Last night media journalist and host Geoff Keighley hosted the fourth version of The Game Awards. The Game Awards are one part peer-voted, industry-approved black tie award ceremony, and one part E3 press conference with several high profile game announcements and trailers. We’ve got all the big news from last night’s The Game Awards below.
The Legend of the Zelda won the overall Game of the Year award. Zelda, along with indie games Cuphead and Hellblade tied for most wins at three each. Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Destiny 2 received six nominations each, but didn’t win any awards. Super Mario Odyssey won Best Family Game, while fans voted on The Last of Us Part II for Most Anticipated Game.
Felicia Day presented the Industry Icon Award to Carol Shaw, one of the first female game designers. She worked for Atari developing big games for the Atari 2600 in the late 70s and early 80s.
New game reveals include Soul Calibur 6, Bayonetta 3, and a new co-op shooter by the developers of Payday. We saw new trailers for Death Stranding, Metro Exodus, Dreams, and Sea of Thieves. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds also revealed its new desert map, along with its official 1.0 release date on PC: December 20. It’s coming to Xbox One on December 12 via Games Preview.
The Winners
Game of the Year
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Persona 5
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Best Game Direction
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Best Narrative
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- NieR: Automata
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Best Art Direction
- Cuphead
- Destiny 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Persona 5
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Best Score/Music
- NieR: Automata
- Destiny 2
- Cuphead
- Persona 5
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
Best Audio Design
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Destiny 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Super Mario Odyssey
Best Performance
- Melina Juergens (Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice)
- Laura Bailey (Uncharted: The Lost Legacy)
- Claudia Black (Uncharted: The Lost Legacy)
- Brian Bloom (Wolfenstein II)
- Ashly Burch (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Games for Impact
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Please Knock on My Door
- Night in the Woods
- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
- Bury Me, My Love
- What Remains of Edith Finch
Best Ongoing Game
- Overwatch
- Warframe
- Rainbow Six: Siege
- Grand Theft Auto Online
- Destiny 2
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Best Mobile Game
- Monument Valley 2
- Fire Emblem Heroes
- Super Mario Run
- Old Man’s Journey
- Hidden Folks
Best Handheld Game
- Metroid: Samus Returns
- Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World
- Monster Hunter Stories
- Ever Oasis
- Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia
Best VR/AR Game
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Superhot VR
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew
- Lone Echo/Echo Arena
- Farpoint
Best Action Game
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
- Prey
- Nioh
- Destiny 2
- Cuphead
Best Action/Adventure Game
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Best Role Playing Game
- Persona 5
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- Final Fantasy XV
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- NieR: Automata
Best Fighting Game
- Injustice 2
- Tekken 7
- Nidhogg 2
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
- ARMS
Best Family Game
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Splatoon 2
- Sonic Mania
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Best Strategy Game
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
- Tooth and Tail
- Total War: Warhammer II
- Halo Wars 2
Best Sports/Racing Game
- Forza Motorsport 7
- Project Cars 2
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2018
- NBA 2k18
- GT Sport
- FIFA 18
Best Multiplayer (Winner not announced)
- Fortnite
- Call of Duty: World War II
- Splatoon 2
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Destiny 2
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Best Independent Game
- Cuphead
- Pyre
- Night in the Woods
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Best Student Game
- Level Squared
- Meaning
- Impulsion
- Falling Sky
- Hollowed
- From Light
Best Debut Indie Game
- Cuphead
- Slime Rancher
- Mr. Shifty
- Hollow Knight
- Golf Story
Fan’s Choice Awards
Most Anticipated Game
- The Last of Us Part II
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Monster Hunter: World
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- God of War
Trending Gamer
- Dr. Disrespect (Guy Beahm)
- AbleGamers (Steven Spohn)
- Shroud (Mike Grzesiek)
- Halfcoordinated (Clint Lexa)
- What’s Good Games (Andrea Rene)
Best Esports Game
- Overwatch
- Rocket League
- League of Legends
- DOTA 2
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Best Esports Team
- Cloud9
- Team Liquid
- SK Telecom 1
- Lunatic-Hai
- FaZe Clan
Best Esports Player
- Faker (Lee Sang-Hyyeok)
- KuroKy (Kuro Salehi Takhasomi)
- Ryujehong (Je-hong Ryu)
- NiKo (Nikola Kovac)
- Coldzera (Marcelo David)
Best Chinese Game
- jx3 HD
- Monument Valley 2
- Gumballs 2
- ICEY
- King of Glory
New Game Announcements
Bayonetta 3
Platinum Games announced Bayonetta 3 with a teaser trailer. It’s coming exclusively to Switch. As part of the same announcements, Bayonetta 2 is also coming to Switch, and it includes a free download code for the first Bayonetta. Both releases are coming next year, exclusively to Switch.
In The Valley of Gods
The next game from indie developers Campo Santo (Firewatch) looks to continue their streak of narrative-rich first-person stories. It’s called In The Valley of Gods. The title references the real-world location in Southeastern Utah. It’s coming in 2019.
Soul Calibur VI
Does your soul still burn? Bandai Namco announced Soul Calibur VI, the latest entry in its venerable fighting game series. It’s coming in 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Witchfire
Witchfire is an upcoming gothic first-person shooter by new studio The Astronauts. The Astronauts was formed by former People Can Fly developers, who made Gears of War: Judgement and Bulletstorm as well as the developer of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Only the PC platform is listed so far, with no release date yet announced.
GFTO
The developers of the co-op Payday games have formed a new studio called 10 Chambers Collective. At The Game Awards they announced their debut title, GTFO, another 4 player co-op game but with terrifying monsters instead of cops. It’s coming in 2018.
World War Z
We don’t see a lot of licensed games based on movies, especially outside kid movies. But zombies are pretty popular, so the World War Z movie, based on a novel, is now becoming a game. The novel is pretty good. The movie was pretty bad. The game is ‘coming soon’ to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Champions Ballad
Not technically a new game, but Nintendo revealed the second major expansion pack to Game of the Year winner Legend of Zelda. It’s the Champions Ballad, and it released right after the trailer debuted. It features the four original Champions of Hyrule, along with Princess Zelda herself. Also Link gets a motorcycle as his own personal Divine Beast. Considering the other Beasts are giant monsters, I think he got robbed.
