The winners for The Game Awards 2021 have been announced. Now in its eighth year, the awards celebrate achievement in video games over the past 12 months with this year’s ceremony featuring 30 different categories, covering everything from art direction to music, voice acting and eSports, all voted for by the public.
During the event, host Geoff Keighley expressed his support to those who have been victims of harassment and abuse in the gaming industry, saying that change needs to happen and that those who need help should be empowered by the support of the audience and the wider gaming industry.
Leading this year’s nominations was Deathloop, which had nine nominations and won two awards, for Best Game Direction and Best Game Direction. Among the other winners on the night were It Takes Two, which won Best Family Game and Game of The Year, Final Fantasy XIV Online, which won Best Community Support and Forza Horizon 5, which won the Innovation in Accessibility Award and Best Sports/Racing Game. Prior to the awards, Halo Infinite won the Player’s Voice Award.
There were also several exclusive reveals and trailers shown during the ceremony. Fans got their first look at Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and the Halo live-action series. There was also the reveal for The Matrix Awakens, a tie-in experience for The Matrix Resurrections which is available now for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S
On the gaming side, there were reveals for Wonder Woman, Alan Wake 2, ARC Raiders and Warhammer: Space Marine 2 as well as details on upcoming content for Cuphead, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Genshin Impact and Destiny 2. There were also new looks at gameplay for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
See the full list of winners below:
Game of the Year
It Takes Two
Best Game Direction
Deathloop
Best Narrative
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Art Direction
Deathloop
Best Score and Music
Nier Replicant ver 1.22474487139
Best Audio Design
Forza Horizon 5
Best Performance
Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu – Resident Evil Village
Games for Impact
Life is Strange: True Colors
Best Ongoing Game
Final Fantasy XIV Online
Best Independent Game
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Best Mobile Game
Genshin Impact
Best Community Support
Final Fantasy XIV Online
Best VR/AR Game
Resident Evil 4
Innovation in Accessibility
Forza Horizon 5
Best Action Game
Returnal
Best Action/Adventure Game
Metroid Dread
Best Role-Playing Game
Tales of Arise
Best Fighting Game
Guilty Gear Strive
Best Family Game
It Takes Two
Best Sports/Racing Game
Forza Horizon 5
Best Sim/Strategy Game
Age of Empires IV
Best Multiplayer Game
It Takes Two
Best Debut Game
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Most Anticipated Game
Elden Ring
Player’s Voice
Halo Infinite
Best Esports Game
League of Legends
Best Esports Player
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Best Esports Team
Natus Vincere – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Best Esports Coach
Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun
Best Esports Event
2021 League of Legends World Championship
Content Creator of the Year
Dream
Watch the ceremony in full below.
Words by Megan Roxburgh
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