The Game Awards: Winners and Announcements Recap

The Game Awards (TGA) is the biggest night in gaming each year, laying the roadmap for the year ahead and, always, including a few twists and turns. (Because what's an event night without constant internet memes and hot takes?) The highlights of this year's TGA night include the event teaming up with Valve to give one Steam Deck out every minute of the event's live stream, (which led to hack-hopefuls spamming in-chat to win), teleprompter blunders with Al Pacino, this majestic flutist, and a speech-crashing meme-er (who ended up being arrested).

Didn't catch the fanfare? Fair enough. (Friday nights are busy enough!) Didn't remember every winner or everything announced? You've come to the right recap. Read below for the major game category winners of TGA night, as well as every major announcement for releases, expansions, and more.

Basic TLDR of TGA winners: Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarock (unsurprisingly) swept the majority of categories.

TGA Game Category Winners

These are the major game category winners and do not include categories such as media adaptations or e-Sports.

• Game of the Year (GOTY): Elden Ring
• Best Game Direction: Elden Ring
• Best Narrative: God of War: Ragnarok
• Best Art Direction: Elden Ring
• Best Score/Music: Bear McCreary - God of War: Ragnarok
• Best Audio Design: God of War: Ragnarok
• Best Performance: Christopher Judge (Kratos) - God of War: Ragnarok
• Game for Impact: As Dusk Falls
• Best Ongoing Game: Final Fantasy XIV (14)
• Best Indie: Stray
• Best Debut Indie: Stray
• Best Mobile: Marvel Snap
• Best Community Support: Final Fantasy XIV (14)
• Best VR/AR: Moss: Book II
• Innovation in Accessibility: God of War: Ragnarok
• Best Action Game: Bayonetta 3
• Best Action/Adventure Game: God of War: Ragnarok
• Best RPG: Elden Ring
• Best Fighting Game: MultiVersus
• Best Family Game: Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• Best Sports/Racing Game: Gran Turismo 7
• Best SIM/Strategy Game: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Best Multiplayer Game: Splatoon 3
• Most Anticipated Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Player's Voice: Genshin Impact

Game Announcements

There was a slew of games announced across several stages of development. These are the major game announcements.

• The long-teased and now-revealed Death Stranding 2 was announced alongside a cinematic reveal trailer. The original game script was scrapped and rewritten from scratch during the COVID-19 pandemic onset, leading fans to speculate what changes Kojima will make to his already unpredictable storytelling.
• A surprise sequel for one of 2020's hottest games, Hades, was announced with a gameplay trailer at the event. Hades 2 will release via Early Access in 2023.
• Elden Ring developers announced Armored Core VI (6), which releases in 2023.
• After some initial leaks and Steam page snafus, the new Star Wars: Jedi Survivor officially shared a March 17, 2023 release date alongside their TGA reveal trailer. The game follows up the storyline and characters from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, released in 2019.
• The Final Fantasy series shows no signs of slowing pace, with the Square Enix team revealing Final Fantasy XVI (16)'s release date of June 22, 2023, alongside a new trailer showcasing the game's battle system and updates.
• The creator of BioShock, Ken Levine, has finally shown the public his long-awaited game. Titled 'Judas', this game will likely feel kindred to BioShock in terms of narratives and mechanics, but is set in the eerie environment of space.
• Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC will release on April 19, 2023. The DLC will be exclusive to PS5.
• Cyberpunk 2077's upcoming expansion, Phantom Liberty, has new star power courtesy of Idris Elba joining the fray.
• Diablo 4 will release on June 6, 2023, with a public beta happening in Q1/Q2 2023.
• Street Fighter 6 will release on June 2, 2023.
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (after prior release delays) will officially debut on May 26, 2023. It will feature the final performance of Kevin Conroy as Batman.
• Hellboy is getting the video game treatment in Hellboy: Web of Wyrd. (While this isn't the first time a Hellboy game has come out, it's been nearly two decades since the last one was released.)
• Baldur's Gate 3 gets a release window of August 2023.
• Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon will release on Switch on March 17, 2023.
• The Crash Bandicoot universe is getting a little bigger with the Crash Team Rumble game, a 4v4 multiplayer arriving in 2023.
• Warhammer 20,000: Space Marine 2 will release in 2023.
• The reboot for The Lords of the Fallen was revealed.
• Promising new games like Replaced, After Us, Immortals of Aveum, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, and Crime Boss: Rockay City had their first reveals.

What were your thoughts on TGA this year? I was a bit disappointed that Horizon Forbidden West got snubbed in every category it was nominated for. I was also a bit disappointed to see Genshin Impact beat out Sonic for the Player's Voice awards, but thems the breaks on the internet. It looks like next year has a promising roster of games to keep us all busy, so at least there's that to look forward to!