kuraine
@kuraine

i'm going through youtube videos to construct my 'game music of 2023' post, and i see SO MANY comments on soundtrack videos saying "it's a shame this didn't win best music" or "this should have been nominated for best music" or "why didn't they play this at TGA"

let me be real. the game awards are AN award show. perhaps the most popular?

but also who gives a fuck!! check out the BAFTAs. check out the ASCAP & BMI awards. check out the DICE awards. check out the GDC awards. check out the IGF awards. hell, check out the lists made by industry workers, or your friends!!

check out how many fan arrangements or covers there are out there. check out how many rips there are on siIvagunner. check out how many times the OST's been ripped & put on pirate sites. these are all perfectly acceptable marks of achievement. these are ways to know that the art made for something made an impact on someone enough for them to engage with it.



You must log in to comment.

in reply to @kuraine's post:

I recall me & my friend coming across inkle's 80 Days on the Switch eShop and having ourselves a good chuckle upon seeing it had won a BAFTA. BAFTAs are, like, film & television, right? What do the BAFTAs know about good games? It was heavily discounted so we figured, hey, what the hell, and it turns out the BAFTAs do in fact know what a fucking good game looks like, and now we specifically look out for BAFTA winners whenever we're browsing game stores

It's not even much of an award show; it's first and foremost an extended commercial for upcoming games. Virtually every decision is in service of that fact, from the shunting of many award categories to the pre-show to the "please wrap it up" signage to the patently ridiculous category of "most anticipated game"

The fact that the show refuses to mention major problems like the genocide in Gaza or the glut of layoffs in the industry make perfect sense in that context. A show that cares about the actual people who make and play games would give attention to such things; a show that cares about the financial success of game studios wants to avoid controversy at all costs so as not to make those companies question the show's effectiveness as a marketing vehicle