Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Game Awards was established in 2014 by game journalist Geoff Keighley, who produces and hosts the show. Keighley created it after his decade-long work on the Spike Video Game Awards ended when Spike TV reduced that show to a limited streaming format he declined to continue.
Since 2015, The Game Awards has been held at the Peacock Theater (formerly Microsoft Theater) in Los Angeles. The first ceremony in 2014 took place at The AXIS theater in Las Vegas.
Winners are determined by a blended vote of 90% from a jury of over one hundred media publications and 10% from public fan votes. An advisory committee that includes representatives from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and AMD selects the eligible media organizations but does not vote itself.
The Final Fantasy franchise has received the most awards from The Game Awards, with 10 wins from 32 nominations. God of War follows with 9 wins from 19 nominations.
Viewership has grown from 1.9 million at the 2014 ceremony to 171 million at the 2025 ceremony. The 2020 virtual show drew 83 million viewers, and the 2022 return to a full live audience drew 103 million.
The show has been criticized for devoting more time to promotional game reveals than to honoring award recipients. The 2021 show drew criticism for a statement on industry abuse that did not name Activision Blizzard, and the 2023 ceremony was criticized for giving celebrity guests several minutes to speak while cutting off award winners after thirty seconds.