The Winners of 2018 Game Awards and New Announcements

The best games of 2018 were honored at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday night during the fifth annual Game Awards.

The shortlists for the awards are decided by a panel of international media, while the winner is decided by a combination of critic input and public vote.

Leading the field this year were Sony Santa Monica's God of War and Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2, which both earned eight nominations, including for game of the year. Marvel's Spider-Man received seven nominations.

Sony had two exclusive titles up for the night's big prize. Nintendo took home the game of the year trophy for its The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which bested a field that also included Super Mario Odyssey.

The free-to-play multiplayer shooter Fortnite also received four nominations, including best ongoing and multiplayer game of the year.

Introduced for this year's Game Awards was the best content creator/streamer of the year category, which saw Tyler "Ninja" Blevins nominated. Ninja made headlines earlier this year when he was joined by music superstar Drake on a live Twitch stream of the game Fortnite.

Indie gem Celeste won two for best independent game and the Game for Impact award.

Categories for e-sports were also added this year.

The Game Awards show has also become a hotbed for new game announcements and trailers. This year saw games such as Dragon Age 4, Far Cry: New Age and The Outer Worlds all revealed for the first time.

Here are some of the biggest announcements from the show:

Simogo, the Swedish studio behind cult hits Device 6 and The Sailor’s Dream, is making a new game called Sayonara Wild Hearts, confirmed to be coming out for the Nintendo Switch next year. It’s described as “a euphoric music video dream about being awesome, riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200mph.” That sounds quite promising.
Epic has opened a digital storefront for PC and Mac games to compete with Valve’s Steam. The store includes high-profile indie titles, including Annapurna Interactive and A44’s Ashen, old hits like Super Meat Boy, and newer titles like Darksiders , but Epic plans to expand the list quickly. The store has been set up to rival the massive online Steam run by developer Valve that offers thousands of PC games. Epic said it would charge less commission for listing games, so more cash would be returned to developers. The company will be only taking a 12% commission on sales. By contrast, Valve asks for 30% of the money paid for games sold via its service.

Fantasy adventure game Ashen, which looks to be inspired by Dark Souls and Team Ico classics, has been developed by A45 and is ublished by Annapurna’s game development arm. It’s out now on both the Xbox One and Epic’s new game store.
Thatgamecompany’s Journey indie classic has been a PlayStation exclusive, having only been ported to the PlayStation 4 in the years since. Now, it’s going to be available on PC for the very first time through Epic’s new store sometime next year.
Supergiant Giant released its latest game, called Hades, on Epic’s game store for $19.99.
A trailer of the Far Cry: New Dawn, Ubisoft’s next installment in the open-world series, also appeared at the show. Set after the events of Far Cry 5, New Dawn looks to feature a drastic change in tone and style. The game comes out on February 15th for $39.99 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The Switch’s first Marvel exclusive is a new title from Ninja Gaiden and Nioh developer Team Ninja called Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.

The RPG legends at Obsidian Entertainment have a new game coming out called The Outer Worlds featuring intergalactic travel and all manner of sci-fi technology.
A new Mortal Kombat is on the way. Mortal Kombat 11 was revealed on-stage at the awards show and it is launching on April 23rd.
Fortnite developer Epic decided to change the game’s map during The Game Awards. Risky Reels is gone, replaced by a new area called The Block, which will put a spotlight on some of the best stuff players are making.
Nintendo revealed the first downloadable character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Joker from Persona 5.

Below you see the full list of this year's Game Awards winners:

Game of the Year

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE) (WINNER)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Best Performance

Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2 (WINNER)
Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man

Content Creator of the Year

Dr. Lupo
Myth
Ninja (WINNER)
Pokimane
Willyrex

Best Ongoing Game

Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games) (WINNER)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Overwatch (Blizzard)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

Best Game Direction

A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE) (WINNER)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Best Narrative

Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games) (WINNER)

Best Art Direction

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC) (WINNER)

Best Score/Music

Celeste (Lena Raine)
God of War (Bear McCreary)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom (Joe Hisaishi)
Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson) (WINNER)

Best Audio Design

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games) (WINNER)

Games for Impact

11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games) Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive) (WINNER)
Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)

Best Independent Game

Celeste (Matt Makes Games) (WINNER)
Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
Into the Breach (Subset Games)
Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)

Best Mobile Game

Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive) (WINNER)
Fortnite (Epic Games) PUBG Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)

Best VR/AR Game

Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE) (WINNER)
Beat Saber (Beat Games)
Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
Moss (Polyarc Games)
Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)

Best Action Game

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
Dead Cells (Motion Twin) (WINNER)
Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Mega Man 11 (Capcom)

Best Action/Adventure Game

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE) (WINNER)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)

Best Role-Playing Game

Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
Monster Hunter: World (Capcom) (WINNER)
Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)

Best Fighting Game

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / Bandai Namco Entertainment) (WINNER)
Soulcalibur 6 (Bandai Namco Studios / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Street Fighter 5 Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)

Best Family Game

Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17) (WINNER)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game

Battletech (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive)
Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
Into the Breach (Subset Games) (WINNER)
The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)

Best Sports/Racing Game

FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios) (WINNER)
Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)

Best Multiplayer Game