The Game Awards 2022 and the Latin American presence

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This Thursday took place one of the most anticipated events year after year in the video game industry: The Game Awards ceremony. The night that journalists and gamers recognize the best of the last 365 days within this sector, at the same time, we have previews of some of the video games that will be released during the next few months.

This year's show left us with a lot to talk about from start to finish. From Christopher Judge's cut speech when receiving the award for his interpretation of Kratos in God of War: Ragnarök, going through the new Mario movie clip, the release date of Final Fantasy XVI, the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor trailer and release date, closing with the unexpected speech of a child that overshadowed the outcome of the evening while those behind Elden RIng thanked for having won the GOTY award. We even ended up with Bill Clinton inside the FromSoftware game, to mention just a few examples.

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The Game Awards 2022 and Latin America

Now, it is time to talk about the Latin American presence during the event. Of course, with globalization and remote work, it's easy to find more and more development teams and publishers having employees from virtually all over the world.

That said, let's start by highlighting a couple of remarkable cases that the organizers themselves have recognized. We are talking about the 2022 generation of what is known as the Future Class of The Game Awards.

If you didn't know, The Game Awards annually curate a select group of "inspirational individuals who represent the bright, bold, and inclusive future of gaming." On this occasion, the list of 50 people has the presence of a couple of representatives from the Latin American region. Camila Gormaz, from Chile, and Sol Sánchez, from Peru.

Here is an overview of both, as we can find on the official site of The Game Awards' Future Class:

Camila Gormaz

"Camila Gormaz (she/her) is a game developer and artist, co-founder of studio BURA and currently a Game Designer at Globant, with more than 8 years of professional experience in the industry. During that time she has worked mainly as an artist, writer and game designer, and her work has been awarded in several parts of the world. She's also an advocate for inclusivity within the industry, giving talks aimed towards marginalized genders, students and Latinxs. She was also part of the #1ReasonToBe GDC panel in 2019, and she's often a jury for grants and awards.

Camila has used games as a vehicle to teach about different topics and experiences, from Nanopesos, a simulator about living on minimum wage developed during the recent Chilean protests, to Long Gone Days, an RPG set in the present, focused on the impact of war on civilians and the importance of communication. She has always been fascinated by games, starting with paper prototypes at the age of 8, and dabbling with her first computer games at the age of 11. She now aspires to help grow the Latin American industry, sharing the knowledge she has gained along the way."

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Sol Sánchez

"Sol is the CCO of Somber Pixel, an indie studio based in Peru and the developers of the story-driven game, “Night Reverie”. Besides making games, Sol is very passionate about game dev communities and increasing women's participation in the industry.

This is why in 2018 she co-founded FemDevs Peru, a non-lucrative organization, that promotes women's participation and visibility in the industry. To support and promote Peruvian developers, Sol also co-organizes projects like the Samurai Scholarship (GDC) and Yunza Games Festival. Sol believes in the talent the Peru and Latam industry has to offer to the world, and hopes by being part of these initiatives, it can help them grow faster, get more recognition and better opportunities."

As can be read in each of their biographies, Camila and Sol are not only the future but the present, since for a long time, they have been working hard, each one on their own, for the benefit of the video game industry as a whole.

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And there's more

It would be illogical to think they were the only people from the region who were part of The Game Awards this year, don't you think so? Exactly.

Here's an example:

Latinos en los Game Awards #gameawards pic.twitter.com/BOHII8z5RS

— Majo Felix (@majofelix) December 9, 2022

From left to right, in the photo of the previous tweet, we can see Steve Duran, director of Ogre Pixel, the Mexican studio that created Lonesome Village; Majo Félix, Mexican video game composer; Carlos Egas, Ecuadorian Technical Sound Designer; Rodrigo Ferzuli, mentor at the International Game Developers Association (IGDA); and Laia Barboza, President of the Uruguayan Gamedev Association. In addition, among other things, all are part of the Future Class of The Game Awards named its 2021 edition.

Speaking of Steve, he had the opportunity to be very close to Hideo Kojima himself during the ceremony (in a better seat!). Speaking of Kojima, did you see the reveal trailer of its next project, Death Stranding 2? It was stunning!

Look who is in the row behind!#TheGameAwards 😀 pic.twitter.com/1nC5WicsQw

— Steve 🎃 (@SteveOgre) December 9, 2022

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The director of Ogre Pixel also took advantage of his visit to Los Angeles to take a photo with the former president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aimé:

And with Reggie! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/7Bu7b6D8Ks

— Steve 🎃 (@SteveOgre) December 9, 2022

The show stealer

Without a doubt, the Latin American who won the night was the Venezuelan flutist Pedro Eustache. Thanks to his great emotion while performing each piece of the medley that The Game Awards orchestra performed with songs from all the GOTY nominees, he stole the hearts of the internet.

Here's a little clip of his performance from Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Look at that excitement!:

Eustache was also part of the orchestra last year. In addition, he has a great career in the film industry, participating in soundtracks for films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dune (2021), and Indiana Jones 4, to name a few.

What do you think? Did you already know these Latin Americans from the video game industry? Did you find out about anyone else who was during the event?

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