What to Expect at the GOTY 2023 Gala: Exclusives, Announcements, and News at The Game Awards

GOTY 2023, live: announcements, winners and latest updates from The Game Awards

The world of video games is about to put the finishing touches on one of the best years in its history with a new edition of The Game Awards. The GOTY gala, hosted by Geoff Keighley, will honor the great games of the past few months and determine the big winner of 2023. Will it be The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, perhaps Baldur’s Gate 3, or perhaps one of the other nominees?

In any case, the gala is also used to leave us with a lot of announcements and surprises, both about already known games and others that we still know nothing about. At MeriStation, it’s time to take out the crystal ball and see what could be presented at The Game Awards 2023. Here are the reasons why it might be worth spending almost 3 hours at the event.

Last year’s Game Awards announcements

To know what to expect from the event, nothing beats reviewing everything that happened at last year’s edition. Here is a full recap of The Game Awards 2022, from which we highlight the following:

As you can see, we had it all. Expansions, ports, trailers for series and movies, concerts, new announcements and release dates for already released games. We’re expecting more of the same this year, but let’s take it one section at a time.

Elden Ring DLC and a new God of War

Last year at The Game Awards there were two DLCs that took the price, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, why not expect two more this year? And while we’re at it, the most talked about expansion is undoubtedly Elden Ring: Shadow of Erdtree.

From Software has been very present at Geoff Keighley’s galas. The company has already won two GOTY awards at the ceremony (for Sekiro and Elden Ring itself) and has always used their visits to Los Angeles to announce something. In 2021 they left us with a trailer for Elden Ring and in 2022 the announcement of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. What’s next in 2023? Or did they cut their ties with the event after Hidetaka Miyakazi himself came to collect some awards and was attacked by a spontaneous person? Let’s hope not. And as much as they have warned that the expansion is still a long way off, it wouldn’t be so strange to see its first trailer.

If you want to say a second, many of us are betting on one of those DLC-not-DLC from Sony. Expansions that go off the deep end and become standalone games. Like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. It has been rumored that this time it will be God of War: Ragnarok that will get this kind of spin-off. If true, and considering how little PlayStation has announced for 2024, The Game Awards would be the ideal place to announce it. The brand would be present (as it was last year with Burning Shores) and PS5 gamers would already have their most anticipated game for next year.

Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox and Horizon: Forbidden West on PC

The Game Awards 2022 also saw a lot of Sony games porting to PC, and this year’s edition would not be a bad place to announce another one. Specifically, it would be the turn of Horizon: Forbidden West. A few months ago it was announced that the Complete Edition of the game will arrive on PC in 2024 (including the expansion), but there is still no date. This TGA would be a good time to announce it.

But without a doubt, the most likely and important port of the ceremony is Baldur’s Gate 3 for Xbox. First of all, because it will be one of the games of the night (it is the most nominated and the great alternative to the GOTY for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom). And to continue, because Larian Studios promised that the Xbox Series X|S version will be released in 2023. With less than a month left in the year, its announcement is inevitable.

Death Stranding 2 and Hades 2

There were a lot of unexpected announcements at The Game Awards 2022, and the truth is that we haven’t heard anything about most of them since. If they don’t want us to start suspecting or writing them off, this year’s gala is a can’t miss event for them. And the first things that come to mind are two sequels: Hades 2 and Death Stranding 2.

Even though it was acclaimed by the international press (its 93 on Metacritic proves it), it was a surprise to see an indie game like Hades among the GOTY nominees at The Game Awards 2020. It was a good boost for Zagreo, and last year Supergiant Games returned the favor to Keighley by announcing the sequel at the gala, which was frankly unexpected. Considering that it will be released in Early Access between April and June 2024, it would be strange if it didn’t repeat its presence this year, since there is nothing left for its release and we haven’t seen anything about it.

As for Kojima, we all know how special his relationship is with the host - he even included him as a character in the first Death Stranding! Keighley was not far from feuding with Konami when the company fired the creative, and Hideo has made room for him in his events, even when he just had to announce his own podcast. The developer returned the favor with the announcement of Death Stranding 2 in 2022, and considering that we haven’t heard much about the game and that he was aiming for 2024, it would be nice to see him back this time around.

Release dates for Hellblade 2, Stalker 2, and Wolverine

Looking back at the 2020 list, many of you will also appreciate that The Game Awards is where next year’s calendar takes shape. And while 2023 was a year to remember, the truth is that the 2024 calendar is a bit empty. It’s time to fill it with dates and big names.

Perhaps Microsoft and Sony should be most concerned about this, as they have a lot of games on the horizon and virtually none with a release date. Xbox should close the circle and announce Hellblade 2 right away. After all, the game was presented at the same event, but already in 2019. Rumors about Stalker 2 also suggest that the game will be released sooner than we expect, and both could be Uncle Phil’s bet. As for PlayStation, Insomniac’s presence at the gala with Spider-Man 2 could be leveraged with news about the highly anticipated Wolverine game. Even if it’s not out until 2025, it’s time to hear about it.

But we have said these as we could have said many others. There are no games planned for 2024 that don’t have a date yet. From Avowed to Silent Hill 2 Remake, The Outer Worlds 2, Star Wars: Outlaws or Rise of the Ronin.

Fallout Series and Movie Trailers ‘Sonic 3′ and ‘Borderlands’ Trailers

Video game franchises and movies are so hot these days that The Game Awards 2023 will even have an award for Best Adaptation. And the nominees couldn’t be more high-profile:

It would be strange if this year’s event did not also serve to present news about some of the most anticipated video game tv series and movies of 2024. It’s true that the first trailer for the Fallout series is too recent to release another, but perhaps it will get a spot at the event. And it will be for movies on the way. Sonic 3′ (which showed a first image with Shadow), Borderlands (which couldn’t look any worse) or Minecraft (with Jason Momoa and scheduled for May) are just some of them.

Let’s just dream. If you ask us, nothing would make us more excited than the first trailer for Season 2 of ‘Arcane’ (already with a release date on Netflix).

Lots of live music

This is not a bet. It’s a reality. Get ready for lots of announcements, brand collaborations and concerts. The event is not self-funded, and Geoff Keighley is a master at this. For example, we already know that the Muppets will be presenting an award and that we’ll have music from Alan Wake 2 on stage. The band Poets of the Fall will dress up as the Elder Gods of Asgard and perform one of the main songs from the game.

Make no mistake, there will be time for celebrities of all kinds. Last year, poor Al Pacino attended the gala and had to eat the longest acceptance speech in history, given by Christopher Judge for his role as Kratos (and Judge will be presenting an award this year, so hold on to your most caffeinated beverage).

SEGA Surprise and New Xbox

And we close with what seems to be two of the first confirmed surprises. Sega has sent an envelope to several streamers (many of them specialized in fighting games) these days, inviting them to be very attentive to the event with the slogan “New Era, New Energy”. Do we have a new Virtua Fighter on the way, finally, after more than a decade, or are we misunderstanding and the hedgehog company is referring to its mascot and a new Sonic?

As for Xbox, the purchase of Activision Blizzard and Microsoft’s passage through all sorts of agencies that studied the company in depth ended up leaking many of its future plans, one of which is a new Xbox Series X|S model. It will have 2 TB of storage, will come with a new controller and will be released in October 2024. Everything indicates that The Game Awards will be its presentation in the company.

After checking all the rumors, place your bets. Alea iacta est.

All you need to know about GOTY 2023 and The Game Awards gala