What’s the way forward for The Sport Awards’ Future Class program?
That query has been on the minds of trade observers who, for the second 12 months in a row, observed that the Geoff Keighley-helmed group hasn’t introduced a brand new cohort of trade professionals that “symbolize the intense, daring and inclusive way forward for video video games.” Sport Developer can now verify that present organizers aren’t planning a brand new Future Class for 2025, and aren’t planning any programming for future or previous honorees.
This data was supplied to Future Class alumni in a Discord server established to host networking and mentorship alternatives for this system. Earlier honorees (a few of whom requested anonymity for concern of retaliation) instructed Sport Developer this replace was the one message they’ve acquired from present administration within the final 12 months.
“Final 12 months we accomplished our promised cycle of programming for the 2023 FC with our TGA mixer, and didn’t induct a brand new Future Class,” mentioned Future Class organizer Emily Weir. “At the moment, we’re not planning a brand new Future Class for this 12 months and would not have any lively programming plans for Future Class.”
Weir mentioned the group will hold the Discord server on-line for alumni to remain in contact with one another, however mentioned she and Keighley aren’t actively monitoring the server.
The Sport Awards has additionally eliminated the Future Class web page on its web site, eliminating the definitive document of earlier honorees. The 2023 cohort will not be named on this system’s Medium web page (this can be an oversight, organizers did replace the Sport Awards Future Class Steam Curator web page with video games from the latest class).
Former Future Class honorees say they really feel “uncared for”
Sport author and 2023 honoree (and former Sport Developer contributor) Emma Kidwell defined to Sport Developer that she repeatedly tagged Weir and Keighley in messages this 12 months asking for updates on this system, solely to obtain no response. “I felt disrespected as somebody who has spoken with Emily in particular person,” she mentioned. “It makes the whole lot really feel disingenuous and it sounds and appears like they need us to go away quietly. I do know not everybody within the Future Class Discord appears like this, however what do they anticipate from a bunch of harm marginalized people?”
Kidwell was one of many honorees spotlighted in that 12 months’s broadcast. Fellow author and cohort member Anna Webster concurred, saying she wished the group was “up entrance” in regards to the state of this system. She mentioned a 2024 networking occasion earlier than that 12 months’s Awards now feels prefer it was “a final hoorah.”
Malek Teffaha, who was acknowledged by the group in 2022, instructed Sport Developer that the information “truthfully harm.” “I, amongst others, thought that the Future Class program was not only a platform for celebration, however a method to bridge the hole between trade staff and leaders and assist form the way forward for the sport trade.”Â
“I am upset, however not shocked,” mentioned JC Lau, one other 2022 alumni. When requested if she felt supported by the group after organizers mentioned they’d decide this system’s “subsequent steps” after the 2024 present, she replied “how might they’ve supported us within the final 12 months in the event that they actually had no contact with us in any respect?”
These sentiments have been shared by different nameless former honorees who spoke with Sport Developer, considered one of whom referred to as Weir’s assertion “minimal and evasive.”
The Sport Awards confronted inner stress from Future Class members from 2023 into 2024 on two fronts. Honorees referred to as on Keighley to make use of the present as a chance name for a ceasefire as Israel mounted its invasion of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ October 7 assaults (a United Nations fee described the invasion as “genocidal” in an October 2025 report). Keighley made no assertion in the course of the broadcast.
In 2024 honorees lobbied The Sport Awards to enhance their post-nomination help for Future Class members, saying they acquired insufficient lodging on the ceremony and that there was little help for alumni after the highlight light away. Sources instructed Sport Developer in 2024 that Keighley and Weir appeared receptive to the suggestions and provided additional networking alternatives.Â
The group didn’t revive these occasions in 2025.
“I feel it is extremely silly of [Keighley] to gather a number of the brightest folks in our trade, do nothing however the naked minimal, and anticipate that we would not say something about it,” mentioned a second nameless Future Class alumni.Â
They accused the group of utilizing marginalized folks for “pats on the again.”
Sport Developer has reached out to The Sport Awards for touch upon this story and can difficulty an replace when the group responds.
Replace 11/6: This story has been up to date with the proper surname for Malek Teffaha.
