Opinion: The Game Awards celebrate growth in video games, but the ceremony still needs to evolve

‘Elden Ring’ won game of the year at the Game Awards on Dec 8. — Bandai Namco/TNS

LOS ANGELES: The Game Awards are a course study in giving an audience what it thinks it wants.

And if you’re a consumer of interactive entertainment, the Game Awards believe you want teasers, previews and a whole lot of marketing. Elden Ring, a complex and, for many, a captivatingly convoluted fantasy role-playing game, won big at the show, but it was, as is typical for the Game Awards, overshadowed by looks ahead at new games and prods from host Geoff Keighley to take advantage of demos and sales, sometimes for games and sometimes for food delivery services.