For the past two years, Geoff Keighley has produced and hosted the industry-wide year end awards show, The Game Awards. As one of the first video game-centric award ceremonies to approach the hobby and its enthusiasts with the respect that they deserve, The Game Awards have been generally well received by both fans and industry professionals. Aside from presenting awards voted on by a panel of judges from publications around the world, the ceremony has served as a platform for major game reveals and announcements, paid tribute to industry luminaries, and hosted a variety of celebrities and musical guests.
Today on Twitter, Keighley announced plans for a brand new awards show, set to debut sometime later this year: The Kids’ Game Awards. Produced in partnership with DreamworksTV, The new digital-only live event will allow viewers to vote on their favorite games in a variety of categories. A report from Variety adds that the ceremony will feature special appearances from celebrities, gamers, digital influencers and musical guests. Alongside Activision Blizzard and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Nintendo will serve on the advisory board for the event.
Nintendo has built a strong relationship with Keighley’s award ceremonies in the two short years that they’ve been around. In 2014, Reggie Fils-Aime was on hand to present a video featuring the first-ever gameplay footage of the upcoming Legend of Zelda title for Wii U. Last year, he appeared again to pay tribute – along with the rest of the industry – to Nintendo’s lost leader and industry legend, Satoru Iwata. At both shows, Nintendo also walked away with many notable wins, including: Best Fighting Game for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Best Sports/Racing Game for Mario Kart 8, Best Shooter and Best Multiplayer Game for Splatoon, Best Family Game for Super Mario Maker, and a Best Developer award.
With the new award show focusing on kids, it’s no wonder that Nintendo is helping to organize the event, and hopefully that means it will have some surprises in store for viewers as well. Stay tuned for more details on The Kids’ Game Awards in the coming months.
Written by Brittin Shauers
Brittin literally grew up with Link, Mario and Samus. These three characters and their worlds collectively capture everything that he loves about video games.
