The Game Awards 2023: When is it and how to watch it live?

Some of the year's best video games will be honoured at The Game Awards, set to take place in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The ceremony will be held at the Peacock Theatre, hosted by Geoff Keighley, a Canadian gaming journalist, who helped found the awards in 2014.

Prizes will be given out in 26 game categories and six esports categories.

The ceremony will also feature surprise appearances from the gaming world and trailer reveals for coming titles.

Here’s an overview of what to expect from the event, as well as details on when and how to watch.

Gaming journalist Geoff Keighley will host this year's awards. Getty Images

Awards and categories

The biggest award of the night will be the Game of the Year award.

There are six titles up for the award – Alan Wake 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4 and Super Mario Bros Wonder.

Other major categories include Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction and Best Score and Music.

An award will be given to a game chosen by fans in the category of Player’s Voice, which will be picked through online voting.

In the esports categories, the top awards are Best Esports Game, Best Esports Athlete and Best Esports Team.

Some titles have swept the nominations this year, with Alan Wake 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 both receiving eight nominations each. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 follows with seven nominations.

The game publisher with the most nominations is Nintendo with 14. This is followed by Sony Interactive Games and Epic Games, both with nine nominations each.

Alan Wake 2 is up for several awards, leading the charge with eight nominations. Photo: Remedy

Entertainment and surprises

The event attendees will be treated to a performance by the Game Awards Orchestra, who will perform a medley of music scores from all six games nominated for the Game of the Year award.

There’s always anticipation for new announcement and trailer reveals at the event, and this year is no different.

Fans of the massively popular Grand Theft Auto series were expecting a trailer for the coming GTA 6 to be revealed at the event. But publisher Rockstar Games recently announced the trailer would be revealed on their YouTube channel on Tuesday.

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Fans can still look forward to a trailer reveal of Hideo Kojima’s next game, a sequel to the groundbreaking Death Stranding game.

There is also excitement building for other announcements, including a new Fortnite game mode, new downloadable content levels for last year’s Game of the Year award winner Elden Ring and big announcements from both Xbox and Sega.

Super Mario Bros Wonder is nominated for Game of the Year, with its developer Nintendo earning 14 nominations across different categories. Photo: Nintendo

How to watch the awards live

The Game Awards this year will be held on Thursday at 5pm Pacific Time, which will be on Friday at 5am in the UAE.

The ceremony will be available to watch live on several platforms on the award’s official channels, including YouTube, Twitch, X, Facebook and Instagram.

Fans can tune in 30 minutes before the stream for a pre-event show.

More information on times and a full list of the nominees are available at thegameawards.com

Cinco in numbers

Dh3.7 million

The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown

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The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.

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The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]

50

How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday

3,000

The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

1.1 million

The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.

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Wayne Rooney's career

Everton (2002-2004)

Appearances: 48
Goals: 17

Manchester United (2004-2017)

Appearances: 496
Goals: 253

England (2003-)

Appearances: 119
Goals: 53

The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index

Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.

The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.

“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.

“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”

Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.

Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.

“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.