Taking home the Game Award for Best Performance for his role as Kratos in God of War Ragnarök, Christopher Judge wowed us with one hell of a costume and then won us over with a heartfelt thank you speech in which he paid tribute to his family and them. That worked in the game.
The actual awards aspect of this year’s Game Awards began with the Best Performance of the Year trophy. With nominees introduced by none other than (surprise!) Al Pacino, Christopher Judge’s performance in the latest God of War won him the award. On stage, the judge gave an elaborate, if perhaps lengthy, speech that was hard not to tear up a little.
The judge began his speech by directly thanking his family.
“First of all, I have to thank my mother, whose belief that I will be something good will never waver. Even if it seems like I can never afford good things. My brother is my hero. At 40, his life changed. . went to medical school and is now a Dr. My children, for whom I am forever proud, forever grateful, and still the best role I have ever had, is being your father.”
Judge’s performance brought Kratos to life in an electrifying and instantly recognizable way. It’s no surprise that he took home an award for it tonight. Kotaku’s Jack Zwiezen categorized the dynamic between grieving-dad-era Kratus and his son Atreus as “the heart of this new era of God of War,” and we learned from Judge’s speech tonight that this instantly iconic reframing of the classic video game character. Probably never happened. Thanking Corey Barlog, God of War director, for the chance to audition for the role, Judge said that, if he had known a little more about it, he might not have tried for it.
“I was the last actor to read [God of War] in California. And Corey told me he didn’t think I’d do it. And if I’d known it was a video game, then, I might not have.”
It’s wild to think that such a subtle twist of fate could deny us a remarkable performance, one in which the judge wouldn’t be on stage to accept the award for it tonight. Even if it hadn’t, Keighley might have had a little more breathing room to introduce the next award, as the judge’s speech certainly took longer than expected. Valve is giving away one-minute Steam decks at tonight’s awards, and the host later joked that the judges were taking extra time to give away a few more decks.