The Game Awards 2019’s biggest reveal, the Xbox Series X announcement trailer, was kept secret even during rehearsal of the event, producer and host Geoff Keighley has revealed.
The Game Awards 2019’s biggest reveal, the Xbox Series X announcement trailer, was kept secret even during the rehearsal of the event, producer and host Geoff Keighley has revealed.
In an interview with Variety, Keighley shared that the name of the newest console was only revealed during the live show, which was where the Xbox’s Phil Spencer pronounced it for the first time at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles last week.
Variety reports that the “announcement (…) was kept so secret (…) that Xbox head Phil Spencer read a phony script about Xbox Game Pass during rehearsals,” so that risks of leaks were easily bypassed.
Indeed, Keighley had revealed before the event started that there had been no leaks this year.
The trick worked, and perhaps, even Spencer’s statement about Control coming to Xbox Game Pass was a fake lead to make us think that a Game Pass related announcement would be coming to The Game Awards. Sure it helped, but Remedy was not happy about that at all.
Xbox head remarked on Twitter how much the event was successful this year, and said thanks to fans claiming that it was all because of him and Xbox Series X, and shared the merit with the organization and with Keighley himself.
“Our segment was the result of so many Team Xbox members, I’m just the guy trying to read a prompter,” he told a follower. “And Geoff has been a constant driver of TGAs; he deserves so much credit for where the show is. Plus, his throw to our segment was awesome, fun to be part of it.”
Xbox Series X was teased at the E3 2019 as Project Scarlett, while its official name and design were only confirmed last week at The Game Awards 2019 via a brand new trailer.
The trailer itself was particularly successful, beating the original Scarlett teaser’s viewership just in hours and trending on YouTube the day following the reveal.
Thanks but our segment was the result of so many Team Xbox members, I’m just the guy trying to read a prompter. And Geoff has been a constant driver of TGAs, he deserves so much credit for where the show is. Plus his throw to our segment was awesome, fun to be part of it.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 18, 2019
