Apex Legends and other esports take over The Game Awards

Olivia Richman Published 08/12/2019

The Game Awards are coming on December 12 and nobody is more excited than Respawn Entertainment. Except perhaps for Mirage.

The Apex Legends prankster recently made waves on Reddit when he appeared on a funny tweet where he can be seen taking credit for Apex Legends’ many nominations in the upcoming rewards show.

“Can you believe it? (Obviously, yes), your boy Mirage is nominated for ‘Best Competitor in a Battle Royale Based on Skills and Good Looks’ at this year’s Game Awards,” Apex Legends tweeted.

Reddit users were immediately drawn to Pathfinder’s quote on the bottom left.

“Mirage is my best friend. I love him,” it reads.

Many found this quote to embody the innocent robot’s personality perfectly, leading them to list their other favorite Pathfinder quotes.

Others joked that Mirage put the poster together himself, since he included a quote from Crypto that said, “He makes everyone else look good.”

“Only Mirage would misread Crypto’s quote as a compliment,” one Redditor pointed out, showing just how developed the Apex Legends’ personalities and lore have become since the game was released.

Apex Legends nominated at The Game Awards

While Respawn was obviously poking some fun at their cockiest legend, their popular battle royale is actually dominating the Game Awards’ categories. The game is up for four categories, more than any other title. This includes nods for Best Ongoing Game, where Fortnite is a competitor, Best Multiplayer Game against Borderlands 3, Best Community Support, and Best Action Game.

The Best Community Support category is an interesting one for Apex Legends. When the game first arrived on the scene earlier this year, fans were quick to call out Respawn for their lack of communication with the growing community. The developers even admitted that they were overwhelmed by the game’s surprising popularity and were having a hard time keeping up with glitches and bugs.

While there are still many exploits and glitches in Apex Legends, it appears as though the community has recently been much more satisfied with Respawn’s open communication and more consistent content updates.

Esports categories at The Game Awards

As the esports scene continues to grow, traditional gaming award shows like The Game Awards have started dedicating categories to the competitive side of video games.

This year, there are seven esports categories at The Game Awards, counting Content Creator of the Year. For this category, Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, Soleil “Ewok” Wheeler, and Michael “shroud” Grzeskiek, all streamers who have left Twitch in 2019, are competing against Benjamin “Dr Lupo” Lupo, who is still streaming with the popular platform despite growing complaints about Twitch’s strict contracts and inconsistent punishments.

Best Esports Coach is a category judged by not only the team’s performance, but the coach’s conduct in 2019. Nominees include Team Liquid’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coach Eric “Adren” Hoag and their League of Legends coach, Nu-ri “Cain” Jang. G2 Esports and SK Telecom T1 also have their League coaches up for the award. OG’s Dota 2 coach is on the list, as well as Danny “Zonic” Sorensen, who coaches Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for Astralis.

Team Liquid, OG, and Astralis are up for another award in the Best Esports Team category. They are competing against Overwatch League’s San Francisco Shock. The Shock’s Jay “Sinatraa” Won is up for Best Esports Player of the Year, along with Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, who won $3 million at the Fortnite World Cup Solo Finals. They are competing against Natus Vincere’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, G2’s Luka “Perkz” Perkovic, and the legendary Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, despite a shaky year for Faker.

Esports Game of the Year has the aforementioned Apex Legends fighting for the title against CSGO, Dota 2, Fortnite, League of Legends, and Overwatch. The winner will be chosen based on the game that has delivered the best overall esports experience to players, including tournaments, community support, and content updates.

Esports Event of the Year will recognize a singular event that delivered a “best-of-class experience” for the participants, in-person audience, and those viewing it through a live broadcast. Events competing in this category include Overwatch League Grand Finals, EVO 2019, the Fortnite World Cup, IEM Katowice 2019, the League of Legends World Championship, and The International 2019.

The LoL World Championship finals broke Twitch’s viewing record for all-time peak concurrent viewers, a record that was previously held by the Fortnite World Cup.

Esports Host of the Year is the last esports-related category at The Game Awards. Up for the award are Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere, Alex “Machine” Richardson, Paul “Redeye” Chaloner, Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez, and Duan “Candice” Yu-Shuang.

The Game Awards are on December 12, 5:30 PST, broadcasting from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. It can be viewed here.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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