Showcasing a 3-minute trailer at The Game Awards 2025 can cost over a million dollars
, by Thibaut
Participating in the Game Awards is not something everyone can afford. Every year, publishers and studios have to pay several hundred thousand dollars to make an announcement on this prestigious stage.
The Kotaku website has revealed several indiscretions concerning the organization of the ceremony. For a 60-second trailer broadcast during the 2025 edition, a company can pay up to $450,000. For a three-minute video, the cost would be over a million dollars. These staggering amounts prevent many nominated studios from presenting their future productions.
It's also important to note that participants in the Game Awards must pay for their seats to attend the ceremony. For example, Sandfall Interactive, the studio behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, purchased a large number of tickets at $300 each. The French company, which received 12 nominations, wanted to send as many people as possible to Los Angeles. But it seems that no special treatment was given to them.
An anonymous source who was there last year confirmed that tickets are sold at full price.
"I was told that the team was offered two tickets as nominees (these tickets come with access to the red carpet and green room experiences), and then provided a link to a page where additional tickets could be purchased.
As far as I could tell, the page was just the publicly available ticket page, and there were no discounts or special access to ticket allotments (i.e., particular seats in the theater) available."
One director even mentions spending $700 to get into the theater the year his game was nominated.
Source: kotaku.com