Larian Studios’ epic role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 has emerged the biggest winner at The Game Awards, as the Xbox Series X/S version is finally released.
Although most people watch The Game Awards primarily for the new game trailers, the awards themselves are not entirely inconsequential – even if the best surprise this year was Christopher Judge, the voice of Kratos, mocking Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for having such a short campaign.
The Game of the Year award was always Baldur’s Gate 3’s to lose, but it didn’t and also picked up five other awards: Best Performance (for Neil Newbon as Astarion), Best Community Support, Best RPG, Best Multiplayer, and Players’ Voice.
Player’s Voice is the only award voted on 100% by fans, with the other awards relying on a panel of judges from around the world, including us, and a 10% influence from fan votes.
Alan Wake 2 was the next best performer, with three votes, for Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction – even though it certainly wasn’t one of our favourites of the year.
Forza Motorsport was the only other game to receive multiple awards, for Innovation in Accessibility and Best Sports/Racing. Although Final Fantasy as a whole also won twice, with Final Fantasy 16 picking up Best Score and Music and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth winning the Most Anticipated Game award.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was always intended to be a normal multiformat release, but developer Larian Studios found it impossible to get the game’s split-screen co-op mode working on the Xbox Series S.
According to Microsoft policy, all games have to have the same features on both console, which created an impasse. They made a special exception for Baldur’s Gate 3 though, which now only has split-screen on Xbox Series X, although it might get it on the Series S as well later – if they can get it running properly.
The Game Awards 2023 winners list
Game of the Year
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Best Game Direction
Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing)
Best Adaptation
The Last Of Us (PlayStation Productions/HBO)
Best Narrative
Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing)
Best Art Direction
Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing)
Best Score and Music
Final Fantasy 16, composer Masayoshi Soken (Square Enix)
Best Audio Design
Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks)
Best Performance
Neil Newbon, Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3
Innovation in Accessibility
Forza Motorsport (Turn 10 Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
Games for Impact
Tchia (Awaceb/Kepler Interactive)
Best Ongoing Game
Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
Best Community Support
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Best Independent Game
Sea Of Stars (Sabotage Studio)
Best Debut Indie Game
Cocoon (Geometric Interactive/Annapurna Interactive)
Best Mobile Game
Honkai: Star Rail (HoYoverse)
Best VR/AR Game
Resident Evil Village VR Mode (Capcom)
Best Action Game
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
Best Action/Adventure Game
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Best RPG
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Best Fighting Game
Street Fighter 6 (Capcom)
Best Family Game
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Best Sim/Strategy Game
Pikmin 4 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Best Sports/Racing
Forza Motorsport (Turn 10 Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
Best Multiplayer
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Players’ Voice
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Most Anticipated Game
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Square Enix)
Content Creator of the Year
IronMouse
Best Esports Game
Valorant (Riot Games)
Best Esports Athlete
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League Of Legends)
Best Esports Team
JD Gaming (League Of Legends)
Best Esports Coach
Christine ‘potter’ Chi (Evil Geniuses – Valorant)
Best Esports Event
2023 League Of Legends World Championship
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
MORE : Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 5 adds a playable epilogue set six months later
MORE : Baldur’s Gate 3 Deluxe Edition unveiled and it’s surprisingly cheap
MORE : Baldur’s Gate 3 boss says next game will ‘push many boundaries’
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at [email protected]
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
![GameCentral Newsletter](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/client-mu-plugins/metro-newsletters/signups/images/gamecentral-signup-logo.png)
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.
Share this with