Animal, one of Jim Henson’s most beloved Muppets and drummer for the timeless ’70s funk band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, will be a presenter at The Game Awards celebration on December 8. Geoff Keighly, who produces the annual awards show, took to his Twitter account on Saturday to welcome Animal into the fold, stating “It’s time to play the music It’s time to light the Lights It’s time to bring back @TheMuppets to #TheGameAwards”, parodying the theme song to the original The Muppet Show.
This won’t be the first time one of Jim Henson’s creations has handed out an award at the annual ceremony. Two years ago, The Sweedish Chef made his appearance, handing out an award during The Game Awards 2020 event, following an appearance the previous year by both Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his lab assistant, Beaker. While there’s not a lot tying the Muppets to the world of video games, crossovers aren’t entirely unheard of. During his appearance two years ago, an announcement was made that The Sweedish Chef would be made playable to all PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S users at the launch of Overcooked! All You Can Eat.
If history is to repeat itself, it will be interesting to see if any developers have been able to make a deal with Disney to include Animal in an upcoming title. The last time Animal was featured in a video game was in 2014, when he joined Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo in The Muppets Movie Adventures on PlayStation Vita, acting as the playable character in the third of five stages, titled The Good, The Bad and the Animal.
Even if you’re not a fan of the Muppets’ wild child, there are plenty of other attractions to draw viewers in for the awards ceremony. Irish singer-songwriter Hozier will appear as a musical guest, performing a rendition of Blood Upon The Snow from God of War Ragnarok, accompanied by composer Bear McCreary, who is nominated for Best Score and Music. Additionally, Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P) is scheduled to make a major announcement, which many are expecting to be the highly anticipated RPG’s release date.
The Game Awards was founded by Keighly in 2014 and has been held annually ever since. Aided by an advisory board of 13 gaming industry companies and individuals, The Game Awards seeks to “celebrate and advance gaming’s position as the most immersive, challenging and inspiring form of entertainment,” per the description on its official Website. This year’s ceremony will be held this Thursday, December 8, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. PT and will be streamed worldwide across various platforms.
