by Ian Pemberton
Another year brings us another Game Awards along with its set of newly-crowned winners. So, who won? A note about this year’s Game Awards: they’ve decided not to include Developer of the Year in this year’s selection of accolades, replacing it with the Best Direction award.
That being said, here are the winners:
Game of the Year:
Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)
Nominees:
Doom (id Software/Bethesda)
Inside (Playdead)
Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)
Uncharted 4: A Theif’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony)
Best Independent Game:
Winner: Inside
Nominees:
Firewatch (Campo Santo)
Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe/Chucklefish Games)
The Witness (Thelka, Inc.)
Best Narrative:
Winner: Uncharted 4: A Theif’s End
Nominees:
Firewatch
Inside
Mafia III (Hangar 13/2K)
Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
Games for Impact:
Winner: That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
Nominees:
Block’hood (Plethora Project/Devolver Digital)
Orwell (Osmotic Studios/Surprise Attack)
Sea Hero Quest (Glitchers)
1979 Revolution (iNK Stories)
Best Game Direction:
Winner: Overwatch
Nominees:
Dice (Battlefield 1)
id Software (Doom)
Naughty Dog (Uncharted 4)
Respawn (Titanfall 2)
Best Art Direction:
Winner: Inside
Nominees:
Abzu (Giant Squid/505)
Firewatch
Overwatch
Uncharted 4
Best Music/Sound Design:
Winner: Doom
Nominees:
Battlefield 1
Inside
Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
Thumper (Drool)
Best Mobile/Handheld:
Winner: Pokemon Go (Niantic)
Nominees:
Clash Royale (Supercell)
Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
Monster Hunter Generations (Capcom)
Severed (DrinkBox Studios)
Best Action Game:
Winner: Doom
Nominees:
Battlefield 1
Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft)
Overwatch
Titanfall 2
Best Action/Adventure Game:
Winner: Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
Nominees:
Hitman (IO Interactive/Square-Enix)
Hyper Light Drifter
Ratchet and Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony)
Uncharted 4
Best RPG:
Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Blood and Wine DLC (CD Projekt RED)
Nominees:
Dark Souls 3 (FromSoftward/Bandai Namco)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal/Square-Enix)
World of Warcraft: Legion (Blizzard)
Xenoblade Chronicles X (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)
Best Fighting Game:
Winner: Street Fighter V (Capcom)
Nominees:
Killer Instinct Season 3 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft)
King of Fighters XIV (SNK/Atlus USA)
Pokken Tournament (Bandai Namco/The Pokemon Company)
Best Strategy Game:
Winner: Civilization VI (Firaxis Games/2K)
Nominees:
Fire Emblem Fates
The Banner Saga 2 (Stoic Studio/Versus Evil)
Total War: Warhammer (Creative Assembly/Sega)
XCOM 2 (Firaxis Games/2K)
Most Anticipated Game:
Winner: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Nominees:
God of War (Santa Monica Studio/Sony)
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony)
Mass Effect: Andromeda (Bioware/EA)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
Best Performance:
Winner: Nolan North as Nathan Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Nominees:
Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay, Mafia III
Cissy Jones as Delilah, Firewatch
Emily Rose as Elena, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Rich Summer as Henry, Firewatch
Troy Baker as Sam Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Best VR Game:
Winner: Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
Nominees:
Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios/WBIE)
EVE: Valkyrie (CCP Games)
Job Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)
Thumper (Drool)
Best Family Game:
Winner: Pokemon GO (Niantic)
Nominees:
Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix)
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TT Fusion/WBIE)
Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Skylanders: Imaginators (Toy for Bob/Activision)
Best Sports/Racing Game:
Winner: Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
Nominees:
FIFA 17 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
MLB The Show 16 (SCE San Diego Studio/SIE)
NBA 2K17 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PES Productions/Konami)
Best Multiplayer Game:
Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)
Nominees:
Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)
Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team 17)
Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Best eSports Player:
Winner: Coldzera – Marcelo David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Nominees:
Faker – Lee Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom T1, League of Legends)
ByuN – Hyun Woo (Starcraft 2)
Infiltrator – Lee Seeon-woo (Team Razer, Street Fighter V)
Hungrybox – Juan Debiedma (Team Liquid, Super Smash Bros.)
Best eSports Team:
Winner: Cloud 9
Nominees:
SK Telecom T1 (League of Legends)
Wings Gaming (DOTA 2)
SK Gaming
ROX Tigers (League of Legends)
Best eSports Game:
Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard
Nominees:
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
DOTA 2 (Valve)
League of Legends (Riot)
Street Fighter V (Capcom)
Trending Gamer:
Winner: Boogie2988
Nominees:
AngryJoeShow
Danny O’Dwyer
JackSepticEye
Lirik
Best Fan Creation:
Winner: No winner announced
Nominees:
Brutal Doom 64
Enderal: The Shards of Order
Another Metroid 2 Remake
Pokemon Uranium
The struck-through titles were removed from the nominee list due to copyright infringement problems with Nintendo.
At the end of the day, the multi-winning games are:
At 4 awards: Overwatch. It won Best Direction, Game of the Year, Best Multiplayer, and the fan-awarded Best eSports game.
At 2 awards: Doom. It won Best Music/Sound Design and Best Action Game.
At 2 awards: Inside. It won Best Art Direction and Best Indie Game.
At 1.5 Awards: Uncharted 4. It won Best Narrative and a Best Performance for Nolan North’s portrayal of series protagonist Nathan Drake.
Interestingly, The Witcher 3 received last year’s Game of the Year award, Best RPG award, and Best Developer Award; their DLC has also taken Best RPG, making it the first-ever game to win the same award two years in a row in Game Awards history.
That wraps it up this year’s Game Awards!
Sources: Game Awards Livestream, GameSutra Images: Just Push Start, PushSquare, Polygon, Destructoid, GameSpot
