The Game Awards, the video game industry’s biggest annual year-end celebration, aired live in 4K UHD tonight across more than 40 platforms globally. Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two received top honors as the 2021 Game of the Year award recipient, as well as Best Multiplayer and Best Family game.
Some of the biggest names in Hollywood and video games including Ben Schwartz, Giancarlo Esposito, Guillermo del Toro, Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Ming-Na Wen, Paul George, and Simu Liu took to the stage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles for The Game Awards 2021 live, in-person production. You can find photos from the show taken by PictureGroup here, and see below for the full list of winners (also available at: https://thegameawards.com/
The show also included special live performances by Imagine Dragons and Sting, where Sting performed “What Could Have Been” from the original soundtrack of Riot Games and Fortiche Productions’ League of Legends-based Netflix animated series Arcane. Additionally, The Game Awards Orchestra conducted by BAFTA and Emmy nominated composer Lorne Balfe, performed scores from the year’s stand-out games including Deathloop, It Takes Two, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village and more.
While honoring the games and individuals who propelled the games industry forward over the past year, The Game Awards – which celebrated its 7th anniversary this year – also featured incredible moments in gaming from the community and revealed a first look at highly anticipated games and entertainment properties including, the live-action Halo TV series, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 Experience and much more.
The comprehensive list of winners can be found below:
Game of the Year
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Best Game Direction
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
Best Ongoing
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online (SQUARE ENIX)
Best Indie
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
Best Debut Indie
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
Best Narrative
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/SQUARE ENIX)
Best Art Direction
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
Best Score and Music
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 (Keiichi Okabe, Composer)
Best Audio Design
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Best Performance
Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village
Games for Impact
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/SQUARE ENIX)
Best Community Support
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online (SQUARE ENIX)
Best Mobile Game, Presented by Verizon
Genshin Impact (MiHoYo)
Best VR/AR
Resident Evil 4 (Armature Studio/Capcom/Oculus Studios)
Best Action
Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)
Best Action/Adventure
Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
Best Role Playing
Tales of Arise (Bandai Namco)
Best Fighting
Guilty Gear -Strive- (Arc System Works)
Best Family
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Best Sports/Racing
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Best Sim/Strategy
Age of Empires IV (Relic Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
Best Multiplayer
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Most Anticipated, Presented by Prime Gaming
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
Innovation in Accessibility, Presented by Chevrolet
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Content Creator of the Year
Dream
Best Esports Game, Presented by Grubhub
League of Legends (Riot Games)
Best Esports Athlete
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Best Esports Team
Natus Vincere (CS:GO)
Best Esports Coach
Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun
Best Esports Event
2021 League of Legends World Championship
