The Game Award for Game of the Year facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Game Award for Game of the Year
Larian Studios won Game of the Year for Baldur's Gate 3 in 2023.
Presented by	The Game Awards
Country	United States
First awarded	December 5, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-12-05)
Currently held by	Astro Bot (2024)

The Game Award for Game of the Year is a top prize given out every year at The Game Awards. It goes to the video game that is considered the best of the year in both creative ideas and technical skill.

When a game wins, its directors or the heads of the studio usually accept the award. To decide the winner, a group of over 100 video game experts and websites first pick six games as nominees. Then, a special jury's votes (counting for 90%) and votes from the public (counting for 10%) are combined to choose the final winner.

So far, eleven different games have won this award. The publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment has won three times, the most of any company. They also have the most nominations with thirteen. The developer FromSoftware is the only one to have created more than one winning game. The most recent winner was Astro Bot by Team Asobi.

How a Game Wins

The Game Awards has a special voting group, called a jury. This jury is made up of over 100 video game experts and media outlets from around the world. They are chosen because they are great at reviewing and understanding video games.

Picking the Nominees

Each expert on the jury makes a list of their top five games for the year. The six games that appear on the most lists become the official nominees for Game of the Year. This means they are in the running to win the big award. In 2018, the number of nominees was increased from five to six to include more great games.

Choosing the Winner

After the nominees are announced, it's time to vote. The winner is decided by two groups:

• The jury of experts has the most say. Their votes make up 90% of the final score.
• Public voting from fans like you makes up the other 10%. Fans can vote on the official website or on social media sites like Discord and Twitter.

Josef Fares presents the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2022.

Which Games Can Be Nominated?

For a game to be considered, it must be released before a specific date in November. This means some games released late in the year might have to wait for the next year's awards. For example, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came out in late 2018 but was nominated at the 2019 awards.

Even games in early access can be nominated. Also, games that are updated over time, called live service games, can be nominated years after they first came out. A good example is Among Us, which was released in 2018 but got nominations in 2020 after becoming very popular.

The Award Ceremony

The Game of the Year award is the last and most important award given out during the show. Before the winner is announced, an orchestra often plays a medley of music from all the nominated games. This has been a tradition since 2017.

The award is usually accepted by the game's director or a leader from the development studio. Famous people often help present the award. Past presenters have included the directors of previous winning games and movie stars like Vin Diesel and Timothée Chalamet.

Winners and Nominees

People who accepted the award

Mark Darrah for Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014)

Marcin Iwiński for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)

Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

Cory Barlog for God of War (2018)

Hidetaka Miyazaki for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019) and Elden Ring (2022)

Neil Druckmann for The Last of Us Part II (2020)

Josef Fares for It Takes Two (2021)

Swen Vincke for Baldur's Gate 3 (2023)

Nicolas Doucet and Masayuki Yamada for Astro Bot (2024)

In the table below, the winning game for each year is listed first and highlighted in yellow.

Winners and nominees

Year	Game	Developer(s)	Publisher
2014	Dragon Age: Inquisition	BioWare	Electronic Arts
	Bayonetta 2	PlatinumGames	Nintendo
	Dark Souls II	FromSoftware	Bandai Namco Games
	Hearthstone	Blizzard Entertainment
	Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor	Monolith Productions	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
2015	The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	CD Projekt Red	CD Projekt
	Bloodborne	FromSoftware	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Fallout 4	Bethesda Game Studios	Bethesda Softworks
	Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain	Kojima Productions	Konami
	Super Mario Maker	Nintendo EAD	Nintendo
2016	Overwatch	Blizzard Entertainment
	Doom	id Software	Bethesda Softworks
	Inside	Playdead
	Titanfall 2	Respawn Entertainment	Electronic Arts
	Uncharted 4: A Thief's End	Naughty Dog	Sony Computer Entertainment
2017	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
	Horizon Zero Dawn	Guerrilla Games	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Persona 5	P-Studio	Atlus
	PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds	PUBG Corporation
	Super Mario Odyssey	Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
2018	God of War	Santa Monica Studio	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Assassin's Creed Odyssey	Ubisoft Quebec	Ubisoft
	Celeste	Maddy Makes Games
	Marvel's Spider-Man	Insomniac Games	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Monster Hunter: World	Capcom
	Red Dead Redemption 2	Rockstar Games
2019	Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice	FromSoftware	Activision
	Control	Remedy Entertainment	505 Games
	Death Stranding	Kojima Productions	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Resident Evil 2	Capcom
	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Bandai Namco Studios	Nintendo
		Sora Ltd.
	The Outer Worlds	Obsidian Entertainment	Private Division
2020	The Last of Us Part II	Naughty Dog	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Animal Crossing: New Horizons	Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
	Doom Eternal	id Software	Bethesda Softworks
	Final Fantasy VII Remake	Square Enix
	Ghost of Tsushima	Sucker Punch Productions	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Hades	Supergiant Games
2021	It Takes Two	Hazelight Studios	Electronic Arts
	Deathloop	Arkane Studios	Bethesda Softworks
	Metroid Dread	MercurySteam	Nintendo
	Psychonauts 2	Double Fine	Xbox Game Studios
	Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart	Insomniac Games	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Resident Evil Village	Capcom
2022	Elden Ring	FromSoftware	Bandai Namco Entertainment
	A Plague Tale: Requiem	Asobo Studio	Focus Entertainment
	God of War Ragnarök	Santa Monica Studio	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Horizon Forbidden West	Guerrilla Games
	Stray	BlueTwelve Studio	Annapurna Interactive
	Xenoblade Chronicles 3	Monolith Soft	Nintendo
2023	Baldur's Gate 3	Larian Studios
	Alan Wake 2	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
	Super Mario Bros. Wonder	Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
2024	Astro Bot	Team Asobi	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Balatro	LocalThunk	Playstack
	Black Myth: Wukong	Game Science
	Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree	FromSoftware	Bandai Namco Entertainment
	Final Fantasy VII Rebirth	Square Enix
	Metaphor: ReFantazio	Studio Zero	Sega

Records for Wins and Nominations

Some companies and game series have been nominated many times. Here's a look at who has the most wins and nominations.

Developers with Multiple Nominations

A developer is the company that makes the game.

Publishers with Multiple Nominations

A publisher is the company that helps sell and distribute the game.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:The Game Award al Juego del Año para niños