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 super important award given out every year at The Game Awards. It celebrates the best video game that year, looking at how fun it is to play and how well it's made. Usually, the game's director or a leader from the game studio accepts the award.

More than 100 video game websites and magazines help pick the nominees. They choose six games that they think are the best. Then, a special group of judges (90% of the vote) and public fans (10% of the vote) decide the final winner.

Since it started, eleven different video games have won this award. Sony Interactive Entertainment has won three times and been nominated a record thirteen times! FromSoftware is the only game maker to win more than once. The most recent winner is Astro Bot by Team Asobi.

How the Winner is Chosen

The Game Awards has a group of over 100 video game experts. These experts are from media and influencer groups. They are chosen because they are good at reviewing video games.

Voting Process

Each expert group picks their top five favorite games. The games that appear most often on these lists become the nominees. The winner is decided by a mix of votes. The expert judges make up 90% of the vote. The public makes up the other 10%. Fans can vote on the official website and social media like Discord, Facebook, and Twitter. In China, fans vote on Bilibili.

Game Eligibility

Any game released before a certain date in November can be considered. If a game comes out after this date, it can be nominated for the next year's awards. For example, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from 2018 was nominated in 2019.

Sometimes, games released right before the deadline get missed. This happened with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in 2019 and 2020. Games that are in Early access can also be nominated. Even "live service" games, which are updated often, can be nominated no matter when they first came out. Among Us, released in 2018, got nominations in 2020!

Josef Fares presenting Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022.

The Award Ceremony

The Game Award for Game of the Year is given to the game that offers the best experience. This includes both its creative ideas and its technical quality. It is the very last award given out at the ceremony. Many people see it as the most important honor.

Since 2017, before the winner is announced, an orchestra plays music from all the nominated games. This music is led by Lorne Balfe. In 2018, the number of nominees grew from five to six games.

Presenters and Acceptees

The award is usually accepted by the game's director or a studio executive. In 2014, Mark Darrah and Aaryn Flynn accepted the first award for Dragon Age: Inquisition. Geoff Keighley, who hosts and produces The Game Awards, presented the award for the first four years.

Other people who have presented the award include directors of past winning games. These include Jeff Kaplan (for Overwatch), Neil Druckmann (for The Last of Us Part II), Josef Fares (for It Takes Two), and Swen Vincke (for Baldur's Gate 3). Famous guests like Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Christopher Nolan, and Timothée Chalamet have also presented the award.

Winners and Nominees

Acceptees of 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 for Astro Bot (2024)

Here are the winners and nominees for the Game of the Year award. Winners are shown in yellow and bold. They also have a double dagger () next to them.

Winners and nominees

Event	Game	Developer	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

Games with Multiple Nominations and Wins

Some game developers, publishers, and even game series have been nominated or won the Game of the Year award many times.

Developers

Publishers

Franchises

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:The Game Award a videojuego del año para niños