Yesterday, The Game Awards 2022 returned to Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater for a wonderful in-person event. Basking in the cheers of the gaming community was FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, which won the top Game of the Year (GOTY) prize. It was up against some tough competition for this category. The finalists ranged across all consoles, featuring mostly blockbusters, but also an independent title too. They included A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Game director Hidetaka Miyazaki appeared on stage to accept the award. Through a translator, Miyazaki thanked the developers and publisher FromSoftware, as well as author George R.R. Martin, who wrote the backstory and lore for Elden Ring. Miyazaki also thanked fans for their support and teased that FromSoftware has more in store for Elden Ring and other ideas to come in the future.
From 7 nominations in total, Elden Ring also won as Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Role Playing Game. However, the biggest winner of the night was God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE), with six prizes from 10 nominations. This popular title was recognized in the categories Best Narrative, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Performance (Christopher Judge, as Kratos character), Best Action/Adventure Game and Innovation in Accessibility.
In other accolades, the amazing game Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna) triumphed as Best Indie and Best Indie Debut; Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse) was Best Mobile Game, and Arcane: League of Legends (a partnership between Riot Games, Netflix and Fortiche) took the new Best Adaptation category.
THE GROWING ROLE OF ESPORTS
Electronic Sports are gaining more and more followers in society and they are having a privileged place at The Game Awards. This time, Valorant (Riot Games) took all the glory with 4 awards: Best Esports Game, Best Esports Athlete (Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker, from Cloud9), Best Esports Team (LOUD), and Best Esports Coach for Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi, also from LOUD. For its part, Best Esports Event was fabulous League of Legends World Championship.
The 31 categories at The Game Awards are decided with a mix of community voting, as well as the votes of a variety of games media publications from around the globe. The full list of winners is the following:
1) Game of the Year: Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
2) Best Game Direction: Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
3) Best Narrative: God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
4) Best Art Direction: Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
5) Best Score and Music: Bear McCreary for God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
6) Best Audio Design: God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
7) Best Performance: Christopher Judge as Kratos for God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
8) Games for Impact: As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
9) Best Ongoing Game: Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
10) Best Indie: Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
11) Best Debut Indie: Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
12) Best Mobile Game: Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)
13) Best Community Support: Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
14) Best VR/AR: Moss: Book II (Polyarc)
15) Best Action Game: Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
16) Best Action/Adventure: God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
17) Best Role Playing: Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
18) Best Fighting: MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
19) Best Family: Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory/Nintendo)
20) Best Sim/Strategy: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
21) Best Sports/Racing: Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital/SIE)
22) Best Multiplayer: Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
23) Most Anticipated Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
24) Best Adaptation: Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix)
25) Innovation in Accessibility: God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
26) Content Creator of the Year: Ludwig
27) Best Esports Game: Valorant (Riot Games)
28) Best Esports Athlete: Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)
29) Best Esports Team: LOUD (Valorant)
30) Best Esports Coach: Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD, Valorant)
31) Best Esports Event: 2022 League of Legends World Championship