1. Horrible Presentation
It seems that with Spikes focus on less Hollywood fluff and more gaming content, the budget took quite a hit. In addition to not being televised, it feels like these awards were presented on a ridiculously low budget late night talk show. What awards ceremony hands out awards and conducts interviews over a couch? Even their hosting space (pictured above) looks ridiculously cheap. I could accept this but the ceremony was already granted with a fairly large stage for the closing Grand Theft Auto V musical performances, so why not use that stage for everything? From that positioning you could also hear the audience much more clearly which would have greatly benefited the production value. In its current state, about 5 people clapping were audible as Grand Theft Auto V took home the richest prize in the industry, and honestly the industry deserves something classier. Its admirable of the panel to take this humongous budget cut so they could focus more on what gamers want, but the current format completely emasculated this event in feeling special or noteworthy. It was nothing more than Geoff Keighley interviewing some developers with a clueless host occasionally chiming in, and this went on for 3 hours! An awards show still need a stage and other essentials. No wonder nobody bothered to even televise it this year. The awards were fine though and went to deserving picks, so thats something positive. Otherwise, this already bad show was rebranded into a train-wreck. Agree or disagree? Comment below!