This year's Game Awards only had one true winner and we all knew who it would be.
The annual Game Awards never fails to disappoint. Every year, we are treated to a spectacle that pays tribute to the video games industry and what it has done for its fans around the world. This year was no different with a random troll that snuck onto the stage to give a shoutout to former United States President, Bill Clinton.
Of course, nothing has been able to top the founder of Hazelight Studios, Josef Fares' expletive rant back in the 2017 Game Awards. But this year's edition saw plenty of spotlight being given to jaw-dropping new trailers like Death Stranding 2, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, and Hades II to name a few.
One of the standout AAA titles that stole the show was the recently released God of War Ragnarök with 11 nominations. This was followed by Elden Ring, which had eight nominations but went home with the biggest prize of all. Horizon Forbidden West comes closely behind with seven nominations as well.
Here are the biggest winners from this year's Game Awards.
God of War Ragnarök
Awards: Best Narrative, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Performance, Best Action/Adventure Game, Innovation in Accessibility
Having only been out for a little over the month, God of War Ragnarök has been one of the biggest AAA titles to be released this year, and with good reason. While it didn't win the 'Game of the Year', it did win six awards out of 11 nominations. This also includes the 'Best Performance' for Christopher Judge, who reprised his role as The Fallen God, Kratos. Sunny Suljic was also nominated for the award for his reprisal of Atreus, Kratos' son.
Having been touted as one of the most highly-anticipated releases for the end of the calendar year, God of War Ragnarök sold over five million copies in its first week. This made it the fast-selling first-party game in PlayStation history, given that it was developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment's Santa Monica Studio. The game received critical acclaim for its storytelling, visual and audio design, character development, as well as level design. Funny enough, all these were also said about its predecessor, the 2018 God of War reboot.
Elden Ring
Awards: Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Role-Playing Game
Surprise, surprise. On the contrary, it really isn't given that Elden Ring has been touted as one of the best games since its release on February 2022. This action role-playing game (RPG) puts the brilliant minds of both Hidetaka Miyazaki as well as George R. R. Martin on full display. Developed by FromSoftware, which also gave us the Armored Core and Dark Souls series, Elden Ring has been praised for its open-world gameplay, storytelling, and the brutal harshness of defeat.
The game also broke several records along the way to winning the award, which includes being the fastest-selling Bandai Namco product of all time as well as drawing nearly 900,000 viewers on Twitch within 24 hours of its release. That puts it at the third-highest debut on the streaming platform, right behind Lost Ark and Cyberpunk 2077. And having been awarded the 'Most Anticipated Game' at the 2020 Game Awards, it's safe to say that Elden Ring has lived up to its highly-touted potential, winning four awards from eight nominations.
Final Fantasy XIV
Awards: Best Ongoing Game and Best Community Support
Both Final Fantasy XIV and Square Enix won big at this year's Game Awards, bagging two for 'Best Ongoing Game' and 'Best Community Support', and with good reason. It went up against popular titles like Respawn Entertainment's Apex Legends, Bungie's Destiny 2, Epic Games' Fortnite, miHoYo's Genshin Impact, and even Hello Games' No Man Sky. For the 'Best Ongoing Game' award, it was a tight race for FFXIV with some of these titles also boasting insane player counts on a daily basis.
As for its 'Best Community Support' award, it's no surprise that Square Enix would win given its level of dedication to FFXIV, which includes the level of transparency and responsiveness from the developers to its player base as well as game updates/patches. The likes of Respawn as well as Bungie are notorious for not being open with their respective communities.
Stray
Awards: Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game
Who would have thought that an indie game that gives you full control over a cat with the sole mission of making it back home would go on to win both the 'Best Independent Game' as well as the 'Best Debut Indie Game' awards in one fell swoop? We sure did. Developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive, Stray garnered a total of six nominations at this year's Game Awards.
A game that tells the tale of a four-legged furry that is looking to find its way home, Stray knocked it out of the park when it came to its overall design with plenty lauding its artistic and environmental storytelling. The game's attention to detail on how a cat acts is also spot on with the founders drawing inspiration from their own feline furries as well as the studio's in-house cats.
Other Winners from the 2022 Game Awards
Games for Impact
- As Dusk Falls – Interior Night / Xbox Game Studios
Best Mobile Game
- Marvel Snap – Second Dinner / Nuverse
Best VR/AR Game
- Moss: Book II – Polyarc
Best Action Game
- Bayonetta 3 – PlatinumGames / Nintendo
Best Fighting Game
- MultiVersus – Player First Games / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Best Family Game
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land – HAL Laboratory / Nintendo
Best Sports/Racing Game
- Gran Turismo 7 – Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Best Sim/Strategy Game
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Ubisoft Milan, Ubisoft Paris / Ubisoft
Best Multiplayer Game
- Splatoon 3 – Nintendo EPD / Nintendo
Most Anticipated Game
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo EPD / Nintendo
Best Adaptation
- Arcane (animated series) – Fortiche, Riot Games / Netflix; based on League of Legends by Riot Games
Players' Voice
- Genshin Impact – miHoYo
Some of the winners from this year's Game Awards also took plenty by surprise, especially with Splatoon 3 winning the 'Best Multiplayer Game' award. It trumped the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as well as Overwatch 2, both of which came out after Splatoon 3 and still could not dislodge it from being the best multiplayer game by a mile. Both Infinity Ward and Activision also lost the 'Best Action Game' award, this time to Bayonetta 3.
As for the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom winning the 'Most Anticipated Game' award, it was a hard-fought fight with the likes of Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy XVI, and Resident Evil 4 being popular titles that have garnered plenty of traction since its announcements.
