Report claims it costs up to $450K to show a 1-minute trailer at The Game Awards 2025

While the organisers behind The Game Awards keep most of the behind-the-scenes details confidential, as the show has grown and more developers have had the opportunity to take part in the event, new details have begun to come to light. In a recent report, it is claimed that showing a 3-minute trailer at The Game Awards this year would cost a studio or publisher as much as $1 million.

Kotaku reports that two sources familiar with the plans for this year's show confirmed that a short 60-second trailer slot now costs up to $450,000, and a full length 3-minute trailer would set studios back by as much as $1 million. You would think that with this kind of fundraising behind the event that more developers would get the opportunity to attend, but that is apparently not the case.

The report further notes that nominated studios have in the past received just two free tickets. Studios that wanted to let more of their team join in on the festivities had to then buy the regular public access tickets at face value, plus arrange travel and accommodation, making it a very expensive endeavour for some game studios.

One specific example given in the article is Sandfall Interactive, the studio behind Expedition 33, which is nominated for a record-breaking number of awards at this year's show. Apparently, they had to buy a ton of extra tickets at $300 each in order to allow more of the team behind the game to attend. For some developers, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, as just a small selection of games released each year actually earn nominations at The Game Awards. The number of nominees and categories has grown over the years, but the show still focuses on a pretty exclusive set of games compared to the number of titles released each year.

The Game Awards returns later this evening, with Geoff Keighley hosting as usual. The event promises a bunch of surprise game reveals, live music performances and of course, the actual awards ceremony, which has brought about some iconic moments in the past. We all remember Christopher Judge's speech when God of War won GOTY, we all remember Josef Farez flipping off The Oscars, so who knows what this year will have in store.

KitGuru Says: Will you be watching The Game Awards later tonight?

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