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 advised Gizmodo in 2005 that it was alleged to resemble Burning Man, the artwork pageant 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 social gathering—lounged on beanbags to play the most popular new console at one in all dozens of stations. Microsoft served alcohol from paneled domes that at the moment are synonymous with covid-era out of doors eating.
These kinds of massive price range gaming occasions, the place firms 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 folks to an space of Joshua Tree Nationwide Park, simply off of Yucca Mesa Highway. Tendrils glow pink 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,” in response to Reddit consumer TautSexyElfKing—and the statue makes sounds. One other individual instructed others to knock on the door, saying one thing else will knock again.
“It was very ambient and hellish sounding,” TautSexyElfKing stated. “Virtually prefer it was a doorway and on the opposite aspect was a big cavern with demons lurking concerning the different aspect. Possibly some gentle growling-ish sounds. There wasn’t something I may make out particularly that may be a touch or something”
To the unaware, it seems just like the type of factor you would possibly discover at Burning Man, or perhaps an altar for worshipping the satan. However Keighley’s submit is a sign to avid gamers that that is an Easter egg—a advertising 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 satisfaction 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 should be for Half-Life 3. The demonic symbols are an apparent reference to Diablo 4‘s subsequent enlargement. No, wait—perhaps that’s God of Battle. It’s primarily a hell portal, which clearly means Doom. I don’t know, perhaps Elder Scrolls 6? Or, maybe, Keighley is just himself opening a portal to hell and intends to destroy the entire dang world.
nobody is contemplating that Geoff is just opening a hell portal
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) December 2, 2025
Apparently everyone seems to be improper, in response to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who stated it’s not Diablo 4 or Elder Scrolls 6. “I don’t at the moment plan on reporting what it’s, sorry, but it surely’s a superb one,” he wrote on a gaming discussion board. ” Whatever the reply, The Sport Awards wins—the statue has gotten sufficient buzz that individuals will, actually, tune in to see what the statue is teasing.
It’s slightly extra simply digestible than, say, the Frog Fractions 2 ARG that went unsolved for actually two years spanning almost two dozen video games on Steam and a e book 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 individuals who discovered the copies, inevitably plummeting again to earth, may play the sport early.)
Keighley’s Sport Awards statue doesn’t appear to essentially be an alternate actuality sport. It’s arduous to say if it’s actually leaving any clues for avid gamers 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 today—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
Firms have executed these kinds of issues for highly-anticipated, huge price range video games like Overwatch (huge motion figures in huge packing containers), God of Battle (huge axe in London), and Horizon Forbidden West (huge mechanical monsters). The distinction, in fact, is that it’s apparent what these installations had 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 had been born to market AAA video games; Keighley fills the present with commercials for the most recent and best big-budget blockbusters from the business’s mega-companies, backed by a booming voice boasting a world premiere announcement or new gameplay trailer. The most important of those, video games like The Witcher 4 or Marvel’s Wolverine, barely want the additional eye-balls whereas every thing 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 large advertising machines. Whereas some firms 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 previous AAA gaming mannequin has reached “the top 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 seek out out. He will get to hype his present both means.
