Tag: The Game Awards

Astro Bot is “Game of the Year” at the 2024 Game Awards

Is this a new era for The Game Awards? Geoff Keighley, the producer and host, has seemed to take the many complaints about last year’s show to heart.

Many viewers were bothered by the excessive amount of “World Premiere” trailers in 2023, as well as the scant amount of time the winners were given to speak. Leaning into this criticism, the 2024 Game Awards seemed to be packed with more trailers than ever, shifting the balance of the show to operate more like a Winter E3 with the actual awards serving as a secondary segment. And that’s okay. There are lots of awards shows out there. The Game Awards can be the fun one while the GDC Awards, the DICE Awards, and the BAFTAs give out the real “Game of the Year” honors.

Keighley also received criticism from the press and the public about his lack of concern for the huge number of layoffs that ravaged the video game industry in 2023. This year saw even more job losses, and The Game Awards responded by creating the “TGA Game Changer” award, which was given to Amir Satvat for his curation of Amir Satvat’s Games Community, a website that offers support, mentorship, and job postings for game developers.

Keighley’s introduction to this part of the show was particularly good:

“The sad reality is that over the past few years the gaming industry has suffered significant and unprecedented industry-wide layoffs. Those affect the games we get to play and even more importantly, the people who make the games we love. We can debate and certainly disagree with the reasons why, and honestly, as a show, we kind of struggle how to address these topics in a constructive way. But this year, inside of these challenges, we found greatness. I’m proud to share with you the story of a single individual who saw developers in need and did something truly extraordinary.”

Even the awards themselves felt different this year, as Team Asobi’s Astro Bot won the “Game of the Year”. Astro Bot is the first family-friendly game to win the top prize in the ten-year history of The Game Awards, beating out flashier competition such as Black Myth: Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. All of those games got their chance to shine, but it was Team Asobi’s night, as the developer also won “Best Game Direction”, “Best Action/Adventure Game”, and “Best Family Game” for Astro Bot.

Not only is Astro Bot an extreme outlier among previous Game Awards winners, but so is the next most-honored game of the night. Balatro didn’t win “Game of the Year”, but developer LocalThunk did collect statuettes for “Best Independent Game”, “Best Mobile Game”, and “Best Debut Indie”. Atlus’s Metaphor: ReFantazio also picked up three statuettes last night, winning for “Best Narrative”, “Best Art Direction”, and “Best Role Playing Game”.

Black Myth: Wukong parlayed its strong fan support into wins for “Best Action Game” and the public-voted “Player’s Voice” award. While Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had to settle for the statuette for “Best Score and Music”.

Finally, let’s talk about that lineup of “World Premiere” trailers, because it really was pretty impressive this year. There were blockbuster sequels, which included The Witcher IV, Elden Ring: Nightreign, Borderlands 4, The Outer Worlds 2, Dying Light: The Beast, and Slay the Spire 2. There were the shocking returns of long-forgotten franchises such as Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Turok: Origins, Virtua Fighter 6, and Okami 2. And there was plenty of new stuff including Warren Specter’s Thick As Thieves, the currently untitled next game from Fumito Ueda, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and the absolutely bonkers Shadow Labyrinth (which is being pitched as a Pac-Man spinoff). It was almost overwhelming.

And that’s it for the 2024 Game Awards. A complete list of all the winners and nominees, as well as a full replay of the ceremony, can be found after the break.

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GOTY Flashback: 2014 Game Awards

The Game Awards has seen its share of ups and downs, but the Geoff Keighley-hosted awards show is celebrating its tenth anniversary this Thursday, December 12th. While we wait to see which game will take the coveted “Game of the Year” statuette this year, let’s look back at the first Game Awards.

After the dissolution of the Spike Video Game Awards a year earlier, Keighley rebranded the show and produced it himself as an independent production. With questions about whether the show could continue beyond 2014, he chose to carry over multiple aspects from his previous gig, including a similar slate of categories, a star-studded lineup of special guests, and a heavy focus on “World Premiere” trailers (including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt).

Eschewing a celebrity host, Keighley even took over hosting duties for the 2014 Game Awards, but he found himself in the middle of an awards show attempting to honor a strange year for gaming.

The industry was going through a console transition, as the PS4 and Xbox One had launched the year before. Many of the year’s biggest games were also released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and many players had yet to make an investment in new hardware. This industry identity crisis was present in the “Game of the Year” nominees, which included two cross-generation games (Dragon Age: Inquisition and Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor), From Software’s Dark Souls II (which wasn’t available on the PS4 or Xbox One at the time), and the mobile-focused Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

Meanwhile, Nintendo was floundering, though you wouldn’t know it from the Wii U’s performance at the show. Super Smash Bros. For Wii U (“Best Fighting Game”) and Mario Kart 8 (“Best Family Game” and “Best Sports/Racing Game”) both took home statuettes, though neither was nominated for “Game of the Year”. Instead, the Nintendo-published and Platinum-developed Bayonetta 2 earned the final spot on the “Game of the Year” ballot.

On top of all this, a coordinated harassment campaign against developers and journalists was growing in the worst corners of the Internet. Popularly known as GamerGate, we’re still dealing with the aftereffects of the campaign and probably will be for a long time. But what else can you really say about GamerGate at this point?

Ultimately, BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition was named “Game of the Year” at the 2014 Game Awards, sandwiched between the aforementioned Breath of the Wild premiere and a trailer for Eve Online.

Rewatching bits of the show, I’m struck by how little The Game Awards has changed from 2014 to today. Then as now, you’ve got a lot of rapid fire awards montages, short speeches from the winners, musical performances, and “World Premiere” trailers.

The “Game of the Year” contenders can even be said to represent similar slots as subsequent years, in any given year, the “Game of the Year” category will include the flashiest action games (Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor), at least one action RPG (Dark Souls II and Dragon Age: Inquisition), a representative from Nintendo (Bayonetta 2), and a smaller game that captured the zeitgeist (Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft). You could easily map this year’s nominees onto the same template.

But after ten years, you have to wonder if it’s time for the show to freshen things up a little, but this is probably the way that Keighley likes it. And as he’s said in the past, the commercial realities of producing a show like this practically require him to seek outside sponsors and publishers willing to pay for the placement of their “World Premiere” trailers. Though it’s hard to know if any of that is true.

But other big winners during the very first Game Awards were Destiny (“Best Score/Soundtrack” and “Best Online Experience”), Far Cry 4 (“Best Shooter”), Shovel Knight (“Best Independent Game”), and Grand Theft Auto V (in the since-abandoned “Best Remaster” category). It was a strange year for gaming, but as always, we got a lot of great games.

You can find a replay of the full ceremony for the 2014 Game Awards and a complete list of winners and nominees after the break.

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The Game Awards: All the Winners from 2003 to Today

The Game Awards have been produced and hosted since 2014 by journalist Geoff Keighley. The annual ceremony is held each December and recognizes games released during the previous 12 months.

The nominees are selected by an international panel made up of more than 95 media outlets and influencers. This same jury, along with the aggregated results of an online fan vote, also determines the winners each year. The final ballot is weighted with 90% of the vote coming from the panel and the remaining 10% coming from the general public. Contrary to popular belief, Geoff Keighley has no say in selecting the nominees or the winners.

The Game Awards are a direct continuation of the Spike Video Game Awards, which Keighley produced for Spike TV from 2003 until 2013. After the cable channel declined to sponsor the show in 2014, he chose to move forward with The Game Awards as an independent production.

All the “Game of the Year” winners from The Game Awards and the Spike Video Game Awards can be found here…

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Wins “Game of the Year” and “Player’s Voice” at the 2023 Game Awards

Geoff Keighley’s Trailer-Palooza took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles last night… oh, and he also found the time to hand out The Game Awards too! If it felt like there were even more “World Premiere” trailers than ever before, that was by design. Keighley shortened up the already-pretty-short awards portion of the ceremony this year, limiting acceptance speeches from winners to just 30 seconds.

The Game Awards has jumped from controversy to controversy over the past few weeks, and this latest misstep is just the latest in a long line of mistakes made by Keighley.

Even before the nominees were announced, there were calls for the Game Awards host to open the show with a statement about the thousands of layoffs that have ravaged the game industry this year. More recently, he has been criticized by most of the members of the Game Awards Future Class, who asked him to make some kind of public plea for a “long term ceasefire” in Israel’s war on Gaza. Keighley failed to acknowledge either request during last night’s show, and it’s possible the new rules about acceptance speeches were a way to keep the show on-brand.

So the 2023-2024 awards season began on something of a sour note, but a lot of great games received recognition from the judging panel and the public, even if they didn’t have enough time to thank anyone after receiving their statuette.

Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner of the night, and the team climbed the steps to the stage a total of six times, including for “Game of the Year” and “Player’s Voice” (it was also the first time a single game had won both awards). Unsurprisingly, the RPG also won “Best Role Playing Game,” as well as “Best Multiplayer” and “Best Community Support.” Neil Newbon rounded out the game’s haul with a “Best Performance” win for his role as Astarion.

Remedy’s Alan Wake II wasn’t far behind, as the survival horror sequel won three statuettes (for “Best Game Direction,” “Best Narrative,” and “Best Art Direction”).

Even the hype around 2023 as the best year for gaming ever got a nod, with the rest of the night’s awards going to a wide variety of different titles. Just some of the other winners are The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (“Best Action/Adventure Game”), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (“Best Family Game”), Pikmin 4 (“Best Sim/Strategy Game”), Final Fantasy XVI (“Best Score and Music”), Hi-Fi Rush (“Best Audio Design”), and Sea of Stars (“Best Independent Game”).

A video replay of the 2023 Game Awards can be found after the break, along with a list of all the nominees and winners. Hopefully next year they’ll actually get to speak.

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Elden Ring Wins “Game of the Year” in Bizarre Finale to the 2022 Game Awards

Though it’s faced some stiff competition over the last year, Elden Ring‘s coronation as “Game of the Year” has sometimes felt like an inevitability ever since it was released all the way back in February.

That expectation became a reality during last night’s Game Awards ceremony, as From Software’s already stellar reputation was burnished with “Game of the Year” and three additional statuettes (“Best Game Direction,” “Best Art Direction,” and “Best Role Playing Game”). But what happened next threatened to overshadow the entire show, as a teenager bypassed security and walked on stage alongside the developers. After Game Director Hidetaka Miyazaki delivered his acceptance speech, the teenager addressed the audience, and dedicated the award to “my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton.”

It was certainly one of the oddest moments from the show’s history.

But before all that, the night certainly belonged to God of War: Ragnarok. Though it missed out on “Game of the Year,” Sony Santa Monica’s game took home a half-dozen statuettes, including for “Best Action/Adventure Game,” “Best Audio Design,” “Best Score and Music,” and “Best Narrative.” Ragnarok also won the “Innovation in Accessibility” award for its expansive accessibility options and Christopher Judge’s portrayal of Kratos won “Best Performance.”

Stray was also denied “Game of the Year” honors, but it did win a pair of prizes for “Best Independent Game” and (unsurprisingly) “Best Debut Indie.”

Finally, Nintendo had a good night with multiple wins spread across its impressive 2022 lineup. The consolemaker collected statuettes for “Best Family Game” (for Kirby and the Forgotten Land), “Best Sim/Strategy Game” (for Mario + Rabbids: Spark of Hope), and “Best Multiplayer” (for Splatoon 3). Things are also looking good for 2023 as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom won “Most Anticipated Game.”

A video replay of the 2022 Game Awards can be found after the break (skip to 3:53:00 if you’re solely interested in “my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton”), along with all the winners and nominees.

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“Game of the Year” at the 2021 Game Awards Goes to Hazelight’s It Take Two

The new release calendar was a bit thinner in 2021 for a variety of reasons, so this year’s slate at The Game Awards was truly a free-for-all. With no clear frontrunner, many people expected a big night for Arkane’s Deathloop, which received nine nominations across eight categories (including “Game of the Year”). But with more than 100 games receiving at least one nomination, there were bound to be some surprises.

And there were definitely some surprises… such as It Takes Two winning “Game of the Year.” Hazelight’s weird and wild multiplayer adventure also won “Best Multiplayer” and beat out four Nintendo-produced titles to triumph in the “Best Family Game” category.

In between a dizzying amount of trailers for upcoming games, musical performances, and a short scene from The Matrix Resurrections, host Geoff Keighley gave out a few other awards.

While it was denied the big prize, Deathloop collected two statuettes (for “Best Game Direction” and “Best Art Direction”). Other “Game of the Year” nominees had their moment in the sun, including Nintendo’s Metroid Dread, which won “Best Action/Adventure Game.” And Maggie Robertson’s appearance as Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village won over the Internet earlier this year, which made her “Best Performance” win at The Game Awards rather fitting.

Other multi-award winners included Microsoft’s Forza Horizon 5 (“Best Audio Design,” “Best Sports/Racing Game,” and “Innovation in Accessibility”), Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV (“Best Ongoing Game” and “Best Community Support”), Ember Lab’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits (“Best Independent Game” and “Best Debut Indie”).

This year’s group of nominees also included Cyberpunk 2077, which was released in December 2020 and missed the cutoff for last year’s judging period. While it received a chilly reception at launch, after a year of updates and bug fixes, CD Projekt’s sprawling futuristic RPG received two nominations, but didn’t win in either category. This year’s cutoff (November 19th) was particularly early, so we’ll likely be talking about Halo Infinite at the 2022 Game Awards.

But that’s next year. Right now, you can find a video replay of the 2021 Game Awards after the break, as well as a complete list of winners, and all the nominees.

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Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2020 Game Awards

The winners of the 2020 Game Awards were announced last night, and in a bit of a surprise, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II won “Game of the Year” at the close of the ceremony.

The critical reaction to Naughty Dog’s sequel was decidedly mixed after its release in June, and fans have likewise been extremely divided in their opinions about the game. But its cinematic story of violence and vengeance certainly won over the judging panel at the Game Awards. In addition to “Game of the Year,” The Last of Us Part II collected statuettes for “Best Game Direction,” “Best Narrative,” “Best Audio Design,” “Best Action/Adventure Game,” “Innovation in Accessibility,” and “Best Performance” (for Laura Bailey’s Abby).

While The Last of Us Part II was the big winner at the 2020 Game Awards, three other games still managed to walk away with multiple awards. Supergiant’s Hades was crowned “Best Indie Game” and “Best Action Game.” Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake earned “Best Role Playing Game” and “Best Score and Music.” And InnerSloth’s Among Us, which was originally released in 2018, claimed “Best Mobile Game” and “Best Multiplayer.”

A video replay of the 2020 Game Awards can be found after the break, along with more winners (including Half-Life: Alyx, Ghost of Tsushima, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Microsoft Flight Simulator), and all the nominees.

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GOTY Flashback: 2010 Spike Video Game Awards

Geoff Keighley will present the 2020 Game Awards to the best games from this past year on December 10th. But first, let’s travel back in time to his earlier awards show gig, the Spike Video Game Awards, and see what was big in gaming in… 2010.

2010 sat at the exact midway point in the lifecycle for the PS3 and Xbox 360, making it an uncommonly good year for video games. But a slew of classic games were introduced for all three consoles and the PC that year.

Leading the way was Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, which captured “Game of the Year,” as well as “Best Original Score,” “Best DLC,” and “Best Song in a Game.” Red Dead’s closest competitor in 2010 was definitely Mass Effect 2, which earned “Studio of the Year” honors for BioWare, along with “Best Xbox 360 Game” and “Best RPG.”

The other big story of the night was God of War III. Ten years on, it’s been overshadowed by other games in the franchise (including the 2018 reboot), but Kratos’s third adventure did win “Best PS3 Game” and “Best Graphics.” Not to be outdone, the PSP’s God of War: Ghost of Sparta took home the “Best Handheld Game” prize.

Unlike Sony’s continued commitment to the God of War franchise, Blizzard has all but abandoned the the StarCraft series in 2020. However, that uncertain future couldn’t stop StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty from flying high in 2010 as the winner of “Best PC Game” and “Best Performance by a Human Female” (for Tricia Helfer’s role as Sarah Kerrigan) at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards.

Amazingly, even the ceremony’s crop of solo winners are still fondly remembered a decade later (and many of them can be found scattered throughout the Video Game Canon’s Top 1000 too). That list includes Super Mario Galaxy 2 (“Best Wii Game”), Limbo (“Best Independent Game”), Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (“Best Action Adventure Game”) and Rock Band 3 (“Best Music Game”).

A complete list of all the winners and nominees from the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards can be found after the break.

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GOTY Flashback: 2015 Game Awards

Geoff Keighley will present the 2020 Game Awards to the best games from this past year on December 10th. But first, let’s travel back in time to an earlier incarnation of the show and see what was big in gaming in… 2015.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt racked up more nominations than any other title at the 2015 Game Awards, and it easily waltzed away with the “Game of the Year” prize. The game also secured the “Best Role Playing Game” statuette during the show, as well as “Developer of the Year” honors for CD Projekt Red.

While The Witcher 3 is known for its massive size, two smaller games also collected multiple awards during the 2015 ceremony. Sam Barlow’s Her Story took home the awards for “Best Narrative” and “Best Performance” (which was given to actress Viva Seifert). And Rocket League knocked two into the goal when it won for both “Best Independent Game” and “Best Sports/Racing Game.”

Nintendo also had a good night at the Game Awards in 2015 as Splatoon earned a pair of awards for its unique take on the multiplayer shooter (specifically, “Best Multiplayer” and “Best Shooter”), and “Best Family Game” went to Super Mario Maker.

Mortal Kombat X (“Best Fighting Game”), Life Is Strange (“Games For Change Award”), Ori and the Blind Forest (“Best Art Direction”), and Lara Croft Go (“Best Mobile/Handheld Game”) each won a single award.

Finally, Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain won “Best Action/Adventure Game” and “Best Score/Soundtrack,” though host Geoff Keighley explained that he couldn’t accept either award in person as Konami had barred him from the event. While that turn of events was a bit shocking (and frankly, rather petty), the biggest surprise from the 2015 Game Awards might have been that Bethesda’s Fallout 4 was completely shut out.

A complete list of all the winners and nominees from the 2015 Game Awards can be found after the break.

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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2019 Game Awards

Geoff Keighley and his co-presenters shotgunned their way through dozens of awards during tonight’s Game Awards, but in between all the World Premiere Trailers, they managed to shine a brief spotlight on a wide variety of titles. Unlike most years when a handful of titles dominate the conversation, this year’s Game Awards spread the wealth among a lot of worthy winners, including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, this year’s recipient of the “Game of the Year” award.

From Software’s ninja adventure also claimed the “Best Action/Adventure Game” trophy, but it wasn’t able to sway the jury for the other three nominations it was up for. Instead, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium became the most-honored game of the night, winning “Best Narrative,” “Best Role Playing Game,” “Best Independent Game,” and “Fresh Indie Game.”

Some of the ceremony’s other winners included Kojima Production’s Death Stranding (“Best Game Direction,” “Best Score/Music,” and “Best Performance” for Mads Mikkelsen), Remedy’s Control (“Best Art Direction”), Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“Best VR/AR Game”), Respawn’s Apex Legends (“Best Multiplayer”), and Activision’s Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (“Best Sports/Racing Game”).

In addition to a rousing speech by their former President, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo had a great night too, taking home trophies for “Best Fighting Game” (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), “Best Family Game” (Luigi’s Mansion 3), and “Best Strategy Game” (Fire Emblem: Three Houses).

The complete list of winners and nominees from the 2019 Game Awards, as well as a video replay of the ceremony, can be found below.

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