In our report discussing the report about Ashen’s release date having been leaked yesterday, I speculated that the game might be a “shadow drop” at The Game Awards tonight—in that it will be shown off at the event, and then will be immediately available.
While we don’t have confirmation of this regarding Ashen just yet, Geoff Keighley, the producer of the event, has at least confirmed that there will be a ton of games at The Game Awards that will then proceed to go live right after the event is concluded, including Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (which suggests that the game may be one of the many that is shown off at the event).
“The thing we found is that people just want to go play games, and you’ll see this year that there are a ton of new games that are available inside of the show and afterwards,” Keighley said in an interview with Games Industry. “The Game Awards is going to be a great night, but there is going to be a ton to do online afterwards. Smash Bros. is coming out, there are going to be a ton of games that will be announced in the show that will go live that night.”
What can these games be? I assume Ashen will be one of those, and maybe some smaller indie titles, too? I dare say nothing on the level of The Champion’s Ballad—the expansion pack for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was shown at The Game Awards event last year for the first time, and then released right after—will be a part of this group, but I would love to be wrong.
