For one evening in 2005, the Mojave Desert glowed inexperienced. Microsoft inexplicably launched its then-new console, the Xbox 360, with a launch occasion in a hangar within the desert. A Microsoft government informed Gizmodo in 2005 that it was supposed to resemble Burning Man, the artwork competition the place Silicon Valley’s wealthy reenact the prelude to a BioShock sport.. One other government referred to as it an “Xbox 360 oasis.” Journalists and Xbox followers—it was each a press occasion and a participant launch celebration—lounged on beanbags to play the most popular new console at considered one of dozens of stations. Microsoft served alcohol from paneled domes that are actually synonymous with covid-era outdoor dining.
These types of huge funds gaming occasions, the place corporations spared no expense on luring press and followers into bizarre locations—all within the identify of selling new {hardware} or video games—don’t exist a lot anymore. However 20 years later, an artifact channeling that bygone period has reemerged, as soon as once more, this time within the Colorado desert: a mysterious demonic statue with the our bodies of the damned etched into its sides.
The Sport Awards’ portal to hell
The Sport Awards overseer Geoff Keighley posted a photograph of the mysterious statue with a geocode pointing people to an area of Joshua Tree National Park, simply off of Yucca Mesa Highway. Tendrils glow purple from the statue at evening, illuminating the screaming skeletons of each people and creatures. A number of individuals who’ve visited the statue have posted about it on social media and Reddit. Apparently, a safety guard watches over the relic—”cool dude,” according to Reddit user TautSexyElfKing—and the statue makes sounds. One other particular person instructed others to knock on the door, saying one thing else will knock again.
“It was very ambient and hellish sounding,” TautSexyElfKing stated. “Almost like it was a doorway and on the other side was a large cavern with demons lurking about the other side. Maybe some light growling-ish sounds. There wasn’t anything I could make out in particular that would be a hint or anything”
To the unaware, it seems just like the form of factor you may discover at Burning Man, or perhaps an altar for worshipping the satan. However Keighley’s publish is a sign to players that that is an Easter egg—a advertising and marketing stunt. It’s working, not as a result of it’s hyping folks up for any particular sport or console, however as a result of it’s pushing folks towards Keighley’s pleasure and pleasure: an finish of yr bash produced, owned, and hosted by the person himself.
The statue itself is ambiguous sufficient that spectators can map it onto no matter’s on the high of their Sport Awards World Premier wishlist. It’s off Yucca Mesa Highway, so it have to be for Half-Life 3. The demonic symbols are an apparent reference to Diablo 4‘s subsequent enlargement. No, wait—maybe that’s God of War. It’s primarily a hell portal, which clearly means Doom. I don’t know, perhaps Elder Scrolls 6? Or, maybe, Keighley is simply himself opening a portal to hell and intends to destroy the whole dang world.
nobody is contemplating that Geoff is just opening a hell portal https://t.co/XKEgj6N3e6
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) December 2, 2025
Apparently everyone seems to be incorrect, according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who stated it’s not Diablo 4 or Elder Scrolls 6. “I don’t currently plan on reporting what it is, sorry, but it’s a good one,” he wrote on a gaming forum. ” Whatever the reply, The Sport Awards wins—the statue has gotten sufficient buzz that individuals will, definitely, tune in to see what the statue is teasing.
It’s a little bit extra simply digestible than, say, the Frog Fractions 2 ARG that went unsolved for actually two years spanning practically two dozen video games on Steam and a guide in a California library. Then there’s the Halo 2 ARG referred to as I Love Bees, which spanned three months, jars of honey, and a number of other pay telephones, or when Digital Arts launched copies of Mass Impact 3 into area utilizing climate balloons. (The people who found the copies, inevitably plummeting again to earth, might play the sport early.)
Keighley’s Sport Awards statue doesn’t appear to essentially be an alternate actuality sport. It’s onerous to say if it’s actually leaving any clues for players to decode or simply there to energy the hype cycle. It feels extra aligned with the chaotic churn of algorithmic virality that everybody’s in search of nowadays—a bizarre factor in a bizarre place, simply photographed or videotaped and circulated on TikTok, Reddit, and elsewhere. It’s working.
The brand new AAA realty
Corporations have achieved these types of issues for highly-anticipated, huge funds video games like Overwatch (huge motion figures in huge bins), God of War (huge axe in London), and Horizon Forbidden West (huge mechanical monsters). The distinction, after all, is that it’s apparent what these installations have been selling. The hazard within the Sport Awards statue is that individuals will find yourself let down by no matter sport it’s tied to.
Occasions like The Sport Awards have been born to market AAA video games; Keighley fills the present with commercials for the most recent and best big-budget blockbusters from the trade’s mega-companies, backed by a booming voice boasting a world premiere announcement or new gameplay trailer. The largest of those, video games like The Witcher 4 or Marvel’s Wolverine, barely want the additional eye-balls whereas every part else will get misplaced within the shuffle. Homegrown debut hits like Balatro and Expedition 33: Clair Obscure, in the meantime, come out of nowhere and dominate the zeitgeist with out the assistance of big advertising and marketing machines. Whereas some corporations hope to fabricate a fraction of that cachet with huge showcase moments, it’s not apparent that they’re on the market. To listen to some inform it, the outdated AAA gaming mannequin has reached “the end of days.” We’re a great distance from cosplaying Space 51 for a midnight console launch.
However I suppose that’s not Keighley’s drawback. Folks may not bear in mind regardless of the statue finally ends up being for however they’ll tune into The Sport Award to search out out. He will get to hype his present both manner.
