The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 8, 2022.

It featured musical performances from Halsey, Hozier, and Bear McCreary, and presentations from celebrity guests, including Reggie Fils-Aimé, Al Pacino, Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Ken and Roberta Williams.

[b] Reviews for the ceremony were mixed, with praise for announcements and speeches but criticism directed at the focus on marketing over awards and lack of indie game representation.

[24] Some theorized the company's absence may be due to the Federal Trade Commission announcing it would attempt to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the morning of the show, though journalists noted it was likely unrelated.

[22][24] Aaron Greenberg, vice president of Xbox Games Marketing, responded to the complaints by stating the company had announcements planned for 2023.

[25] After Elden Ring was announced as the Game of the Year winner, a male individual followed the developers on stage and waited while they gave their speech.

[27][28][42] Reports emerged that he had a history of publicly expressing support for the Hong Kong protests at NBA matches and BlizzCon in 2019 and had appeared twice on InfoWars, an American far-right talk show, whose host Owen Shroyer described him as "one of the young stars of the conservative movement".

[42] In subsequent interviews, he refused to break character but claimed to be Jewish, said to have recently attained an Israeli accent, denied being a fan of InfoWars, and disagreed with West's political views.

[34] Digital Trends's Giovanni Colantonio found the moment a poetic representation of the show itself: "a fan overshadowing the people who we were supposed to be celebrating".

[54] The exception to the jury-voted awards is Players' Voice, fully nominated and voted-on by the public; the winner was determined after three rounds of voting, which ran from November 28 to December 7.

Club's William Hughes felt nominating Elden Ring alongside the traditional storytelling of God of War Ragnarök and untraditional Immortality was "just begging for the whole exercise to fall apart".

[67] TheGamer's Eric Switzer named Ghostwire: Tokyo, Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and Sonic Frontiers the biggest snubs and wrote the eligibility period led to games like Pentiment and Somerville—which released after the nominees were announced but before the cutoff date—being overlooked.

[82] Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times criticized the show's return to "a vacuum of marketing" with little reference to ongoing events, unlike Keighley's statement the previous year denouncing workplace harassment.

[94] He enjoyed some of the moments that "cut through the noise", like Ken and Roberta Williams presenting Games for Impact and As Dusk Falls's director Caroline Marchal's subsequent winning speech.

[94] Digital Trends's Colantonio similarly considered the lack of focus on awards disappointing, and noticed the teleprompter asking winners to conclude their speeches almost instantaneously.

He cited a particularly disheartening moment in which Keighley announced winners of several important categories in rapid succession and "in an instant and just as quickly" aired a trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

[95] Variety's Kaare Eriksen identified the show's increasing codependence with Hollywood despite its attempts to highlight the artistic validity of the medium, citing Al Pacino's appearance, the announcement of Idris Elba in Cyberpunk 2077, and the introduction of Best Adaptation won by Netflix.

[99] Gordon found some skits unenjoyable and trailers excessive, and favored the unscripted moments for avoiding the show's otherwise commercial nature, citing Christopher Judge's lengthy acceptance speech;[1] Kotaku's Claire Jackson similarly felt Judge "stole" the show,[100] and VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi described it as "a beautiful moment".

[101] Destructoid's Noelle Warner, who attended the show as a seat filler, found the impressive production value enhanced the atmosphere of announcements and performances, though noted the event ran longer than planned.

[71] TechRadar's Cat Bussell lauded the fresh and unique quality of the games announced at the show but found the winners remained constrained by traditionalism despite their caliber.

[105] Prior to the show, Kotaku's Alyssa Mercante highlighted the poor fashion of previous Game Awards ceremonies as demonstrative of the industry's lack of representation.

[106] The discourse garnered responses from Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser and Microsoft executive Phil Spencer,[107] and Mercante and other journalists recognized it led to an improvement in fashion at the 2022 show;[107][108][109] attendees receiving particular praise included Aurora, Fuslie, Hideo Kojima, and Valkyrae.

[107][109][110] Musician Pedro Eustache, dubbed "Flute Guy", received media attention for his enthusiastic flute performance and ability to swap between instruments during the orchestra's Game of the Year medley;[91][92][93] Eustache, who has performed with The Game Awards Orchestra since 2017,[111] thanked the audience for their response[112] and apologized for not using the shinobue during Xenoblade Chronicles 3's section of the medley.

[116] Keighley had previously felt the 2022 show would be the first to shrink in overall viewership after eight years of successive growth, partly due to the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic and the gradual waning interest in live streams.