The New York Game Awards, now in their 11th year, are the latest to forgo an in-person event in favor of a virtual showcase.
The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue into the event calendar for 2022. Worse yet, the pandemic has continued to evolve as a result of failed attempts to stop it before it got out of hand, resulting in new threats such as the Delta and Omicron mutations. As a result, a number of events have been canceled or rescheduled to try to work around the issue, with the New York Game Awards being the most recent. The February 2022 event has been moved to a virtual format, along with the announcement of award nominees.
The New York Game Awards organizers announced the date change for the show on January 11, 2022. According to the announcement, the 11th annual New York Game Awards will be held solely as a virtual event, with the New York Videogame Critics Circle honoring games in various categories. In addition, due to the digital shift, ticket holders who previously planned on attending the show will be contacted regarding refunds. The show will still go on at 5 a.m. on February 1st. 8 a.m., PT ET on the Twitch channel of the New York Videogame Critics Circle.
In 2022, the New York Game Awards will be the latest event to be shifted to a digital format. Following a poor turnout at CES 2022, which raised the question of whether the show should have been held at all, events such as E3 2022 have already announced the cancellation of in-person events in favor of a digital shift, while the Capcom Cup 2022 event has been canceled outright. Many organizers are being far more cautious, with the Omicron variant, in particular, posing a unique threat to individuals, and we expect more cancellations and shifts to come.
Despite this, the New York Game Awards is planning a digital event and has even announced its award nominees. If you want to watch the show, you’ll have to do so on Twitch starting February 1st.
