Astro Bot wins Game of the Year

Astro Bot has gained the highest prize on the videogame business’s greatest awards ceremony.

The lovable and vibrant PlayStation platformer beat Last Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Black Delusion: Wukong, Metaphor: Refantazio Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Balatro to be named Recreation of the 12 months at The Recreation Awards .

Accepting the trophy, Nicolas Doucet, studio head of developer Group Asobi, appeared to pay tribute to rival Nintendo.

Astro Bot additionally picked up three different awards – Finest Household Recreation, Finest Motion/Journey and Finest Recreation Course.

It was additionally a superb night time for the poker-themed indie hit Balatro, which gained three awards together with Finest Cell Recreation.

Function-playing sport Metaphor: ReFantazio additionally gained three awards, in what was a powerful night time for Japanese sport builders.

Black Delusion: Wukong, primarily based on Chinese language legends, proved as soon as once more to be vastly well-liked with followers, profitable the publicly voted Participant’s Voice Award.

It was a disappointing night time for Last Fantasy VII: Rebirth, which had been nominated in seven classes, however solely took house the most effective music trophy.

Melina Juergens, from Cambridge, UK-based studio Ninja Principle, gained the most effective perfomance prize for enjoying the title position in Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga.

There aren’t many occasions the place you will get performances from a full orchestra and Snoop Dogg.

The rapper dropped by to current the Finest Ongoing Recreation Award to Helldivers 2, and carry out a brand new tune.

And it would not be gaming’s greatest night time with out some shock celeb appearances.

Harrison Ford took to the stage alongside Troy Baker, the man who plays Indiana Jones within the latest sport primarily based on the movie sequence.

The Recreation Awards – typically known as “the Oscars of gaming” – is commonly criticised for spending extra time exhibiting commercials and trailers for brand spanking new video games than it does on handing out awards.

Nevertheless, final yr organisers claimed the occasion attracted 118 million livestream viewers, and people previews are one of many greatest attracts for gaming followers.

In newer years, greater publishers have tended to save lots of their greatest bulletins for their very own separate stay occasions.

As anticipated, there was no new data on Grand Theft Auto 6 or Nintendo’s subsequent console – two of essentially the most anticipated upcoming releases.

However that did depart room for a model new sport from Naughty Canine, the PlayStation studio identified for hits together with The Final of Us, Uncharted and Crash Bandicoot.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, launched with a shiny trailer blended to It is a Sin by the Pet Store Boys.

A sequel to Capcom’s Okami was additionally revealed, and Polish developer CD Projekt Pink confirmed The Witcher 4 was in improvement.

A standard grievance about The Recreation Awards is that it usually fails to acknowledge wider points within the video games business.

Towards a backdrop of widespread layoffs worldwide – a development that has continued this yr – critics of the 2023 present known as for winners to be given extra time on-stage to talk out.

This yr’s the occasion launched the Recreation Changers Award.

The winner, Amir Satvat, a director at Tencent Video games within the US, arrange a private mission to assist not too long ago laid-off sport builders discover new work.

In an emotional acceptance speech, he stated “rising up, all I ever needed was to be part of the online game business”.

He additionally thanked his mother and father, who he stated “taught me that my worth lies in how I deal with different folks”.

This yr’s ceremony befell as a strike by online game actors over AI protections and dealing circumstances rumbled on.

Appearing union SAG-Aftra and Recreation Staff of Southern California introduced plans to plans to distribute leaflets exterior the Peacock Theatre venue, the place the ceremony is held, this yr.

Different controversies this yr have included the nomination of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree within the Recreation of the 12 months class.

Some followers argued the enlargement pack – an add-on for 2022 Recreation of the 12 months Elden Ring – should not have been eligible.

And others had been upset when three of 5 nominations for the Participant’s Alternative prize – the one award fully voted for by followers – went to free-to-play cellular video games together with Genshin Impression.

The remainder of the winners are determined by a panel of business specialists and a fan vote which counts for 10% of the ultimate rating.

There are 30 awards in whole throughout a variety of classes together with audio design, greatest impartial sport and accessibility and innovation.

The complete listing of winners is on the Game Awards website.

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