“Keighley’s” Checks and how they were cashed in during “his shows”

Most Anticipated Games across VGA, VGX and TGA

Good grief, twenty twenty-five! Before your second month is done, the video game industry can almost outdo years before on the dreadful front. And “years before” were all pretty damn dreadful. Yours truly almost feel numb about lay-offs at this point. Almost, mind you. Then there are cancelations, big (Along with studios shut down and lay-offs of course.) and small. Strangely, both “bought” slots at Keighley’s before they were canceled.

While no solid evidence can link the expensive fee for their slots at the Game Awards to the cancelations directly, the” connection” just made the practice of showing off bullshots at the Keighley’s even less appealing. While one is right to call Big Boy E3 wasteful, at least they generated more excitement than Geoff Keighley’s slots for highest bidders ever could. Then there is this relatively cheaper slot that can mean something: Most Anticipated Game for the next year category decided solely by the audience votes.

Despite how closer the category is in sprit to Keighley’s whole “Hype for the industry and its future endeavors” horseshit, it’s a relatively young and sometimes ignored one. Spike Video Game Awards 2009 was the first time it appeared, that was 6 years after the whole thing started. As the general Wiki page for Game Awards helpfully points out, the category was absent in the years 2018 and 2019. Still being one decided solely by “fan votes”, the category can reflect what people thought at those times. So, let’s see how the times treated those games.

Before we get going, I need to emphasis on my “No unreleased game on my lists” principal. Grand Theft Auto Six, the winner of Most Anticipated Game at the Game Awards 2024, is not on the list. At least not yet. It’s about comparing the reactions to the games before and after they were released, so that one will only be here after it’s available for public consumption. Now, the numbers in the introduction part are all years of them games’ release and the accurate category names will be in the item description far below,

2010 God of War III

(Out-hyped Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2 and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty)

2009, aka the year when Micheal “King of Pop” Jackson past, was a big year in terms of video game for me. My 19 years old ass finally became a proud owner of Xbox 360 and Xbox Live member that year. The year also finally brought Keighley’s to my attention, as the home console magazine I read at that time reported on it.

It’s funny to see that 6 months after the very first Big Boy E3 2.0, another dog and pony show would start its yearly circle in early winter days. Take Microsoft for example, they merely showed Halo: Reach’s logo during E3 conference (Guess they need some time for Project Natal than Bungie agreed to make one more thing for them.). Then comes Keighley’s, they showed the opening in-game cutscene of Reach with the Halo prequel’s relatively grittier look.

With Sony’s Uncharted 2 being a big winner at Keighley’s 2009, hype for PS3’s future library is at an all-time high. With God of War III shown pretty well at E3, it didn’t take a genius to see why this trilogy capper exclusive to PS3 beat all those science fiction sequels. As someone with a preference towards sci-fi though, this industry’s preference of fantasy is something I cannot agree with…

Cashed in: Console war fuel

After its release, this PS3 exclusive did manage to take two home at Keighley’s 2010: Best Graphic and the platform award called Best PS3 Game. The latter does feel a relic of bygone era now in 2025 like the marketing horseshit known as “console war”. SEGA was the first one I remember to flame that, and where are they now? Happily third-partying as far as this lousy century is concerned.

However, there is some preferable comparison to be made. God of War III led with its better graphic in its marketing. Take the Chimera fight during E3 2009 for example, the monster has severed head with convincing details and polygonal spilled guts. In comparison, Epic just put up some texture, thought “ESRB would consider those as real enough bloody stumps” and called it a day with Gears series.

2011 Portal 2

(Out-hyped Batman: Arkham City, Bioshock Infinite and Gears of War 3. Guess with Bioshock Infinite announced with a 2012 release window, the category was not called “Most Anticipated Game 2011” at the Keighley’s.)

Geoff Keighley the man himself is thick as thief with Valve. The closer to journalism work of Mr. Keighley includes Final Hour, the e-book series covering at the very least final weeks a game’s development. The man did cover both Half-life games in 1998 and 2004, so one has to wonder if Portal 2 voted the most anticipated game in 2010 was just an excuse for Keighley to “finish” his Valve trilogy. Why was “finish” in quote you ask? Well, for there was a Final Hour on that Half-life with VR game of course.

Cashed in: Myth of PC Master Race

While it didn’t win GOTY from Keighley’s like it did from IGN, Portal 2 did take home 5 awards. Most notably Best PC Game and Best Multiplayer for its co-op campaign. Guess the process of personal computer becoming a viable gaming platform again began here. And I guess the efficiency of Valve’s voice directing is finally getting recognition from the so-called Game Oscar.

2012 Mass Effect 3

(Out-hyped Bioshock Infinite, Diablo 3, Halo 4 and the Last Guardian. One certainly could not put a pin on any year for the Last Guardian back then.)

Bioware’s capper to their space opera trilogy could have been a lot of things. One of which would be pioneering a marketing tri-factor: announcement during Keighley’s, Gameinformer cover story and showcases at Big Boy E3. Then the first one changed its name and the other two were off to oblivion. Yet all were after EA’s corporate poison came to Bioware’s vein and started to kill the beloved RPG maker from inside.

Say this was the second time Mr. Keighley’s Final Hour covering Most Anticipated Game voted by VGA audience. Too bad the spere did not continue into a third one the year after…

Cashed in: Fans of the genre and whatnot

Mass Effect 3 managed to take home a genre award from Keighley’s 2012. I would say it’s fair since it was the best RPG rather than the most RPG I played in 2012. The more RPGs that year would be Kingdoms of A Whatever: Reckoning and Witcher 2’s Xbox 360 port. The former bored me out of my skull with its opening dungeon, while the latter is longer story.

Game design being templated to death is a point critics love to point out. The Abnormal Mappings of the world hate skill trees in action game while Yahztee Crowshaw rolled his eyes on rigorous crafting. Long before yours truly became audience member of those 2, the unholy marriage of their banes in Witcher 2 did make their points agreeable on those fronts.

2013 Grand Theft Auto V

(Out-hyped Bioshock Infinite, South Park: the Stick of Truth, the Last of Us and Tomb Raider reboot. Guess which one was delayed into 2014?)

No matter what “Keighley’s” is called, the show does reflect one odd reality of this industry: people tend to lose their shit over Grand Theft Auto.

Cashed in: Frequenter at Keighley’s

Any GTA would won Keighley's so far.

2014 Titanfall

(Out-hyped South Part: the Stick of Truth, Destiny, Watch Dogs and the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Guess which one was delayed into 2015? It’s a winner.)

Here in miHoYo’s country of origin, Titanfall is translated into 4 characters read Tai Tan Yun Luo. The first two being transliteration of the Greek Myth er, species while last 2 can be seen as a curse cast on the game and its franchise from the very beginning.

Of course, they do contain the meaning of “fall” but they also mean “crashed and destroyed”. Well, guess what had EA done to the series? Personally, I would translate it into Tian Jiang Ji Jia, which can be loosely translated back into English as “Mechs Dropped from Orbit”. But alas, no one here hired me to do that. And for the very final time, good old Geoff’s Final Hour was about the game most of his audience voted for. By the time, Mr. Keighley brought out the Final Hour again, it would be about him reconnecting with Valve rather than listening to the voters.

Cashed in: Lost in transition more or less

Between Keighley’s being a Spike joint and big man Geoff on his own, it would appear that Titanfall’s no win during the very first Game Awards was due to the transition. I would not see it that way. Titanfall just was not a complete package for its days with only Players Versus Players gameplay. Heck even its sequel was not a complete package with only Story Campaign but no Players Versus Environment co-op.

2015 The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt

(Out-hyped Batman: Arkham Knights, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Evolve and Bloodbrone. Look at this all-star cast, the game that almost burnt me on polygonal extravaganza, the long-waited sequel delayed to 2016, an asymmetrical multiplayer shooter no one talked about and the bleeding one no one can shut up about.)

While the Eastern Block jank was gone in this one, but the volume still stopped me from ever seeing credits roll in this one.

2016 No Man’s Sky

(Out-hyped Horizon Zero Dawn, Quantum Break, the Last Guardian and Uncharted 4: A Thief End. That first one sure was delayed into early 2017 at its own peril.)

Cashed in: The Poster Child of announcing one’s game at Keighley’s being a bad idea

Aforementioned VGX in 2013 was a forgettable affair. However, No Man’s Sky’s debut announcement there still haunt this industry until these days. Or at least it should. It’s a classic case of “Do not trust a frame of the bullshots shown at Keighley’s”. Of course, Hello Games did not abandon the game. Good on them. Still, one’s interest in the games should have started with developers’ patch notes rather than bullshots at Keighley’s.

2017 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

(Out-hyped God of War soft reboot, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect: Andromeda and Read Dead Redemption 2. Good grief, head and tail of this list were both delayed into 2018 for their own benefits. Then there is the overlooked one and the one wished it’s overlooked. You all should be aware of the gulf between reality and anticipation.)

Cashed in: Lost Horizon

BOTW is another one I would never see credits roll in due to its volume. So, allow me to talk around it. So, this Horizon franchise Sony Interactive Entertainment started during PS4 generation, heh? It still enjoyed enough commercial success and critical acclaim, just not regarded by this industry as ground-breaker like them overproduced Naughty Dog joints in the generation prior. SIE trying to eat other’s lunch, only for Horizon Zero Dawn’s lunch eaten by other.

While I had beaten either, I can compare their opening hour. HZD’s cut scene heavy tutorial just bored me out of my skull while BOTW’s opening area was an enjoyable little sandbox. On top of so many ready to say “Big N is so back with Switch, baby” and the Legend of Zelda being a more trust worthy brand than Playstation’s pretty new thing, Zero Dawn was basically sent out to die.

2020 The Last of Us Part II

(Out-hyped: God of War soft reboot, Marvel’s Spider-man, Monster Hunter: World and Read Dead Redemption 2. I am SO keeping the “for 2018” in item description below, for this 2020 release managed to out-hyped a load of Bona Fide games of 2018 back in 2017.)

Cashed in: Excellency, eventually

Naughty Dog’s sequel with less-than-universal acclaim was still a big winner at Keighley’s. The biggest on this list actually, in terms of both number and weight, taking home game of the year 2020. Guess Keighley’s was hellbent on justifying the Most Anticipated category paused in 2018 and 2019

2022 Elden Ring

(Games it out-hyped in 2020: the sequel to God War soft reboot not yet with a subtitle, Halo Infinite, Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Breath of the Wild not yet with a subtitle and Resident Evil Village. Personally, I would disqualify those 2 without a subtitle on the basis of them not having subtitles, but alas the hype man did not care.

Games it out-hyped in 2021: God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Breath of the Wild not yet with a subtitle and Starfield. Quite a rehash if you ask me.)

In many ways, the subgenre of action game known as Soul-borne tells everyone “You can keep going on or not. It’s really up to you”. This one sure said the same to its waiting audience.

Cashed in: Lost Horizon Part Two

One would think Sony Interactive Entertainment gets something other than kisses on its ring from Keighley’s. But alas, they did not even take some vote result as free market survey. I am of course talking about Horizon sequel released a week before Elden Ring just so Sony can eat Bandai Namco’s lunch and the latter just mopped the floor with the former. A classic case of corporation not learning shit.

The result was staring at Sony right there with Elden Ring voted Most Anticipated Game twice in a roll. Maybe they wrote it off as “the plague took its toll”, maybe they think the fools who bought PS5s were hungry for a Sony game not to mention those still with PS4 can play the Horizon sequel. But they ignored the fact that Sekiro, a Soul-borne won the big one at Keighley’s 2019. That type of action game was clearly still on the rise, and Elden Ring can be really played anywhere being a Steam Deck “launch title”.

2023 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Kingdom

(Out-hyped Final Fantasy XVI, Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4 remake and Starfield. Finally, a fair fight among 2023 releases.)

Fuck Nintendo for charging 70 us dollars for this one.

2024 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

(Out-hyped Hades II, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Star Wars Outlaws and Tekken 8. It would be fair to say that all those were available for public in the year 2024 Common Era.)

Cashed in: Participation award for the once mighty

This “take piss on Keighley’s one category at a time” series of lists would have a list for music by now if the following 3 are not facts. First, music can be so separated by the games that the soundtracks are indeed another product. Second, the Spike TV days’ of separating songs and music is a mess yours truly do not want to touch. Last but not least, 2023 and 2024 winners feel like giving Final Fantasy franchise participation awards rather than awarding the best game music for the year. Guess the middling mid-chapter just needed one more outing to say it’s coming to personal computers back then. Too bad it was one who played it on a computer considered you “middling”, pal.

??? Grand Theft Auto VI

Most Anticipated Game the Game Awards 2024, out hyping Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yōtei, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Monster Hunter Wilds. This is not on the list mind you. It’s just that after putting up the nominees for years past, one cannot help but wonder how many of those would actually be released in 2025. MH Wilds was out by Feburary, 2025 when this list is up. But for the rest, including the mighty GTA6 itself, 2025 release is still one big if instead of when.