Among the many changes coming to The Game Awards, a new awards category may be in order. Maybe not at this year's show, but at some point in the future the organizers are considering adding the 'Best Adaptation' category to the accolades lineup.
In an interview with former Kotaku and Polygon co-founder Brian Crecente, which can be seen on the Epic Games website, Geoff Keighley, the host of The Game Awards, said that along with trailers for new games, this year's show may also showcase trailers for movies and TV shows that are inspired by or recreations of video games, which may spur the "Best Adaptation" category somewhere down the line. "Probably next year, we may be able to add the best adaptation category to The Game Awards," he said.
Keighley didn't go into detail on what the Best Adaptation category will entail should it come to fruition, but it may include games that are based on either books or films. Hogwarts Legacy, which is expected to come out next year after Avalanche Software delayed its release, is based on the entire Harry Potter media franchise, including the books, movies, and Broadway shows.
It makes sense for The Game Awards to consider adding a 'Best Adaptation' category. Almost every award show dedicated to traditional entertainment has a category of a similar name reserved for films and TV shows that are based on works from another medium. The Oscars, for example, has a category called Best Adapted Screenplay, which awards movies based on novels, memoirs, autobiographies, or even plays like Les Miserables. Marvel's Eternals director Chloe Zhao, whose film Nomadland was based on the book by Jessica Bruder, lost this award to Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, whose film The Father was based on a French play Le Pere written by Zeller.
Many video games are based on other forms of media such as books and board games. The Witcher, developed by CD Projekt Red, is based on the fantasy novel series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, and it has also been adapted into a Netflix series. And let's not forget the games based on Tom Clancy's novels.