The Game Awards 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.
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