Rise of the Spawnies Video Game Awards

To truly understand the Spawnies, you have to watch them. The brainchild of Bronx-bred Kahlief Adams, the two-year-old awards show aims to be something different for the gaming community. Over the years, video game awards concepts have grown more abundant and garnered more spotlight. A host of outlets (including the Daily News!) regularly end each year by announcing a game of the year winner. And since 2014, the Video Game Awards, a live event, has grown in popularity.

But to Adams, something was always missing. The 44-year-old grew up around video games, starting when his grandmother first bought him an Atari 2600, and he still remembers Adventure, an early Atari game, fondly. Games awards shows, he says, left something critical out. “The Spawnies,” he says, “since the beginning, was designed to infuse a show with an energy that is so closely connected to cultures that come from Black, brown, and underrepresented communities.”

The end result is an awards show that oozes style. Watch the 2023 edition, which aired in February, and you’ll still see Adams and his co-host, Riana Manuel-Pena, delivering fun banter and commentary about everything from Elden Ring to Powerwash Simulator, with occasional check-ins from sponsors Twitch and Xbox.

Through the Spawnies and his podcast, Spawn on Me, Adams continues to provide a voice for Black and brown communities in gaming. Here, he explains how he got into gaming, and why he’s so passionate about representing underserved groups in gaming.

DN: How long have you been a gamer?

Adams: I was born in the northeast Bronx to two drug-addicted parents who sadly weren’t able to raise me. My grandmother took me in. The Bronx of the early 1980s was pretty rough, so to offset my wanting to go out, she bought me my first gaming console, the Atari 2600. In a weird way, her giving me that console might have saved my life, so I’m especially thankful to her for giving me such a gift.

DN: How did you get into the gaming media and commentary?

Adams: Nearly 13 years ago, I was working at DC37 in Manhattan as an IT help desk worker and I was feeling disillusioned with this role and the lack of inspiration it provided. I considered how I could change paths and turn towards my favorite hobby (video games) to feel like I was utilizing my talent for more than just teaching folks how to use our office printer. That led me to starting a small blog called TheSpawnPointBlog, which floundered, until I did an interview series around a game called Sound Shapes. Those pieces caught the attention of the PlayStation brand and they asked if I could write those on their website that at the time had a massive readership. That exposure then led to the move to podcasting in 2013 with Spawn On Me.

DN: It’s a big leap from podcasting to creating an awards show. Why did you create the Spawnies?

Adams: I’ve been watching videogame award shows for a long time now and one of the things that most of them lacked was a sense of style, a sense of community. That essence of who we are (as Black and brown people) and what we bring to every space we occupy was sorely missing and The Spawnies looked to be that bridge.

DN: How challenging was it to get started?

Adams: The biggest challenges are of course funding a project like this. Award shows can be expensive, but we’ve had some success by pulling in companies like Twitch and Xbox to help on that end. The other big obstacle is the balance of inspiration versus time. With a yearly show, it is increasingly difficult to get all of my ideas on the screen, when I’m building this show mostly by myself.

DN: What do video games mean to you?

Adams: Gaming has saved me in so many ways. The hobby has given me so much personally and professionally that I can’t name all of the examples, but I play video games to explore and travel to multitudes of places, times, and universes. I found a ton of solace in games, especially during the George Floyd conversations of 2020. Our show really dug in deep and opened up conversations that changed the gaming industry for the better during that time.

DN: How far has gaming come in terms of diversity?

Adams: I think we’re seeing a really interesting shift within the gaming industry that is fascinating. The industry is getting better in terms of diversity due to the ability for creators to come in from all aspects of various industries while communities are also asking for more on-screen representation. What has given me a ton of optimism is we’re seeing the conversation around diversity and inclusion take more of a center-stage spotlight through all levels of the industry as a whole.

DN: How do you hope to transform gaming media in the coming years?

Adams: My hope is that I can continue to champion communities of color, especially Black and brown people. Our communities influence so much of what moves people towards joy, empathy, and thoughtfulness that I want to continue to put as much light on those nuanced and smart conversations.