At the Game Awards 2024, countless awards were presented again. This time, even one for special engagement in the gaming industry. However, instead of positive feedback, the award winner now has to deal with hate messages.
Who is it about? At this year’s Game Awards, the Game Changer
-Award was presented for the first time. This award is meant to honor individuals who have stood out for their positive engagement in the gaming industry. The first prize was awarded to Amir Satvat.
He helped over 3000 people find a job in the gaming industry. He relied on his Excel skills, the ability to automatically scrape websites, and his own contacts in the industry. He currently works for the Chinese company Tencent.
While there were standing ovations at the awards themselves, he seems to be battling a lot of negative feedback afterward, as he revealed recently. Since the award, he claims to be confronted with countless hate messages.
This is the reward for two years of your service
What kind of messages are they? On December 17, 2024, Satvat spoke out on LinkedIn about the hate he is currently facing. He explains that since the Game Awards he has been receiving countless hate messages
that attack him personally. Some messages are said to be directed at his family as well. According to him, there have also been antisemitic messages.
In the lengthy post, he also explains what it might be about. At the Game Awards itself, it was never mentioned that he now works at Tencent. He clarifies once again that he started the community he built in November 2022. He only began working at Tencent in August 2023.
According to his statements, he has never had anything to do with company acquisitions by Amazon or Tencent. He also never worked on any layoffs.
In the end, he clarifies once again how long he has worked on this and how frustrated he is with the current situation: This can also happen to you if you sacrifice more than 2,000 hours of your time to help the industry – that is the ‘reward’ for two years of your service.
The gaming industry is currently in a difficult situation despite many successful games. In 2024, many employees lost their jobs. This started already at the beginning of the year. Microsoft laid off over 1,900 employees in January 2024: Microsoft lays off 1,900 employees in the gaming sector: ‘Painful decision’
