God Of War: Christopher Judge breaks record for longest awards show acceptance speech

God of War Ragnarök dominated at last year’s Game Awards. Last year … that’s strange to say. Santa Monica Studio’s latest may not have taken home the coveted GOTY award, but it did nab six wins in total.

The game won the awards for best narrative, best audio design, and best score among others, but it’s Christopher Judge’s win for best performance as ‘Kratos’ that ended up being the real talking point of the night (Bill Clinton kid aside, that is). If you watched The Game Awards, you’ll know that Judge took his sweet time while making his speech - and rightly so. What he may not have realised is that his speech wasn’t just long, it’s now officially the longest awards show speech in history.

Take a look at God of War Ragnarök’s opening boss fight below.

It’s ironic considering that Kratos is a character of very few words. Judge on the other hand, held the entire auditorium in the palm of his hand. The speech lasted for almost eight minutes (or seven minutes and 59 seconds to be exact) and according to The Game Awards’ Twitter account, that makes it the longest acceptance speech in history.

The account wrote, “Leave it to Kratos to set a world record. The longest awards show acceptance speech in history was actress Greer Garson at the 1942 Oscars. She spoke for five minutes [and] 30 seconds. Christopher Judge’s speech at The Game Awards was seven minutes [and] 59 seconds. Time to call Guinness World Records.” So, it’s not exactly official yet but it certainly sounds like Judge could formally nab the title. If you’re interested, Garson was accepting the ‘Best Actress’ award for her role in 1943’s Mrs. Miniver.

Responding to the news, Judge wrote, “My last thoughts on ‘the speech,’ Geoff Keighley has been nothing but kind to me. I have taken it all as good fun. For those that have been successful in their lives all on their own, congrats. For me, it took a village and I will always be grateful to them.”