The Game Awards annually recognise a range of games for their technical and creative achievements and reward the leading players in the world of video games and esports. This year, the event awarded Elden Ring as the best game of 2022 and Valorant as the best esport of the year!
Modelled on the famous US Oscars, the Game Awards awarded a wide range of video games and esports athletes for different titles and categories.
The event, set up and presented by Canadian journalist Geoff Keighley, has a scale and ambition comparable to that of a Gamescom convention or the Tokyo Game Show.
A large number of developers, gamers and well-known names in gaming culture were also invited to the ceremony. Participants included Hideo Kojima, the famous developer of the Metal Gear saga, actor Al Pacino and Phil Spencer, head of Xbox Game Studios.
In the end, more than 31 awards were presented to individuals, games or organisations during the approximately three-hour presentation!
Elden Ring is Game of the Year
There was little doubt that Elden Ring would win the award for best game of the year. Well-received testing by the community in February and several nominations at other international events were some big clues.
The video game is an action-RPG resulting from the collaboration between Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin, best known for Game of Thrones. Miyazaki, in turn, is the mastermind behind Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
A fusion of the medieval fantasy of the so-called ‘American Tolkien’ and the dark fantasy of the Japanese Dark Souls developer can only be a masterpiece!
But that’s not all, as Elden Ring also won awards for best direction, best art direction and best role-playing game: enough to keep its reputation high for a long time to come.
Best story: God of War Ragnarök
The latest God of War game, Elden Ring’s biggest competitor for Game of the Year, tells the story of Kratos and his son Atreus as they travel through the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil to save Ragnarök’s existence.
The character of Kratos, son of Zeus and a human, has won a place in fans’ hearts for his role as an anti-hero. Indeed, before he was immersed in Norse mythology, Kratos caused the downfall of the Olympian gods. That included his father Zeus, who was guilty of treason.
It is an honour to have been chosen as Game of the Year 2022 among so many great titles.
We truly are thankful for your enduring support, and we hope your journey into the Lands Between was as memorable to you as it was to us.#ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/cJCGDVQDWD
— ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) December 9, 2022
Developed by Californian studio SIE Santa Monica Studio, this is the sixth God of War in the series. And this previously released opus is not the end of the saga.
God of War Ragnarök takes home awards for Best Narrative, Best Action Game, Best Audio Design, Best Soundtrack, Best Accessibility Innovation and Best Voice Performance for actor Christopher Judge.
In other categories, God of War follows Elden Ring closely, but overall Kratos is in second place.
Esports
VALORANT is the best esports
VALORANT has won the Best Esports Game of 2022 at @thegameawards pic.twitter.com/db1zs1ZsCn
— ValorIntel (@ValorINTEL) December 9, 2022
VALORANT won the award for the best esport of 2022. The free-to-play FPS from Riot Games was released in 2020 and gets constant updates. Riot also regularly organises local and international tournaments.
The last Coupe de France, for example, was awarded to the organisation of French streamer ZeratoR; Mandatory. On a global scale, the Valorant Champions Tour takes place every year. The rest of the competition starts in March 2023.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive came second, DOTA 2 third and League of Legends fourth. Rocket League finished in fifth place.
Best esports athlete
This year, Jacob ‘Yay’ Whiteaker was voted the best player in the esports world. The American player is only 24 years old. Yet he was able to make his mark in ultra-competitive esports, and now plays in the ranks of the well-known organisation Cloud9.
Besides Yay, other athletes caught the attention of the audience and judges. Korean Gen.G’s player Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon finished in second place.
Third place was taken by Korean Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok of T1. CS:GO players Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen and Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev came fourth and fifth, respectively.
The best esports organisation
Brazilian organisation LOUD won the award for the best competitive team of the year. LOUD coach Matheus ‘bzkA’ Tarasconi won the award for the best coach of the year.
LOUD operates mainly in Valorant, with Brazilians aspas, Less, cauanzin, tuyz and Argentinian saadhak. The organisation is known for winning Valorant Champions 2022.
Finally, the title of best competitive event of the year goes to the League of Legends World Championship 2022, which ended on 5 November.
Splatoon 3 has the best multiplayer
Now it’s time for Nintendo’s games! Splatoon 3, developed by Nintendo EPD and released on 9 September, is a third-person shooter. The aim of the game is to conquer the most area by spraying floors and furniture with coloured ink.
By appealing to both young and old, it won the title of best non-competitive multiplayer game of the year. It is followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which was voted the second most popular multiplayer game.
The game was a true success, building on the foundations of the previous two games. In just three days after its release, it sold 3.45 million copies. That record does not surpass Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, but Splatoon 3 is one of Nintendo’s most successful games.
Gamers most looking forward to Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was named the most anticipated game of 2022.
Tears of the Kingdom is the direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That is the most popular game on the Nintendo Switch and pushed the system’s technical and graphical capabilities to the limit!
The game is eagerly awaited by the community, but very little information is known about the storyline. After defeating the mythical beast Ganon and saving the kingdom of Hyrule, protagonist Link embarks on a journey with Princess Zelda to strange places.
It is then that the lifeless body of a Gerudo tribesman appears, undoubtedly the act of Ganondorf, the series’ main antagonist.
The game has been delayed several times, and should be released on May 12, 2023.
Stray is the best indie game
Stray tells the story of an alley cat in an underground cyberpunk world populated by humans and strange creatures. The cat must solve puzzles using a drone to get back to the surface.
The game from Montpellier-based French studio BlueTwelve won not one but two awards: best independent game of the year and best first indie game.
Some announcements for the future
The ceremony ended with some announcements and trailers of future games. First of all, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2 got a 4-minute trailer.
Diablo 3 will get a sequel from Blizzard Entertainment with Diablo IV. That announcement was very well received by the community. The sequel will be released on new and old generations on 6 June 2023.
Additionally, an unreleased trailer for Final Fantasy XVI was released, along with the release date: 22 June 2023 for PS5. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor will follow the adventures of Jedi Knight Cal Kestis and the droid BD-1 from 17 March 2023. With all these announcements, in terms of video game releases, things are looking up for next year! We look forward to seeing you next year at the 2023 Game Awards.