Dozens of members The future class of the Game Awards – a program that honors the “bright, bold and inclusive future” of the video game industry, according to The Game Awards website – have signed an open letter to host Geoff Keighley and TGA Future Class Director Emily Bouchoc and to ask for recognition of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza during the December live event.
“Over the past few years, you have selected us to represent the future of the gaming industry,” the group, which at the time of writing included 59 members of Future Class, wrote in the open letter. (To date, there are 150 members in the Future Class – 50 for each year since the program began in 2020.) “You chose us not as symbols of what the gaming industry currently is, but of what it could be: a diverse, inclusive and caring workplace. A positive force in the world that can influence billions of people. We would like to thank you very much for the trust you placed in us when you nominated us. Today we want to honor that trust. You have given us the role of ambassadors of a better future – as such, our duty to you and all players around the world compels us to speak out.”
The group urges Game Awards staff to use the awards show platform to support Palestinian human rights, call for a ceasefire, and ask the industry to invest resources to create a to end the ‘systemic dehumanization of people from Southwest Asia and North Asia’. Africa.” The open letter points out that the video game industry is complacent dehumanization and vilification by “Muslims, Arabs and the many brown and black people living in the regions of Southwest Asia and North Africa”; it is common for military shooters and other genres Portraying Arabs – or people in traditional Arabic clothing – as villains or terrorists.
“The video game industry, as the most influential and lucrative creative industry of our time, is especially guilty of this,” game developer Younès Rabii, who organized the open letter, told Polygon. “I would challenge anyone reading this to count the number of times they pressed a button to take the life of an Arab character, and compare this to the number of times a game invited you to sit down with someone and to eat. That ratio should scare you.”
More than 2,000 other people, mostly game developers, have also signed the letter in support of the Future Class members. The letter comes shortly afterwards Thirsty suitors narrative designer Meghna Jayanth pulled out of presenting the Best Storytelling award at the Golden Joystick Awards event hosted by PC Gamer owner Future on November 10 after organizers said they would “not allow political statements,” Jayanth wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Jayanth planned to call for a ceasefire and support for the Palestinians. The golden joysticks replaced Jayanth with video game artist Troy Baker.
On October 7, Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched a coordinated and devastating attack that killed people. approximately 1,200 people in Israelof which the majority were citizens. In response to the deaths and a reported 240 hostages taken by the groupIsrael declared war on Hamas. Israel’s military response in Gaza has caused at least fatalities 14,800 Palestinians, reportedly mostly women and children, simultaneously with the destruction of hospitals and entire neighborhoods, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this at the beginning of November “No one is safe” in Gaza, despite Israel’s claim that it is targeting Hamas fighters. In recent days, Israel and Hamas have done the same agreed to a temporary ceasefirein which both released hostages and prisoners.
Since the start of the crisis, several awards ceremonies in other sectors have come and gone, including a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) ceremony in Scotland and the National Book Awards in New York. The BBC was accused last week of removing several mentions of a Gaza ceasefire in its coverage of the BAFTA Scotland Awards. according to Al Jazeerawhile several National Book Awards nominees made statements, read by Temple people author Aaliyah Bilal, who calls for a ceasefire and urges the world to “address the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians.”
The Future Class members who wrote the open letter are looking for The Game Awards to use the platform in a similar way. Rabii told Polygon that The Game Awards’ massive viewership is powerful, and that the show “plays a role in what games the audience will buy, and how they will interact with them.”
“With the current state of the gaming industry, there is silence is a message,” the group wrote. “Silence is tacit support. Silence is the dehumanization of Palestinian lives.” It’s a sentiment shared by other efforts outside mainstream gaming companies: In October, a group of indie developers launched the Games for Gaza bundle, which raised $365,520 in two weeks and benefited the British-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.
“So I’m left with this question: Will The Game Awards be the voice of those who run the industry, or are they just using us for show?” Rabii said. “Speaking at The Game Awards would not only be the most moral thing to do, but it would also send a strong, empowering message to all the game workers out there.”
The Game Awards are scheduled for December 7 at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST, hosted live in Los Angeles and broadcast online. Keighley did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Update: This story has been updated with comments from open letter organizer and game developer Younès Rabii.