Short answers, pulled from the story.
Geoff Keighley created The Game Awards and held the first ceremony on the 5th of December 2014 at The AXIS theater in Las Vegas. He invested his own personal funds to launch the event after leaving the Spike Video Game Awards in 2013.
The voting system uses a blended vote where ninety percent of the weight comes from a jury of over one hundred news organizations and ten percent is derived from fan voting via social platforms. An advisory committee selects the media outlets while the host and board remain silent on the outcome.
Viewership numbers for The Game Awards grew from 1.9 million in 2014 to 171 million by 2025. The show bypassed traditional television networks to livestream directly to console networks and Valve's Steam service to reach a global audience.
Final Fantasy holds the record for the most awards received by a single franchise in The Game Awards history. The Legend of Zelda has also achieved significant recognition with sixteen awards alongside titles like God of War and The Last of Us.
The ceremony faced criticism following the 2021 opening statement regarding the Activision Blizzard sexual misconduct scandal and the 2023 handling of winner speeches. The Future Class program was placed on indefinite hiatus in 2025 after members expressed feelings of being tokenized.