Game Awards 2023 winners announced

game of the year

Recognize a game that offers the absolute best experience in all creative and technical fields.

Best game direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game directing and design.

• Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing)
• Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Best Narrative

For exceptional storytelling and narrative development in a game.

Best art direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievements in artistic design and animation.

Best score and music

For exceptional music, including sheet music, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

• Alan Wake II Composer Petri Alanko (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games Publishing)
• Baldur’s Gate III Composer Borislav Slavov (Larian Studios)
• Final Fantasy XVI Composer Masayoshi Soken (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
• HIFI RUSH Audio Director Shuichi Kobori (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Composer Nintendo Sound Team (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best audio design

Recognizing the best audio and sound design in the game.

• Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing)
• Dead space (Motif / Electronic Arts)
• HIFI RUSH (Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)

best performance

Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion capture, and/or acting.

• Ben Starr in Final Fantasy XVI
• Cameron Monaghan in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Idris Elba in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Freedom
• Melanie Liburd in Alan Wake II
• Neil Newbon in Baldur’s Gate III
• Yuri Löwenthal in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognize the software and/or hardware that is driving the medium by adding features, technology and content to help an even broader audience play and enjoy games.

impact games

For a thought-provoking game with a prosocial meaning or message.

Best game in progress

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

Better community support

Recognize a game for excellent community support, transparency, and responsiveness, including social media activity and game updates/patches.

Best indie game

For outstanding creative and technical achievements in a game created outside of the traditional publisher system.

Best Debut Indie Game

For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.

• COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
• DREDGE (Black Salt Games / Team17)
• pizza tower (Pizza tour)
• Venba (Visai Games)
• Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios / Thundering Games)

best mobile game

To get the best game playable on a mobile device.

Best Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality

To enjoy the best gaming experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, regardless of the platform.

Best action game

For the best game in the action genre focused mainly on combat.

Best action/adventure

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

• Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)

Best role play

For the best game designed with rich customization and player character progression, including massive multiplayer experiences.

• Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
• Final Fantasy XVI (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
• lies of p (Round8/Neowiz Studio)
• sea ​​of ​​stars (Sabotage study)
• star field (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

best fights

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

best family

To get the best game suitable for family play, regardless of genre or platform.

Best simulation/strategy

The best simulation-focused game or real-time or turn-based strategy game, regardless of platform.

Best sports/careers

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

Best multiplayer

For exceptional online multiplayer design and gameplay, including massively multiplayer and cooperative experiences, regardless of game genre or platform.

• Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard Entertainment)
• party animals (Recreate games)
• street fighter 6 (Capcom)
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Better adaptation

Recognize outstanding creative work that faithfully and authentically adapts a video game to another entertainment medium.

• Castlevania: night (Powerful animation / Netflix)
• grand tourism (PlayStation Productions / Sony Pictures)
• The last of us (PlayStation Productions / HBO)
• The Super Mario Bros. movie (Lighting / Nintendo / Universal Pictures)
• twisted metal (PlayStation Productions / Peacock)

Most anticipated game

Recognize a heralded game that has demonstrated its potential to advance the gaming medium.

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has had a significant and positive impact on the community in 2021.

• iron mouse
• people make games
• quackery
• spree
• Sypherpk

Best esports game

For the game that has provided the best overall esports experience to players (including tournaments, community support, and content updates), regardless of genre or platform.

Best esports athlete

The eSports athlete was considered the most outstanding for his performance and conduct in 2021, regardless of the game.

• Lee “Fake” Sang-Hyeok (League of Legends)
• Mathieu “Zywoo” Herbaut (Counter-Striker: Global Offensive)
• Max “Demonio1” Mazanov (valorant)
• Paco “Hydra” Rusiewiez (Obligations)
• Park “Ruler” Jae-Hyuk (League of Legends)
  Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen (Apex Legends)

Best esports team

Recognizing a specific eSports team (not the entire organization) was considered the most notable for its performance and conduct in 2021.

• evil geniuses (valorant)
• Fantic (valorant)
• Gaimin Gladiators (dota 2)
• JD Games (League of Legends)
• Team vitality (counterattack)

Best esports coach

The eSports coach was considered the most outstanding for his performance and conduct in 2021.

• Christine “Potter” Chi (Evil Geniuses – valorant)
• Danny “Zonic” Sorensen (Falcons Team – counterattack)
• Jordan “Gunba” Graham (Florida Mayhem – Supervision)
• Remy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (Team Vitality – counterattack)
• Yoon “Homme” Sung-Young (JD Gaming – League of Legends)

Best esports event

Recognize an event (on one or multiple days) that provided the best experience for participants and the broadcast audience.

• 2023 League of Legends World Championship
• BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023
• EVO 2023
• The international dota 2 Championships 2023
• Valorant Champions 2023

The player’s voice

• Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)