Astro Bot wins Game of the Year

Astro Bot has gained the highest prize on the videogame trade’s greatest awards ceremony.

The lovable and vibrant PlayStation platformer beat Ultimate Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Black Delusion: Wukong, Metaphor: Refantazio Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Balatro to be named Recreation of the 12 months at The Recreation Awards .

Accepting the trophy, Nicolas Doucet, studio head of developer Group Asobi, appeared to pay tribute to rival Nintendo.

Astro Bot additionally picked up three different awards – Finest Household Recreation, Finest Motion/Journey and Finest Recreation Route.

It was additionally a very good night time for the poker-themed indie hit Balatro, which gained three awards together with Finest Cellular Recreation.

Position-playing sport Metaphor: ReFantazio additionally gained three awards, in what was a powerful night time for Japanese sport builders.

Black Delusion: Wukong, primarily based on Chinese language legends, proved as soon as once more to be massively standard with followers, profitable the publicly voted Participant’s Voice Award.

It was a disappointing night time for Ultimate Fantasy VII: Rebirth, which had been nominated in seven classes, however solely took house the very best music trophy.

Melina Juergens, from Cambridge, UK-based studio Ninja Principle, gained the very best perfomance prize for enjoying the title function in Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga.

There aren’t many occasions the place you will get performances from a full orchestra and Snoop Dogg.

The rapper dropped by to current the Finest Ongoing Recreation Award to Helldivers 2, and carry out a brand new music.

And it would not be gaming’s greatest night time with out some shock movie star appearances.

Harrison Ford took to the stage alongside Troy Baker, the man who plays Indiana Jones within the latest sport primarily based on the movie collection.

The Recreation Awards – typically referred to as “the Oscars of gaming” – is commonly criticised for spending extra time displaying commercials and trailers for brand new video games than it does on handing out awards.

Nonetheless, final 12 months organisers claimed the occasion attracted 118 million livestream viewers, and people previews are one of many greatest attracts for gaming followers.

In more moderen years, larger publishers have tended to avoid wasting their greatest bulletins for their very own separate stay occasions.

As anticipated, there was no new data on Grand Theft Auto 6 or Nintendo’s subsequent console – two of probably the most anticipated upcoming releases.

However that did go away room for a model new sport from Naughty Canine, the PlayStation studio recognized for hits together with The Final of Us, Uncharted and Crash Bandicoot.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, launched with a shiny trailer combined to It is a Sin by the Pet Store Boys.

A sequel to Capcom’s Okami was additionally revealed, and Polish developer CD Projekt Pink confirmed The Witcher 4 was in growth.

A typical grievance about The Recreation Awards is that it typically fails to acknowledge wider points within the video games trade.

In opposition to a backdrop of widespread layoffs worldwide – a development that has continued this 12 months – critics of the 2023 present referred to as for winners to be given extra time on-stage to talk out.

This 12 months’s the occasion launched the Recreation Changers Award.

The winner, Amir Satvat, a director at Tencent Video games within the US, arrange a private mission to assist not too long ago laid-off sport builders discover new work.

In an emotional acceptance speech, he stated “rising up, all I ever needed was to be part of the online game trade”.

He additionally thanked his dad and mom, who he stated “taught me that my worth lies in how I deal with different folks”.

This 12 months’s ceremony passed off as a strike by online game actors over AI protections and dealing situations rumbled on.

Appearing union SAG-Aftra and Recreation Employees of Southern California introduced plans to plans to distribute leaflets outdoors the Peacock Theatre venue, the place the ceremony is held, this 12 months.

Different controversies this 12 months have included the nomination of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree within the Recreation of the 12 months class.

Some followers argued the growth pack – an add-on for 2022 Recreation of the 12 months Elden Ring – should not have been eligible.

And others have been upset when three of 5 nominations for the Participant’s Alternative prize – the one award solely voted for by followers – went to free-to-play cellular video games together with Genshin Influence.

The remainder of the winners are determined by a panel of trade specialists and a fan vote which counts for 10% of the ultimate rating.

There are 30 awards in complete throughout a variety of classes together with audio design, greatest unbiased sport and accessibility and innovation.

The complete record of winners is on the Game Awards website.

Hearken to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or hear again here.