Activision Blizzard Won’t Be Involved In The Game Awards Past Nominations, Says Geoff Keighley
Following the release of his interview with The Washington Post, The Game Awards founder and host Geoff Keighley expanded upon his remarks regarding Activision Blizzard’s involvement in this year’s award show.
Rob Kostich, president of Activision Blizzard, has been a member of The Game Awards’ advisory board for years now. This naturally brought up questions regarding Keighley’s stance on the most recent swath of allegations against the company – most of which carried seriously disgusting allegations about gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment.
Multiple game publishers, sponsors, and individuals have said they are reevaluating their relationships with Activision Blizzard, and Keighley has been no different. While he hadn’t directly called for Bobby Kotick’s resignation like some others have, Keighley did say to The Washington Post that he was “thinking about how to navigate” the event’s involvement with the company – and added that Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 wouldn’t be present at the show in any capacity.
“We want to support employees and developers,” said Keighley, who added he supported people coming forward with their stories but also didn’t want to diminish developers’ opportunities to spotlight their games. “We have to think very carefully about how to proceed here.”
What to expect at the 2021 Game Awards, The Washington Post
Last night, Keighley expanded upon his stance towards Activision Blizzard in a thread on Twitter.
Geoff Keighley has long been a paragon of elevating video as an art form, and needless to say The Game Awards’ annual celebration of the medium has been one of – if not the most – respected and high-profile events of its kind.
The Game Awards is no stranger to taking stances. Hell, it’s not long ago that Keighley had directly called out Konami for preventing Hideo Kojima from accepting an award at his show. There’s no doubt in my mind that some of the show’s presenters and award winners will add to this and find a way to echo their feelings on the current state of the industry on one of gaming’s largest stages.
Needless to say, there’s no place for any kind of behavior, harassment, discrimination, assault, or rhetoric that excludes or harms anyone from participating in – and influencing – a medium that we all care so deeply about. Gaming is for everyone, and it’s here to stay – that’s always been at the core of The Game Awards’ message to the world.
I’m sure more of those messages will be heard loud and clear when The Game Awards 2021 goes live on December 9th, 2021.
