Baldur’s Gate 3 wins The Game Awards 2023 Game Of The Year – Xbox version out now

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

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MORE : Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 5 adds a playable epilogue set six months later

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MORE : Baldur’s Gate 3 boss says next game will ‘push many boundaries’

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