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Geoff Keighley wants The Game Awards to "focus on showcasing the games" versus making any kind of critical stance on Activision-Blizzard

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Khanimus

Khanimus

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Oct 25, 2017
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"Not taking a side" on a matter like widespread harassment is absolutely taking a side.

kotaku.com

The Game Awards Won't Take Sides On Activision Fallout To Focus On Reveals [Update]

Geoff Keighley supports people sharing their stories but stopped short of criticizing the Call of Duty publisher
kotaku.com kotaku.com


As Geoff Keighley's annual Game Awards show enters its eighth year, the creator and host told The Washington Post today that he's still thinking about how to "navigate" Activision Blizzard's involvement in the ceremony following the latest reports of sexual misconduct at the publisher.

"We want to support employees and developers," Keighley said in an interview about what to expect at the 2021 Game Awards, which takes place on December 9. "[Keighley] added he supported people coming forward with their stories but also didn't want to diminish developers' opportunities to spotlight their games," The Washington Post reported.

"We have to think very carefully about how to proceed here," he said in the interview. Despite being one of the most prominent figures in the video game industry, Keighley has so far refrained from calling out the reported years of abuse at one of the biggest gaming companies in the world.


Keighley and The Game Awards did not respond to a request for comment.
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Just a reminder that he was happy to be critical of Konami blocking Kojima from attending the awards in 2015.

"As you noticed," said Keighley. "Hideo Kojima is not here with us tonight and I want to tell you a little about that. Mr. Kojima had every intention of being with us tonight, but unfortunately he was informed by a lawyer representing Konami just recently that he would not be allowed to travel to tonight's awards ceremony to accept any awards. [crowd boos] He's still under an employment contract. And it's disappointing and it's inconceivable to me that an artist like Hideo would not be allowed to come here and celebrate with his peers and his fellow teammates."

But I mean systemic harassment? Don't wanna be out there saying anything too harsh or anything... /s
 
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PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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Khanimus said:
Just a reminder that he was happy to be critical of Konami blocking Kojima from attending the awards in 2015.

"As you noticed," said Keighley. "Hideo Kojima is not here with us tonight and I want to tell you a little about that. Mr. Kojima had every intention of being with us tonight, but unfortunately he was informed by a lawyer representing Konami just recently that he would not be allowed to travel to tonight's awards ceremony to accept any awards. [crowd boos] He's still under an employment contract. And it's disappointing and it's inconceivable to me that an artist like Hideo would not be allowed to come here and celebrate with his peers and his fellow teammates."

But I mean systemic harassment? Don't wanna be out there saying anything too harsh or anything... /s
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I was gonna bring this up. He was perfectly happy to be blunt about his BFF Kojima being screwed over, but Activision's history of systemic abuse isn't worth talking about?

Like I don't mind Geoff, I know he's in a difficult position as the face of the Game Awards, but this is the perfect time for the industry to shine a light on Activision's bullshit and he should absolutely take the chance.
 
Brat-Sampson

Brat-Sampson

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Nov 16, 2017
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I mean it's a corporate funded marketing event under the guise of being an awards show, i wouldn't expect anything else.
 
Yuntu

Yuntu

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Probably got money from Activison (as I understand it TGA are sponsored by pubs etc.?).
 
Dice

Dice

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Activision reveals get like sooo many views. đź‘Ť đź‘Ťđź‘Ťđź‘Ťđź‘Ť

Boo
 
Streusel

Streusel

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but kojima is a good friend of geoff, he doesn't know any of those women personally! /s
 
DominicanGlory

DominicanGlory

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Probably already contractually obligated to promote them months before the scandals were public. Just how this stuff works sometimes.
 

Deleted member 4494

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Oct 25, 2017
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While I don't really think it's the venue to go in hard, a word or two in support of the developers and people trying to make Activision better and taking a stance wouldn't push that many buttons and is really all you gotta do in a virtue signaling world anyway. Hope to at least see a mention during the show.
 

Deleted member 8257

Oct 26, 2017
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Geoff is worried about pissing off the big sharks and advertisers.

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AranPrime

AranPrime

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They sure didn't have a problem making fun of microtransactions after the whole Battlefront 2 fiasco. So according to Geoff, microtransactions are a bigger deal than sexual harassment.
 
OP
OP
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,253
Greater Vancouver
PlanetSmasher said:
I was gonna bring this up. He was perfectly happy to be blunt about his BFF Kojima being screwed over, but Activision's history of systemic abuse isn't worth talking about?

Like I don't mind Geoff, I know he's in a difficult position as the face of the Game Awards, but this is the perfect time for the industry to shine a light on Activision's bullshit and he should absolutely take the chance.
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Now if he wants to hand Josef Fares a mic and let him go off, that'll be something.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

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"We want to support employees and developers" they say, while staying quiet on an issue that affects employees and developers
 
Kami

Kami

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Going to point out what his exact words are before people take Kotaku's embellishment and run with it.

""We want to support employees and developers."

"[Keighley] 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"
 
knightmawk

knightmawk

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Dec 12, 2018
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So either they

A) don't care about wide spread harassment and abuse or
B) have reveals for Activision games and also don't care about wide spread harassment and abuse.

Rad.
 
OSHAN

OSHAN

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Oct 27, 2017
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Don't even name drop Activision. Acknowledge the entire fucking industry has a lot of work to do. You can give that at least 30 seconds of precious Game Awards time, I'm sure.
 
Templeusox

Templeusox

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Oct 25, 2017
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Don't elevate Geoff above anything other than a capitalist who really likes to hang out with B, C, and D tier celebrities. He's not going to jeopardize any publisher relationships which could affect the current or future TGA's.
 

Deleted member 95442

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I am sure I saw Bobby Kotick on the list of supporters.

Of course this is another corporate, money grabbing event. No way they would do anything to compromise their pockets.
 

NuclearCake

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Oct 27, 2017
9,867
It was easy to roast Konami when they essentially stopped making games.

Not surprised by this. Geoff is a spineless cunt.
 
JakeNoseIt

JakeNoseIt

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Oct 27, 2017
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My man gave a game award to a dude that said some good came out of the Holocaust, so
 
TheRed

TheRed

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Oct 31, 2017
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That's pretty disappointing, must be really hard to make the right stand, so doing nothing is the right call but at least we thought carefully about it!
 
Kolx

Kolx

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Oct 25, 2017
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People actually expected him to take a stand? ofc he wasn't gonna say anything.
 
Seda

Seda

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Oct 25, 2017
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Did Geoff ever say anything publicly about BLM, especially when that came to a focal point in 2020? While other big influencer game media types show their support for real causes like this, Geoff usually seems to just play marketer.
 
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