The Game Awards 2019

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[mmmark]

Don’t let this stop you from voting on what counts @Blakey

[DisturbedSwan]

Nominees are in:

 

Game of the Year:

- Control (Remedy/505 Games)
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai-Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
- The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

 

Best Game Direction

- Control (Remedy/505 Games)
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
- Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
 

Best Narrative

- A Plague Tale: Innocence(Asobo/Focus Home)
- Control (Remedy/505)
- Death Stranding(Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Disco Elysium(ZA/UM)
- The Outer Worlds(Obsidian/Private Division)
 

Best Art Direction

- Control (Remedy/505)
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
- Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
 

Best Score/Music

- Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
- Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
- Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)

 

Best Audio Design

- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
- Control (Remedy/505)
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
 

Best Performance

- Ashley Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
- Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden, Control
- Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
- Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
- Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
- Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding
 

Best Action Game

- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Astral Chain (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
- Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom/Capcom)
- Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
- Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)
 

Best Action/Adventure Game

- Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
- Control (Remedy/505 Games)
- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
- Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
 

Best RPG

- Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
- Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
- Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
- The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)
 

Best Fighting Game

- Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo)
- Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
- Mortal Kombat 11(NetherRealm/WBIE)
- Samurai Showdown (SNK/Athlon)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)

Best Family Game

- Luigi's Mansion 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
- Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
- Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
- Yoshi's Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)
 

Best Strategy Game

- Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox)
- Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Koei Tecmo/Nintendo)
- Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Tropico 6(Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
- Wargroove (Chucklefish)

Best Sports/Racing Game

- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
- DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
- eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
- F1 2019 (Codemasters)
- FIFA 20 (EA Sports)

Best Multiplayer Game

- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
- Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
- Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

 

Fresh Indie Game Studio

- ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
- Nomada Studio for Gris
- DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
- Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
- Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
- House House for Untitled Goose Game
 

Games for Impact

- Concrete Genie (Pixelopus/SIE)
- Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
- Kind Words (Popcannibal)
- Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
- Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/EA)

 

Best Ongoing Game

- Apex Legends (Respawn)
- Destiny 2 (Bungie)
- Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Independent Game

- Baba Is You (Hempuli)
- Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
- Katana ZERO (Askiisoft/Devoler)
- Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
- Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

Best Mobile Game

- Call of Duty: Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
- GRINDSTONE (Capybara Games)
- Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
- Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
- What the Golf? (Tribland)

 

Best Community Support

- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Destiny 2 (Bungie)
- Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

 

Best VR/AR Game

- Asgard's Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
- Blood & Truth (SIE London Studio/SIE)
- Beat Saber (Beat Games)
- No Man's Sky (Hello Games)
- Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)
 

 

[Maf]

Wow...

 

Or tick here for ‘none of the above’

[one-armed dwarf]

Control ftw

 

Sekiro ftl

[DisturbedSwan]

7 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Sekiro ftw

Completely agree.

[Craymen Edge]

Shame Jeff could only get his bezzie mate's game into 8 of those categories.

[Maf]

5 minutes ago, Craymen Edge said:

Shame Jeff could only get his bezzie mate's game into 8 of those categories.

lol I’m glad someone else said it

[DisturbedSwan]

53 minutes ago, Craymen Edge said:

Shame Jeff could only get his bezzie mate's game into 8 of those categories.

Geoff has literally no say in who gets nominated. A panel of 80 gaming outlets around the world decide what games get nominated. 
 

Here’s a link to see all the outlets included if you’re curious. 
 

Believe it or not Death Stranding got nominated because a lot of outlets liked it.

 

This is just the UK’s outlets on the jury for an example:

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Outer Wilds should be in the best game category tbh. Now that I understand it a bit more it has this feeling of playing your first ever video game and trying to slowly understand everything, which is extremely rare to produce these days

[mmmark]

They (the jury) apparently pick the games but I can’t find anywhere if it’s from a pre determined list and how big the list is or who chooses what’s in each list for each category. I’m not calling it a conspiracy but that it’s unlikely every outlet chooses any game they like to put forward. iirc this is how the oscars work. 

[DANGERMAN]

4 hours ago, wiivo 2.0 said:

They (the jury) apparently pick the games but I can’t find anywhere if it’s from a pre determined list and how big the list is or who chooses what’s in each list for each category. I’m not calling it a conspiracy but that it’s unlikely every outlet chooses any game they like to put forward. iirc this is how the oscars work. 

Yeah, it's generally speaking a very mainstream list each year. I'd expect the enthusiast press to throw up more obscure stuff 

[DisturbedSwan]

7 hours ago, wiivo 2.0 said:

They (the jury) apparently pick the games but I can’t find anywhere if it’s from a pre determined list and how big the list is or who chooses what’s in each list for each category. I’m not calling it a conspiracy but that it’s unlikely every outlet chooses any game they like to put forward. iirc this is how the oscars work. 

You find all that info under the FAQs here

 

Quote

Each voting outlet completes a confidential, unranked ballot based on the collective and diverse opinion of its entire editorial staff, listing out its top five choices in each category. Ballots are tabulated, and the five games that appear on the most ballots are put forth as nominees. In the event of a tie, six (or more) nominees will be announced in a category. Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley is not a member of the jury and does not vote on the nominees.

 

[DisturbedSwan]

 

GAMES COME ALIVE AS THE GAME AWARDS INTRODUCES THE GAME FESTIVAL, A NEW 48 HOUR DIGITAL CONSUMER EVENT THAT BRINGS GAMEPLAY TO FANS AROUND THE WORLD DURING GAMING’S BIGGEST NIGHT
 

Quote

The Game Awards Streams Live on Thursday at 8:30PM ET / 5:30PM PT

The Game Festival Runs on Steam from Thursday at 10:00AM PT

Until Saturday at 10:00AM PT

 

LOS ANGELES (December 11, 2019) — This Thursday get ready to watch, celebrate and now play what’s next from the video game industry. Today The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley announced The Game Festival, a new digital consumer event concept that ushers in a new era for The Game Awards, which live streams for free across more than 60 global digital networks.

 

The Game Festival is a first-of-its-kind digital consumer event that brings the magic of hands-on gameplay demos to fans around the world. For 2019, The Game Festival will launch a digital pilot program on Steam. The Game Festival will feature more than a dozen first-look game demos, available to play for a limited 48-hour window before they are removed from Steam.

 

“Six years ago I bet everything I had to create The Game Awards as a way to celebrate our passion for gaming,” said Geoff Keighley, creator, The Game Awards. “Now feels like the right time to take the next step with The Game Festival, a completely digital approach to the consumer event space. Let’s face it: Not everyone can attend a physical trade show or consumer event. The Game Festival is designed from the ground-up as an event without barriers, extending the benefits of a physical event to the global gaming community that watches The Game Awards.”

 

As part of the pilot Game Festival on Stream, more than a dozen games are scheduled to be playable. Some of the games that will release free, limited-time demos include:

 

System Shock (Nightdive Studios)

Eastward (Pixpil/Chucklefish)

Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus)

Moving Out (SMG Studio/Devm Games/Team17)

Röki (Polygon Treehouse/United Label)

Chicory (Greg Lobanov)

Wooden Nickel (Brain&Brain)

Haven (The Game Bakers)

Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)

Acid Knife (Powerhoof)

The Drifter (Powerhoof)

CARRION (Phobia/Devolver)

SkateBIRD (Glass Bottom Games)

 

Alongside the Festival, Steam will air The Game Awards live in 4K Ultra High Definition, feature The Game Awards Sale, and offer Steam viewers the opportunity to win a Valve Index VR headset and free game drops throughout the live broadcast.

 

[Maf]

I’ve come up with an amazing idea. To make the Game Awards better they should just take all the hosts, crowd, the live event and awards elements out of it and just do the world premiers and put them on YouTube as individual videos.
 

Can’t spell genius without less pain more efficiency

 

EDIT: There was an ad where Megan Fox was promoting PubG because it is combating climate change. 
 

EDIT DOUBLE: Kojima clearing up at this thing. Coincidence or conspiracy created by the Daily Star you decide 

 

MORE EDITING: And Sekiro wins GotY. Respectable. Wrong, but respectable. 

[Maryokutai]

I checked the videos this morning after getting up and yeah, it was as boring as every year before. Cool to see Reggie again though.

 

Don't care about the awards ever since they decided that Dragon Age Inquisition was better than everything else in 2014 so I didn't check who won and who didn't.

[DisturbedSwan]

8 hours ago, Maf said:

I’ve come up with an amazing idea. To make the Game Awards better they should just take all the hosts, crowd, the live event and awards elements out of it and just do the world premiers and put them on YouTube as individual videos.
 

Can’t spell genius without less pain more efficiency

 

EDIT: There was an ad where Megan Fox was promoting PubG because it is combating climate change. 
 

EDIT DOUBLE: Kojima clearing up at this thing. Coincidence or conspiracy created by the Daily Star you decide 

 

MORE EDITING: And Sekiro wins GotY. Respectable. Wrong, but respectable. 

 

That's an awful idea. It's nice to have a spectacle like this to show off game developers and let them have a bit of limelight on a stage in front of a crowd. I love Awards show though and this is the only thing the gaming industry has got that is vaguely similar to the Oscars - which I love - so yeah, keep the format, it works, seems to bring in big viewing figures too.

 

Also, you haven't played Sekiro so you don't know whether that GOTY pick is 'wrong' for you or not

 

3 hours ago, Maryokutai said:

I checked the videos this morning after getting up and yeah, it was as boring as every year before. Cool to see Reggie again though.

 

Don't care about the awards ever since they decided that Dragon Age Inquisition was better than everything else in 2014 so I didn't check who won and who didn't.

 

I agree it wasn't a fantastic watch with few amazing reveals but I still enjoyed the occasion of it.

 

I detest Dragon Age Inquisition too but that was just the Panels' particular collective opinion in 2014, 2014 was an awful year for games (quite similar to 2019 really). We both know a more worthy winner would've been Alien Isolation but it didn't resonate with US reviewers for some reason so never got a nod, just the way the cookie crumbles. Something winning that I don't agree with won't ever put me off watching a future show, if I did that I think I'd never watch the Oscars again 

 

Also, here's the Winners from the night:

 

Game of the Year

• Control
• Death Stranding
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – WINNER
• The Outer Worlds

Best Game Direction

• Control
• Death Stranding – WINNER
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Outer Wilds

Best Narrative

• A Plague Tale: Innocence
• Control
• Death Stranding
• Disco Elysium – WINNER
• The Outer Worlds

Best Art Direction

• Control – WINNER
• Death Stranding
• Gris
• Sayonara
• Wild Hearts
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Best Score/Music

• Cadence Of Hyrule
• Death Stranding – WINNER
• Devil May Cry 5
• Kingdom Hearts 3
• Sayonara Wild Hearts

Best Audio Design

• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare – WINNER
• Control
• Death Stranding
• Gears 5
• Resident Evil 2
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Performance

• Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb (The Outer Worlds)
• Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden (Control)
• Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz (Gears 5)
• Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff (Death Stranding) – WINNER
• Matthew Porretta as Dr Casper Darling (Control)
• Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges (Death Stranding)

Games for Impact

• Concrete Genie
• Gris – WINNER
• Kind Words
• Life Is Strange 2
• Sea Of Solitude

Best Ongoing Game

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14
• Fortnite – WINNER
• Rainbow Six Siege

Best Independent Game

• Baba Is You
• Disco Elysium – WINNER
• Katana Zero
• Outer Wilds
• Untitled Goose Game

Best Mobile Game

• Call Of Duty: Mobile – WINNER
• Grindstone
• Sayonara Wild Hearts
• Sky: Children Of Light
• What The Golf?

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2 – WINNER
• Final Fantasy 14
• Fortnite
• Rainbow Six Siege

Best VR/AR Game

• Asgard’s Wrath
• Blood & Truth
• Beat Saber – WINNER
• No Man’s Sky
• Trover Saves The Universe

Best Action Game

• Apex Legends
• Astral Chain
• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Devil May Cry 5 – WINNER
• Gears 5
• Metro Exodus

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Borderlands 3
• Control
• Death Stranding
• Resident Evil 2
• The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – WINNER

Best RPG

• Disco Elysium – WINNER
• Final Fantasy 14
• Kingdom Hearts 3
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
• The Outer Worlds

Best Fighting Game

• Dead Or Alive 6
• Jump Force
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Samurai Shodown
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – WINNER

Best Family Game

• Luigi’s Mansion 3 – WINNER
• Ring Fit Adventure
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Yoshi’s Crafted World

Best Strategy Game

• Age Of Wonders: Planetfall
• Anno 1800
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses – WINNER
• Total War: Three Kingdoms
• Tropico 6
• Wargroove

Best Sports/Racing Game

• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled – WINNER
• DiRT Rally 2.0
• eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020
• F1 2019
• FIFA 20

Best Multiplayer Game

• Apex Legends – WINNER
• Borderlands 3
• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Tetris 99
• The Division 2

Fresh Indie Game presented by Subway

• ZA/UM for Disco Elysium – WINNER
• Nomada Studio for Gris
• DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
• Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
• Mega Crit for Slay The Spire
• House House for Untitled Goose Game

Content Creator of the Year

• Courage – Jack Dunlop
• Dr. Lupo – Benjamin Lupo
• Ewok – Soleil Wheeler
• Grefg – David Martínez
• Shroud – Michael Grzesiek – WINNER

Best Esports Game

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Dota 2
• Fortnite
• League Of Legends – WINNER
• Overwatch

Best Esports Player

• Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf – WINNER
• Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok
• Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic
• Oleksandr ‘S1mple’ Kostyliev
• Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won

Best Esports Team

• Astralis
• G2 Esports – WINNER
• OG
• San Francisco Shock
• Team Liquid

Best Esports Event

• 2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals
• EVO 2019
• Fortnite World Cup
• IEM Katowice 2019
• League Of Legends World Championship 2019 – WINNER
• The International 2019

Best Esports Coach

• Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag (Team Liquid)
• Nu-ri ‘Cain’ Jang (Team Liquid)
• Fabian ‘GrabbZ’ Lohmann (G2 Esports)
• Kim ‘Kkoma’ Jeong-gyun (SK Telecom T1)
• Titouan ‘Sockshka’ Merloz (OG)
• Danny ‘Zonic’ Sørensen (Astralis) – WINNER

Best Esports Host

• Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere – WINNER
• Alex ‘Machine’ Richardson
• Paul ‘Redeye’ Chaloner
• Alex ‘Goldenboy’ Mendez
• Duan ‘Candice’ Yu-Shuang

Player’s Voice Award

• Fire Emblem: Three Houses – WINNER

Best Gaming Tweet of the Year

 

Absolutely chuffed that Sekiro won GOTY as it is by far and away my Game of the Year (nothing has come close to it apart from KH3 for me in fact).

 

Also really pleased LoL won Best Esports Game and Best Esports event

 

Pleased for Sjokz (LoL LEC Presenter) winning best Esports presenter too  

 

I think its quite funny Norman Reedus is in basically all of DS but Mads Mikkelson is hardly in it but got the Best Performance award over him  

[one-armed dwarf]

Fuck the Oscars, they gave a standing ovation to Polanski.

 

Maads deserves that award cause he's good in all his scenes. Reedus was unconvincing imo. The material seems it was too challenging for him while the rest of the cast just goes with and accepts all the bullshit. Norman is like when you try to explain the MGS plot to someone who hasn't played any of the games. He has a way of reacting to alarming information in the story that made it feel like he had no idea what to be emoting.

 

But Maads was really good. I saw a lot of people praise Die Hard Man's performance for one scene but I really like an understated performance in gaming. Rather than exaggerated scenery chewing stuff all day. Not that that can't be fun, Troy Baker is fun to watch. But those kinds of 'big' performances are like the default for 'good acting' in a video game so it's cool to see some 'real' acting as well.

 

Nothing for FFXIV is a bummer. I suppose Destiny 2 could be the best supported game right now and I wouldn't really know. But that Nier raid was sick, my dudes, and I wish I could show you how sick it was and how cool it felt. Or the great job Shadowbringer has done at raising the stakes in a story that's been going on 10 years now. 

 

You all liked that 'I am Ironman' scene, right? XIV has shit like that too.

 

I'm more annoyed though that XIV didn't get a soundtrack nom. Shit fucking slaps. Listen to the boss theme or the Shadowbringers main theme. Or the final dungeon one.

 

Some of these categories are strange to me, I don't know why Modern Warface is in there with DMC and Astral Chain. Captain Price can't even do combos. Metro Exodus is open world and Sekiro isn't even in the category.

[DisturbedSwan]

15 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Fuck the Oscars, they gave a standing ovation to Polanski.

 

Metro Exodus is open world and Sekiro isn't even in the category.

 

Sekiro won in Best Action/Adventure too. But yeah the categories are a little odd, think it's just to keep the number of them down to the lowest they can.

 

Well that is shitty, but I still love the Oscars, still stay up until 5am for it every year.

[Maryokutai]

1 hour ago, Blakey said:

2014 was an awful year for games

 

If you deliberately and completely ignore Nintendo maybe. 2014 was probably the only strong year WiiU ever had with Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros. and Bayonetta 2. All of which would have been a better pick for GOTY that year - and Alien: Isolation as well, of course.

 

And I might need to rephrase my previous post because I don't watch Award Shows, period, because it's something that doesn't particularly interest me. Whether it's this or the Oscars or anything else, I just skip through for the announcements the day after. But I still think there needs to be a certain credibility to it or else it completely falls apart. And calling a soulless snoozefest like DA Inquisition your show's game of the year is the kind of thing that shoots said credibility straight out of the atmosphere. There's no way a panel of informed videogame-people can make that choice with a straight face.

 

On the plus side, this year's winners look like okay-ish choices. Not sure about the multiple Death Stranding wins but I'll leave the tinfoil hat in the basement.