Article Synopsis: This article series contains information about all the Winners of the Game Awards 2023, for all categories. It also includes all World Premiere trailers & information about each of the games showcased including console availability and release dates where available. Lastly, it offers links to every speech, presentation, and performance from the Game Awards.
Article Index:
For if you want to skip all the fluff and get to the good stuff:
I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I’ve ever watched the Game Awards Live before this year, because, I haven’t, but… I figured this year it would be quite ironic to claim myself a Gaming Journalist and not watch the most prestigious awards in the Gaming Industry. So, we set up our laptop in the Living Room and enjoyed the spectacle with our community. We posted Live updates on every single game trailer played, every award winner, and had fantastic conversations. It became an instant Pillow Fort tradition.
So, when I woke up in the morning and saw all the controversy around the Awards, it was a bit of a shock. I stated previously that I’d never attended an awards ceremony before so to say I had the faintest idea if it was off-trend or not well… I didn’t. That being said, I read through the complaints, and after doing so I'll share my own experience with the awards. I was honestly terrified to leave my PC even for a moment. It felt like I had no time to type out the Award winners and I type at speeds of 160 words per minute. Sure that might sound like me flexing, but if I feel as though I can’t keep up then something’s quite wrong.
Now… I will say that these articles have exceptionally little to do with any of the drama. The Pillow Fort tends to stay out of industry-related arguments because we simply haven’t been in the business long enough. We don’t know enough to reasonably open our mouths without fear of being utterly wrong.
Embarrassment aside, we want to build trust with our community and therefore focus on crafting articles related to release news and upcoming games, rather than industry-related issues. So, while we’ll say we respect and understand everyone’s thoughts on the Awards, and agree that it felt rushed the entire time, we’ll simply ask that if you’re looking for information on why people are upset with the entire program, then you’ll have to find a different article for that.
BUT! If you’re looking for an article that’ll tell you about every single game we saw at the Awards, and all the winners in each category, followed by every speech and by whom it was given, then we can help you with that!
We’re going to start with the Award Winners since that’s really what you want to know… right?
Now, we have to be honest, out of all the games that won we’ve played 4 of them. Our forte is Indie Games. My personal reasons for playing Indies is because I had a group of friends in high school and through early college days that did nothing but drag me around to new games like Don’t Starve Together, The Forest, 7 Days to Die, Eco, Terraria, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and the likes. So… I just adore the Indie world of Games for wholesome reasons.
That being said, I was a die-hard MMORPG player and it wasn’t just my 15,000 hours in World of Warcraft (pick your jaw back up), I also played Final Fantasy Online, Black Desert, Tera, and Elder Scrolls Online. I’m not overly picky when it comes to games. You’ll catch me in Forza 5 doing front flips over a tree trunk (don’t ask), or running it down bot lane with SirDucky in League of Legends. One day I’m playing Ori, and the next Diablo 4. You get the point…
The main point is, that a lot of Triple-A games I just randomly won’t play. My taste in games varies so drastically day-to-day that when both Diablo 4 and Baldur’s Gate came out I shrugged and went back to playing whatever Indie game I was in love with that month. In fact, only Starfield got me to put down my Indie games and that was because I didn’t pay a dime I wasn’t already paying to play it (Xbox Game Pass). I’m also a die-hard Bethesda fan and before you send that little hate-filled comment, I can easily recognize that it’s not Game of the Year, so, hit the backspace button a few times and take a deep breath.
Now that you have this knowledge of who I am as a gamer hopefully you’ll understand why I say I’m not giving my opinion on the winners of these categories. I’ll say that Faker Daddy deserved his spot as the top Esports player because even after a serious wrist injury and suffering from it all season, he ran it back and won worlds in League of Legends. Yeah, I’m an Esports fan too.
So… without further adieu, here are the winners for each Category… with a few comments on a couple of them (heh).
Game of the Year:
Baldur's Gate 3
Comments: None
Player’s Voice Award:
Baldur's Gate 3
Comments: None
Best Ongoing Game:
Cyberpunk 2077
Comments: SirDucky's been enjoying the updated version of this game, so maybe it did truly deserve the award?
Content Creator of the Year:
Ironmouse
Comments: None
Best Adaptation:
The Last of Us TV Show
Comments: None
Best Mobile Game:
Honkai: Star Rail
Comments: None
Best Multiplayer Game:
Baldur's Gate 3
Comments: None
Most Anticipated Game:
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Comments: None
Best Independent Game:
Sea of Stars
Comments: This one makes a bit of sense why it beat out Dredge and Dave the Diver but we're still a little shocked that it did. We didn't play it so our opinion is more towards them based on personal experiences, but honestly, we can't give a fair vote.
Best Narrative:
Alan Wake II
Comments: None
Best Game Direction:
Alan Wake II
Comments: None
Best Family Game:
Super Mario Bros Wonder
Comments: None
Best Art Direction:
Alan Wake II
Comments: None
Best Role Playing Game:
Baldur's Gate 3
Comments: None
Best Action Game:
Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon
Comments: None
Games for Impact:
Tchia
Comments: I bought this game for SirDucky as a gift earlier this year. He adores Moana and all Islander experiences, so when I saw it I was almost positive he'd enjoy it. Well, he did. From spawning in 1000 coconuts and blowing them up, to throwing himself across the world as a rock, the possibilities in Tchia are a bit mind-blowing and while the story is dark, it's an amazing look at the Culture of New Caledonia. In our honest opinion, it deserved this award through and through.
Best Action / Adventure:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Comments: SirDucky is a ToTK lover, it had our vote!
Best Fighting Game:
Street Fighter 6
Comments: None
Best Debut Indie:
Cocoon
Comments: So... I've been playing this one on Gamepass and while the multi-layered puzzles and design are quite enjoyable, not to mention unique, in our minds there's no way a 6-hour puzzle-driven game, even with all its unique-ness, would win out against Dredge or Viewfinder... but that's only an opinion so take it for what it is. I did love my experience with Cocoon, so I'm not trying to undermine how trippy and well-crafted it is, just sharing a few thoughts.
Best Community Support:
Baldur's Gate 3
Comments: None
Best VR/AR Game:
Resident Evil Village: VR
Comments: None
Best Sim / Strategy Game:
Pikmin 4
Comments: None
Best Score / Music:
Final Fantasy XVI
Comments: None
Best Audio Design:
Hi-Fi Rush
Comments: Our own SirDucky has been thoroughly enjoying Hi-Fi Rush on Gamepass! The sync between the game, its world, characters, and combat, with all the music? Well, it's pretty brilliant we can't lie.
Best Performance:
Neil Newbon (Baldur's Gate 3)
Comments: None
Innovation in Accessibility:
Forza Motorsport
Comments: Forza's pretty enjoyable but we didn't play this one.
Best Esports Player:
Faker
Comments: I mean, did you think it was going to be anyone else? The dude just won his 4th World Series after having a bad wrist all year...
Best Esports Coach:
Christine "potter" Chi
Comments: None
Best Esports Team:
JDG (LPL - League of Legends)
Comments: Even though we're T1 fans, JDG put up an impressive performance all year. They almost completed the Golden Road, or rather, Winning both Spring & Summer LPL Splits, Winning MSI, and Winning Worlds. They came in 3rd place in the Worlds event, shutting down their near golden road year and ultimately losing to the League of Legends Godfather, King Faker himself. Regardless, they absolutely deserved this award (in our opinion) and they're an Esports team to be reckoned with.
Best Esports Event:
League of Legends World Series
Comments: LET'S GO T1!!!
Best Esports Game:
Valorant
Comments: None
With all the excitement of who won each Award out of the way, we're going to get to the part that we're most excited about and that's all the amazing Upcoming Games that were showcased at the event. We got a first glimpse of some absolute goldies from studios we know and love and we're thrilled to be sharing them with you in this next article.
Disclaimer: I'm just one human writing, researching, compiling, editing, and formatting this entire article series. If something is missing, wrong, or otherwise, please just reach out and we'll happily get it fixed! I'm the only one checking my work, and yes, I work extremely hard to always be accurate, but I am not faultless, so please be kind... thanks!
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