One of the biggest controversies this year in gaming came from the release of No Man’s Sky, which was the culmination of several years’ worth of hype and marketing. Developed by Hello Games, the project was first revealed at the 2013 VGX Awards where it stoked the fires of imagination in gamers about the possibilities that this game could present. The game made several similar grand presentations throughout its development which gradually increased expectations about the promised features and procedurally-generated experiences to be had in the game, which many ultimately feel the game did not deliver on fully. This plagued the game’s launch with mixed reviews, and it seems this has prompted response among one of gaming’s biggest sources of accolades. The Game Awards promises that this year the ceremony will aim to not repeat what they believe was their portion of the problem in the No Man’s Sky controversy.

Dorito-fanatic Geoff Keighley, host of the 2013 VGX Awards and this year’s Game Awards, has expressed regret to Polygon about the award show’s reveal of No Man’s Sky and its part in the over-expectations that contributed to the game’s fall from grace in the public eye. “I have thought about the story of No Man’s Sky a lot. Did we create this black hole of hype that the developers couldn’t pull themselves out of? Some of that was authored by me,” said Keighley. “There is a good moral of that story and it’s part of what I’m trying to address this year; to have developers be more transparent about the state of their game.”

Keighley acknowledges that fan’s heightened perception of the game’s ideals made No Man’s Sky destined to disappoint, but nonetheless still strives to learn from the failures made at the VGX three years ago. The Game Awards promises this year’s new game reveals will be much longer than the usual 30-second teasers seen for previous reveals. Keighley says, “I think people will be surprised at the depth of some of the game content we will show this year.” I must give credit for Geoff Keighley being so open about what he believes were mistakes contributed to by him and the awards shows that he has closely worked on, and I hope the Game Awards promises are delivered. Now if we could only get him to undo the teabagging joke at the 2011 Video Game Awards. What do you guys think? Did No Man’s Sky deliver under your expectations? Do you think VGX was partly to blame? Let us know in the comments below!

In other news for The Game Awards, you can see the list of this year’s nominees here, as well as further updates on this year’s award show, on Don’t Feed the Gamers!