The Game Awards is arguably the biggest event in the gaming calendar nowadays, and it sounds like Geoff Keighley's glitzy Los Angeles awards show is enormously expensive to be a part of.
In a report from Kotaku, anonymous sources "familiar with this year’s show" say that a one-minute trailer during the show costs up to $450,000, while a three-minute slot is apparently over $1 million.
Separate sources "in the video game publishing world" told Kotaku that these figures "sounded in line with what they’d expect" based on previous years.
That's a vast sum of money for even the biggest publishers, let alone any smaller teams hoping to get their moment in the spotlight.
It sounds as though these costs don't apply in all cases; "some slots are reserved for the biggest surprises and Keighley curates free slots for what he personally wants to champion," the report reads.
The rest of Kotaku's report goes over some other ways in which The Game Awards commercialises itself, including ticket sales.
According to more anonymous sources, studios nominated for awards are provided two tickets each, and any other team members that want to attend must join the scrum for the public tickets, which are open to developers and fans alike.
One source said that Sandfall Interactive, the team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, bought many more tickets (apparently $300 each at face value), in addition to the two complimentary ones, to ensure more of its team could attend. The game is the most-nominated game in the show's history.
It sounds like a bit of a mess, to be honest. Obviously, inviting entire studios to attend would be unrealistic in some cases; developers can comprise hundreds of people. However, aside from the two free tickets offered to nominees, it seems as though there's no way for industry people to guarantee attendance, even if their game is up for an award.
Last year, a report revealed time slot pricing for Keighley's second-biggest show, Summer Game Fest. While not as apparently expensive as The Game Awards, the June showcase reportedly sells one-minute slots for $250,000.