The Game Awards 2022 was a star-stubbed event, with many celebrities and industry figures attending the show. One of the highlights of the evening was the appearance of The Godfather’s star Al Pacino, who presented the award for Best Performance in video games.
Since Pacino’s appearance, many fans have been asking the question of whether he got paid to appear at The Game Awards or not. According to Geoff Keighley himself, Al Pacino didn’t get paid anything to appear at The Game Awards 2022.
“He [Al Pacino] really just came because he was interested, he’s not been paid anything. He’s really just coming as someone who’s curious about the world and wanted to really pay respect to the actors that were doing the work,” Keighley said during the latest Hideo Kojima’s Brain Structure podcast episode.
“I reached out to him just to say, ‘hey would you ever be interested in doing something at TGA?’ We talked a few years ago and it didn’t work out because he was busy working on The Irishman and I just happened to ask this year and the response back was, ‘Al is all in, he’s very excited to come to the show’.
Keighley further commented on why he was particularly excited about Al Pacino presenting the award, “it actually, to the actors themselves, to receive an award from Al Pacino is probably one of the most meaningful things that could happen to an actor, just like when Christopher Nolan will present an award to Naughty Dog like that’s an amazing moment for them”.
“I see some of that feedback online but I really think with the right people it can be very, as you said, a big buzz and impactful,” Keighley concluded.
Geoff Keighley has also shared some viewership numbers for the 2022 event, which received a record-breaking 103 million viewers, compared to the 85 million viewers of the previous year.
