Actor Timothée Chalamet revealed Game of the Year at the video game industry’s biggest awards ceremony.
Wincastar announced that fantasy RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 has won the top prize at the Los Angeles ceremony.
Accepting the award, Belgian developer Lauren said the epic fantasy RPG based on Dungeons and Dragons was a labor of love.
It dominated the awards with six wins, including Best Performance, Best RPG, and Player’s Choice.
Timothée was introduced by awards host Geoff Keighley as “ModdedController360” – the name of his now-deleted teenage YouTube channel celebrating painted gaming peripherals.
The Wonka star has spoken about being an avid gamer in interviews and was recently photographed on a tour of legendary developer Hideo Kojima’s Japanese studio.
Game Awards Winners
In total, Baldur’s Gate 3 won six awards, including Best Performance for actor Neil Newbon, who played the fan-favorite Strion.
The survival horror game Alan Wake 2 won three awards for best game direction, narrative, and art direction.
Other notable wins included The Last of UTV Series, which won Best Adaptation, Cyberpunk 2077 for Best Ongoing Game, and Puzzle Adventure Cocoon in the Best Independent Game category.
Elsewhere, Forza Motorsport won the Innovation in Accessibility Award, and action-adventure Tchia was named the Game for Impact winner.
Super Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2, and Resident Evil 4: Remake were also in the running for Game of the Year.
New revelations
The Game Awards is a mix of awards shows and preview events, with many fans watching new trailers and announcements of upcoming titles.
Fans got their first look at Exodus, a sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio comprised of former BioWare developers.
Legendary videogame creator Hideo Kojima unveiled OD, or Overdose, a project he’s working on with Get Out director Jordan Peele.
Along with the remake of Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the 2013 game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons came out.
Players also got a glimpse of Jurassic Park: Survival gameplay, and Sega announced it was reviving classic franchises Crazy Taxi and Jetset Radio.
No mention of job cuts
The awards follow a year that has seen thousands of job cuts in the sports industry, despite an above-average number of highly commended titles.
Game companies including Fortnite maker Epic Games, Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft Montreal and Pokemon Go creator Niantic have announced the cuts.
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The awards, hosted by gaming journalist Geoff Keighley, are often criticized for spending more time on trailers and advertisements than on awarding prizes during the three-hour show.
And this year there have been complaints that the show rushed through multiple awards at once without inviting the winners on stage.
Gaming site Kotaku said: “In a year when developers were laid off almost every week, it would have been nice… to give all those talented people a moment to shine.”
There are a total of 31 awards in various categories including Audio Design, Best Independent Game, and Accessibility and Innovation.
Winners are decided by a panel of industry experts and a fan vote that counts for 10% of the final score.
The full list is on the Game Awards website.
