The Game Awards’ Future Class members demand awards show recognize Gaza crisis

28.11.2023 - 21:52 / polygon.com / Geoff Keighley / Troy Baker / Class

Dozens of members of The Game Awards’ Future Class — 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 asking for recognition of the Gaza humanitarian crisis during December’s live event.

“In the past years, you’ve selected us to represent the future of the game industry,” wrote the group, which includes 59 members of Future Class at the time of writing, in the open letter. (So far, there are 150 members in the Future Class — 50 for each year since the program began in 2020.) “You didn’t choose us as symbols of what the game 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 want to sincerely thank you for the trust you extended when nominating us. Today, we’d like to honor that trust. You gave us the role of ambassadors of a better future — as such, our duty towards you and all the players world-wide compels us to speak up.”

The group is urging the Game Awards staff to use the award show platform to support Palestinian human rights, call for a cease-fire, and to ask the industry to invest resources to end the “systemic dehumanization of people from South-West Asia and Northern Africa.” The open letter calls out that the video game industry is complacent in the dehumanization and vilification of “Muslims, Arabs, and the many brown and black people living in the regions of South-West Asia and Northern Africa”; it’s common for military shooters and other genres to portray Arabs — or people in traditional Arab clothing — as villains or terrorists.

More than 2,000 other people, largely game developers, have also signed the letter in support of the members of the Future Class. The letter comes just after Thirsty Suitors narrative designer Meghna Jayanth stepped down from presenting the Best Storytelling award at the Golden Joystick Awards event, put on by PC Gamer owner Future on Nov. 10, after the organizers “would not permit political statements,” Jayanth wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Jayanth had intended to call for a cease-fire and support for Palestinians. The Golden Joysticks replaced Jayanth with video game performer Troy Baker.

On Oct. 7, Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched a coordinated and devastating attack that killed around 1,200 people in Israel, the majority of whom were civilians. In response to the deaths and a reported 240 hostages taken by the group, Israel declared war on Hamas. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed at least 14,800 Palestinians, reported to be mostly