The Game Awards 2022 was the biggest event ever for the video game industry.
It turns out that people like video games – a lot. The Game Awards viewership reached 103 million people in 2022. Not only is that multiple times larger than all of the other major awards shows combined. In fact, this year’s viewership puts the event on par with the Super Bowl.
The Game Awards first premiered back in 2014. It had a modest viewership that year of 1.9 million viewers. Nine years later, the event exploded into the single biggest event in the gaming industry. Next year, the show will celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Video game journalist and TGA founder Geoff Keighley posted about the show’s ratings on Twitter alongside historical data dating back to 2014.
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Historical #TheGameAwards viewership numbers:
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 16, 2022
2022: 103 Million
2021: 85 Million
2020: 83 Million
2019: 45.2 Million
2018: 26.2 Million
2017: 11.5 Million
2016: 3.8 Million
2015: 2.3 Million
2014: 1.9 Million
Next year marks out 10th annual show.
The Game Awards viewership vs other awards shows
Let’s put that 103 million viewership number in perspective. The Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Tony Awards all trailed badly behind The Game Awards. In fact, the Academy Awards – also known as the Oscars – is the only awards show that even topped 10 million viewers.
The four most prestigious award shows combined for just over 30 million viewers in 2022. Here are the most recent figures from the major awards shows for film, television, music, and theater:
- Academy Awards – 15.36 million
- Emmy Awards – 5.92 million
- Grammy Awards – 8.93 million
- Tony Awards – 3.9 million
Why are The Game Awards so popular?
Of course, The Game Awards has a major advantage over shows in other media-related industries: TGA is platform agnostic whereas the other shows generally have exclusive contracts with the major television networks. This maximizes its reach.
In addition to streaming on major gaming websites, YouTube, and Twitch, TGA also broadcast on platforms like Steam. In fact, Steam was giving away a free Steam Deck every minute throughout the entire awards show, drawing over 10 million viewers to Steam alone.
The Game Awards show also features a number of exclusive game announcements. So it’s not just an awards show. It is basically a massive marketing opportunity for video game publishers looking to showcase their games to a giant audience.
Will the show continue to grow?
It’s impossible to know if The Game Awards will continue to grow at such historic rates, although we can expect it to continue dwarfing awards shows in other industries. If TGA partners with other companies next year – Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo – as they did with Valve and Steam during this year’s show, it should expect the robust growth to continue as it will tap into yet another source of viewers.
