The Game Awards: Sekiro Shadows Die Twice wins Game of the Year
An unexpected title has taken out the Game of the Year award, despite being too difficult for many players to even finish.
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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twicewas criticised by many in the gaming industry for its extreme difficulty.
That wasn’t enough to hurt its awards chances, taking out both Game of the Year and Best Action/Adventure Game for 2019 at The Game Awards 2019.
After being announced as the winner of top gong, Sekiro director Hidetaka Miyazaki said (through a translator) that he was very moved by the win, and while the game’s difficulty made him unsure, he was surprised, even overjoyed by the reaction.
.Congratulations Hidetaka Miyazaki on a spectacular win for @SekiroTheGame at #TheGameAwards! 🎉🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/MZVf1J7ty9
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 13, 2019
Last year’s Game Awards was dominated by profound single player experiences and amazing storytelling and this trend certaintly continued in 2019 with a stacked nominations list for the top award, including Death Stranding, Resident Evil 2 and Control.
While From Software managed to win the coveted Game of the Year award with Sekiro, it was Microsoft who were arguably the real winners of the night, stealing the show with the reveal of their next generation console: Xbox Series X, while details of Sony’s PS5 remain mostly unknown.
Hot favourites of the night Death Stranding and Control also failed to clean up as anticipated, winning just four awards between them despite sharing 16 nominations. Instead, Indie developer of Disco Elysium, ZA/UM, was a big winner, picking up four Game Awards.
Another big loser of the night was Untitled Goose Game, and its Australian-based developers House House, who unfortunately left The Game Awards empty-handed, despite taking the world by storm and going viral with their amazing indie title.
As usual many studios used The Game Awards to show off their upcoming titles for 2020, and while there were no big-name reveals, the highlights included new footage of Final Fantasy VII, Maneater, Ghost of Tsuchima, Fast and the Furious Crossroads and Godfall, a new PS5 exclusive.
Several big-name celebrities also appeared to present awards, including NBA champion Steph Curry, who awarded the esports player of the year, and Fast and the Furious actors Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel named Sekiro as winners of Game of the Year.
Viewers were also treated to some standout musical performances, by Green Day, Grime abd Chvrches.
Here’s the full list of winners and nominees for each category:
GAME OF THE YEAR
Control (Remedy/505 Games)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai-Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
Winner: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)
BEST GAME DIRECTION
Control (Remedy/505 Games)
Winner: Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
BEST NARRATIVE
A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo/Focus Home)
Control (Remedy/505)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Winner: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)
BEST ART DIRECTION
Winner: Control (Remedy/505)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
BEST SCORE/MUSIC
Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
Winner: Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
BEST AUDIO DESIGN
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Control (Remedy/505)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
BEST PERFORMANCE
Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden, Control
Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
Winner: Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding
GAMES FOR IMPACT
Concrete Genie (Pixelopus/SIE)
Winner: Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
Kind Words (Popcannibal)
Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/EA)
BEST ONGOING GAME
Apex Legends (Respawn)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Winner: Fortnite (Epic Games)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Baba Is You (Hempuli)
Winner: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
Katana ZERO (Askiisoft/Devoler)
Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)
BEST MOBILE GAME
Winner: Call of Duty: Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
GRINDSTONE (Capybara Games)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
What the Golf? (Tribland)
BEST COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Winner: Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
BEST VR/AR GAME
Asgard’s Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
Blood & Truth (SIE London Studio/SIE)
Winner: Beat Saber (Beat Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)
BEST ACTION GAME
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Astral Chain (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Winner: Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom/Capcom)
Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME
Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
Control (Remedy/505 Games)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
Winner: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
BEST RPG
Winner: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)
BEST FIGHTING GAME
Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo)
Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm/WBIE)
Samurai Showdown (SNK/Athlon)
Winner: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
BEST FAMILY GAME
Winner: Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
Yoshi’s Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)
BEST STRATEGY GAME
Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox)
Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
Winner: Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Koei Tecmo/Nintendo)
Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Tropico 6 (Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
Wargroove (Chucklefish)
BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME
Winner: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
F1 2019 (Codemasters)
FIFA 20 (EA Sports)
BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME
Winner: Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)
FRESH INDIE GAME PRESENTED BY SUBWAY
Winner: ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
Nomada Studio for Gris
DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
House House for Untitled Goose Game
CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR
Courage – Jack Dunlop
Dr. Lupo – Benjamin Lupo
Ewok – Soleil Wheeler
Grefg – David Martínez
Winner: Shroud – Michael Grzesiek
BEST ESPORTS GAME
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
DOTA2 (Valve)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Winner: League of Legends (Riot Games)
Overwatch (Blizzard)
BEST ESPORTS PLAYER
Winner: Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf (Immortals, Fortnite)
Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom, League of Legends)
Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic (G2 Esports, League of Legends)
Oleksandr ‘S1mple’ Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CSGO)
Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won (SF Shock, Overwatch)
BEST ESPORTS TEAM
Astralis (CS: GO)
Winner: G2 Esports (LOL)
OG (DOTA2)
San Francisco Shock (OWL)
Team Liquid (CS: GO)
BEST ESPORTS EVENT
2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals
EVO 2019
Fortnite World Cup
IEM Katowice 2019
Winner: League of Legends World Championship 2019
The International 2019
BEST ESPORTS COACH
Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag (Team Liquid, CS: GO)
Nu-ri ‘Cain’ Jang (Team Liquid, LOL)
Fabian ‘GrabbZ’ Lohmann (G2 Esports, LOL)
Kim ‘Kkoma’ Jeong-gyun (SK Telecom T1, LOL)
Titouan ‘Sockshka’ Merloz (OG, DOTA2)
Winner: Danny ‘Zonic’ Sørensen (Astralis, CSGO)
BEST ESPORTS HOST
Winner: Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
Alex “Machine” Richardson
Paul “Redeye” Chaloner
Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
Duan “Candice” Yu-Shuang
PLAYER’S VOICE AWARD
Winner: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Wilson Smith is a games writer for news.com.au. Continue the conversation with him on Twitter at @wilson_smith93
Originally published as The Game Awards: Sekiro Shadows Die Twice wins Game of the Year