The Game Awards 2023 – The Winners

Brendan’s Thoughts

A night full of celebration for the video game industry lacked the celebration. Shortened speeches, rapid fire award announcements and some Geoff Keighley favoritism soured my enjoyment of this “award show”. I love announcements, but why not celebrate the industry during such a polarizing time period. I understand the difficulty that goes into show planning, I just feel like this show was a missed opportunity. Here’s a tweet that best encapsulates my thoughts on the night’s events

Stan’s Thoughts

Perhaps it was the cough medication and Tylenol speaking, but I thought I was watching a speedrun of an award show. Awards were announced by blocks of 4 or more, winner’s speeches that were seemingly played off shortly after they began. It’s almost as if the priority was elsewhere. While I’m sure there will be plenty of think pieces about whether the female speaker quotient was satisfactory, fashion choices of attendees, and what soapboxes that were unused, all I know is that this year the jury and the voterbase really enjoyed ursine fornication….

Opening Act

• Best Family Game – Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• Innovation in Accessibility – Forza Motorsport
• Best Esports Athlete – Faker
• Best Esports Coach – Potter
• Best Esports Event – 2023 League of Legends Championships
• Best Esports Game – Valorant
• Best Esports Team – JD Gaming
• Content Creator of the Year – Ironmouse

The Game Awards

• Best Performance – Neil Newbon (Astarion – Baldur’s Gate 3)
• Best Debut Indie Game – COCOON
• Best Action Game – Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon
• Best Art Direction – Alan Wake II
• Best VR/AR – Resident Evil Village VR Mode
• Best Mobile Game – Honkai: Star Rail
• Best Audio Design – Hi-Fi Rush
• Games for Impact – Tchia
• Best Score and Music – Final Fantasy XVI
• Best Independent Game – Sea of Stars
• Best Community Support – Baldur’s Gate 3
• Best Fighting Game – Street Fighter VI
• Most Anticipated Game – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Best Ongoing – Cyberpunk 2077
• Best Adaptation – The Last of Us (HBO)
• Best Action Adventure Game – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the the Kingdom
• Best RPG – Baldur’s Gate 3
• Best Sim/Strategy – Pikmin 4
• Best Sports/Racing – Forza Motorsport
• Best Multiplayer – Baldur’s Gate 3
• Players’ Voice – Baldur’s Gate 3
• Best Game Direction – Alan Wake II
• Game of the Year – Baldur’s Gate 3

So that’s the winners of this year’s The Game Awards. We’ll probably complain, but in a day or two from now, Geoff Keighley will make the announcement that this year’s iteration had the highest viewership numbers in the show’s history and things will continue as is. This is a perpetual engine, grab on or watch it disappear into the horizon.