And The Winners Of The Game Awards 2016 Are..

The Game Awards 2016 was broadcasted live on December 1 2016. The spectacle of an awards show made and hosted by Geoff Keighley has improved, but still has its shortcomings. But on the choice of winners, the panel of juries this year made some smart calls on what game should be celebrated for the achievement.

The show itself is still irksome for some due to its format and questionable choices (more on that later), but in terms of awarding the winners, there’s not much to complain about.

And the winners are the following (bold):

Jury Selected

Game of the Year

• Doom (id Software / Bethesda)
• Inside (Playdead)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn / Electronic Arts)
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Studio / Game Direction

• Blizzard (for Overwatch)
• DICE (for Battlefield 1)
• id Software (for Doom)
• Naughty Dog (for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)
• Respawn (for Titanfall 2)

Best Narrative

• Firewatch (Campo Santo)
• Inside (Playdead)
• Mafia III (Hangar 13 / 2K Games)
• Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Art Direction

• Abzu (Giant Squid / 505 Games)
• Firewatch (Campo Santo)
• Inside (Playdead)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)

Best Music / Sound Design

• Battlefield 1 (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Doom (id Software / Bethesda)
• Inside (Playdead)
• Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
• Thumper (Drool)

Best Performance

• Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay (for Mafia III)
• Cissy Jones as Delilah (for Firewatch)
• Emily Rose as Elena (for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)
• Nolan North as Nathan Drake (for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)
• Rich Summer as Henry (for Fire Watch)
• Tory Baker as Sam Drake (for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)

Games for Impact Award

• 1979 Revolution (iNK Stories)
• Block’Hood (Plethora Project / Devolver Digital)
• Orwell (Osmotic Studios / Surprise Attack)
• Sea Hero Quest (Glitchers)
• That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)

Best Independent Game

• Firewatch (Campo Santo)
• Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
• Inside (Playdead)
• Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe / Chucklefish Games)
• The Witness (Thekla)

Best Mobile / Handheld

• Clash Royale (Supercell)
• Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
• Monster Hunter Generations (Capcom)
• Pokemon Go (Niantic)
• Severed (Drinkbox Studios)

Best VR Game

• Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive)
• EVE: Valkyrie (CCP Games)
• Job Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)
• Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
• Thumper (Drool)

Best Action Game

• Battlefield 1 (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Doom (id Software / Bethesda)
• Gears of War 4 (The Coalition / Microsoft)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn / Electronic Arts)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Hitman (IO Interactive / Square Enix)
• Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
• Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best RPG

• Dark Souls III (From Software / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (CD Projekt RED)
• World of Warcraft: Legion (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Xenoblade Chronicles X (Monolith Soft / Nintendo)

Best Fighting Game

• Killer Instinct Season 3 (Iron Galaxy Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• The King of Fighters XIV (SNK / Atlus USA)
• Pokken Tournament (Bandai Namco Studios / The Pokemon Company)
• Street Fighter V (Capcom)

Best Family Game

• Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TT Fusion / Warner Brows. Interactive Entertainment)
• Pokemon Go (Niantic)
• Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Skylanders: Imaginators (Toy for Bob / Activision)

Best Strategy Game

• Civilization VI (Firaxis Games / 2K Games)
• Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
• The Banner Saga 2 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
• Total War: Warhammer (The Creative Assembly / Sega)
• XCOM 2 (Firaxis Games / 2K Games)

Best Sports / Racing Game

• FIFA 17 (EA Canada / EA Sports)
• Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games / Microsoft Studios)
• MLB The Show 2016 (SIE San Diego Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• NBA 2K17 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PES Productions / Konami)

Best Multiplayer Game

• Battlefield 1 (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Gears of War 4 (The Coalition / Microsoft Studios)
• Overcooked (Ghost Town Games / Team17 Software)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn / Electronic Arts)

Fans’ Choice

Best eSports Player

• Faker – [Lee Sang-Hyeok] SK Telecom T1, League of Legends
• Coldzera – [Marcelo David] SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Byun-Hyun Woo – Starcraft 2
• Infiltrator  Infiltration – [Lee Seeon-woo] Team Razer, Street Fighter V
• Hungrybox – [Juan Debiedma] Team Liquid, Super Smash Bros.

Best eSports Team

• SK Telecom T1 – Game: League of Legends
• Wings Gaming – Game: DOTA 2
• SK Gaming
• ROX Tigers – Game: Leauge of Legends
• Cloud 9

Best eSports Game

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• DOTA 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot)
• Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
• Street Fighter V (Capcom)

Trending Gamer

• AngryJoeShow
• Boogie2988
• Danny O’Dwyer
• JackSpeticeye
• Lirik

Best Fan Creation (No Winner)

• Project A2MR
• Pokemon Uranium
• Brutal Doom 64
• Endereal: The Shards of Order

Most Anticipated Game

• God of War (SIE Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Mass Effect: Andromeda (BioWare / Electronic Arts)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

Interesting choice of winners, some of them are agreeable to many we assume. Overwatch taking Game Of The Year is something we have called in our review. Doom, Inside and Uncharted 4 wins multiple awards as well.

Hideo Kojima, director of most of the mainline Metal Gear series, was awarded the Industry Icon Award this time to honor his great work of the series that had to be ended in a sour note (including being barred to be in the Game Awards last year).

Congratulations to all winners, hopefully this will inspire more great games to come.