"This year's The Game Awards is an embarrassing indictment of a segment of the industry desperate for validation via star power with little respect for the devs it's supposedly honoring," Pentiment director, Josh Sawyer, shared on X.
The Game Awards Defends Time Constraint to Devs
Game developer JC Lau unveiled on X the instructions given to the attendees, detailing that acceptance speeches during The Game Awards were only 30 seconds. According to the leaked photo, the music was meant to be a sign of respect for the time allotment and fellow acceptors.
On the other hand, host Geoff Keighley defended that although the music was played too fast during the awarding time, he asked the team to "relax the rule as the show went on." Moreover, he also claimed that despite the short time no one was cut off while speaking.
Many fans were angered by the fact that even Baldur's Gate 3 developers, who won the Game of the Year, were not given ample time to give tribute to the whole team, especially to the late lead cinematic artist Jim Southworth.
With all the fiasco during the recently concluded event, fans are hoping that fewer non-game guests will be invited to talk on stage. Hopefully, The Game Awards 2024 will be a much better event to address all the pressing issues in the gaming industry.
