The best answer is to say nothing, the second best answer will annoy people.
If I were Geoff Keighley and I were going to make any announcement about the Israel-Hamas War and the attacks that happened on October 7th The Game Awards, I would not mention it and move along. People will of course demand statements, but you simply should say nothing.
Of course, you will upset a lot of people, but this is clearly not your lane for a very sensitive political, and quite frankly, hyper-nuanced topic for The Game Awards.
With that being said, here’s what I would say if nothing would not do :
“Good evening everybody. In the mist of a very tumultuous year with the war in Ukraine, the war between Israel and Hamas, and
especially the war between between labor and companies withmassive layoffs in the industry,we simply want to mourn the lives lost, and the livelihood loss between all of the groups affected by these events and our hearts are with them.
A hyper generic statement that would upset a lot of people and would easily get people riled up. Remember that The Game Awards, including the entities that extended it has had a history streak of not addressing topics that are more straightforward and higher than what has been demonstrated:
Weird omissions of women in gaming for its events
Not directly addressing the targeted hate and vitriol generated by Gamergate and general human antipathy generated from multiple sectors of the gaming industry
Security of the stage for awardees
Trying to make a super nuanced commentary about the Middle East, the lives lost, and the geopotical situation without stepping on toes, not going to be easy, and as Big Shaq would paraphrase, “I don’t think you have the facilities for that big man.”
projectpioneer 