Game Awards 2023: Baldur’s Gate 3 wins game of the year
Actor Timothée Chalamet revealed the Game of the Year at the videogame industry’s biggest awards ceremony.
The Wonka star announced that fantasy RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 had won the top prize at the Los Angeles ceremony.
Accepting the award, Belgian developer Larian said the epic fantasy RPG based on Dungeons and Dragons was a labour of love.
It dominated the awards with six wins including best performance, best RPG and player’s choice.
Timothée was introduced by awards host Geoff Keighley as “ModdedController360” – the name of his now-deleted teenage YouTube channel celebrating painted gaming peripherals.
The Wonka star has spoken about being a keen gamer in interviews and was recently photographed on a visit to legendary developer Hideo Kojima’s Japanese studio.
Game Awards winners
In total, Baldur’s Gate 3 picked up six awards, including best performance for actor Neil Newbon, who played fan favourite Astarion.
Survival horror game Alan Wake 2 took home three awards for best game direction, narrative and art direction.
Other notable wins included The Last of Us TV series, which won best adaptation, Cyberpunk 2077 for best ongoing game, and puzzle adventure Cocoon in the best independent game category.
Elsewhere, Forza Motorsport picked up the innovation in accessibility award and action-adventure Tchia was named Game for Impact winner.
Super Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4: Remake were also in the running for Game of the Year.
New reveals
The Game Awards is a mixture of awards show and preview event, with many fans watching for new trailers and announcements of forthcoming titles.
Fans got a first look at Exodus, a sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio made up of ex-Bioware developers.
And legendary videogame creator Hideo Kojima unveiled OD, or Overdose, a project he’s working on with Get Out director Jordan Peele.
A remake of 2013 game Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons was revealed, alongside new looks at Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.
Players also got a glimpse of Jurassic Park: Survival gameplay, and Sega announced it was reviving classic franchises Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio.
No mention of job cuts
The awards follow a year that has seen thousands of job cuts in the games industry, despite an above-average number of highly praised titles.
Games companies including Fortnite maker Epic Games, Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft Montreal and Pokemon Go creator Niantic have all announced cuts.
The awards, organised by gaming journalist Geoff Keighley, is often criticised for spending more time on trailers and adverts than handing out prizes during the three-hour show.
And this year there have been complaints that the show sped through multiple awards at once without inviting the winners on stage.
Gaming site Kotaku said: “In a year when developers were laid off nearly every week, it would have been nice… to give all these talented people a moment to shine.”