While The Game Awards may not be the equivalent to the Oscars for video games yet, it has made strides to be a strong voice in the industry. The sick burn delivered in two parts, 2015 and in 2016 regarding the practices of Konami treating renowned game designer, Hideo Kojima, has not gone unnoticed.
But in 2017, there is a new punching bag where the whole industry is making jokes at. Of course it’s EA.
EA is having a rough year thanks to questionable game quality and the recent loot box debacle. Most of the jokes, jabs and sick burns are delivered at the awards show this year is at their expense.
It all started when Zachary Levi presented the second award of the night, joking that he needed to make a micro-transaction before announcing the winner of best action game.
Def my fav moment from #TheGameAwards Zachary Levi dissing EA pic.twitter.com/PdAMcCV1tC
— MsaeĐ مساعد? (@MrSudairy) December 8, 2017
The night goes on with another jab at when Bethesda aired a hilarious ad for a discount of all the new single-player games they have put out this year. This is a reference to the statement that EA made when they closed down Visceral, and also a more recent statement where CFO Blake Jorgensen said that single-player games are less in demand.
And finally, even Josef Fares, the creative head behind split-screen co-op game A Way Out admits that the publisher he is working with has problems and distanced his game away from the lootboxes and terrible practices of EA. Though he did clarified that the publisher has treated his indie team well.
EA did not win any awards, or nominated, for that matter, at the Game Awards this year.