Skip to main content

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice wins Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019

Over the last six years, The Game Awards has grown into one of the most significant annual events in the video game industry. This year’s awards were highly competitive, but it appeared going in that Control and Death Stranding were most likely to get the nod. In a surprising twist, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice took home Game of the Year.

Here is the full list of winners announced at this year’s show.

Note: Bold and CAPS indicate winners

Recommended Videos

Game of the Year

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Best Game Direction

  • Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
  • DEATH STRANDING (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
  • Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive)
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)

Best Narrative

  • A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo Studio/Focus Home Interactive)
  • Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
  • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • DISCO ELYSIUM (ZA/UM)
  • The Outer Worlds (Obsidian Entertainment/Private Division)

Best Art Direction

  • CONTROL (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
  • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver Digital)
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best Score/Music

  • Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
  • DEATH STRANDING (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
  • Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)

Best Audio Design

  • CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE (Infinity Ward/Activision)
  • Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)
  • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
  • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (FromSoftware/Activision)

Best Performance

  • Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb (The Outer Worlds)
  • Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden (Control)
  • Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz (Gears 5)
  • 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/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • GRIS (Nomada Studio/Devolver Digital)
  • Kind Worlds (Popcannibal)
  • Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
  • Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/Electronic Arts)

Best Ongoing Game

  • Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
  • Destiny 2 (Bungie)
  • Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
  • FORTNITE (Epic Games)
  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Mobile Game

  • CALL OF DUTY: MOBILE (TiMi Studios/Activision)
  • Grindstone (Capybara Games)
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)
  • Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
  • What the Golf? (Tribland)

Best VR/AR Game

  • Asgard’s Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
  • BEAT SABER (Beat Games)
  • Blood & Truth (SIE London/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
  • Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)

Best Action Game

  • Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
  • Astral (PlatinumGames/Nintendo)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
  • DEVIL MAY CRY 5 (Capcom)
  • Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
  • Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)

Best Role-playing Game

  • Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
  • DISCO ELYSIUM (ZA/UM)
  • Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
  • Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
  • The Outer Worlds (Obsidian Entertainment/Private Division)

Best Fighting Game

  • Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo Games)
  • Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
  • Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
  • Samurai Showdown (SNK Corporation/Athlon Games)
  • SUPER SMASH BROS. ULTIMATE (Bandai Namco Studios, Sora Ltd./Nintendo)

Best Family Game

  • LUIGI’S MANSION 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
  • Ring Fit Adventures (Nintendo)
  • Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo)
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco Studios, Sora, Ltd/Nintendo)
  • Yoshi’s Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game

  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox Interactive)
  • Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
  • FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES (Intelligent Systems, Koei Temco/Nintendo)
  • Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
  • Tropico 6 (Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
  • Wargroove (Chucklefish)

Best Sports/Racing Game

  • 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 (ES Sports/Electronic Arts)

Best Multiplayer Game

  • APEX LEGENDS (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
  • Borderlands 3 (Gearbox Software/2K Games)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
  • Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
  • Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Best Independent Game

  • Baba is You (Hempuli)
  • DISCO ELYSIUM (ZA/UM)
  • Katana Zero (Askiisoft/Devolver Digital)
  • Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive)
  • Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

Fresh Indie Game

  • 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

Best Community Support

  • Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
  • DESTINY 2 (Bungie)
  • Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
  • Fortnite (Epic Games)
  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

E-sports Game of the Year

  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
  • DOTA 2 (Valve)
  • Fortnite (Epic Games)
  • LEAGUE OF LEGENDS (Riot Games)
  • Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment/Activision)
Taylor Lyles
Based out of Baltimore, Maryland, Taylor is a contributing writer for Digital Trends covering the latest news in the computer…
The Game Awards finally figured out its formula
game awards 2024 wrap up the changers speech

For the past 10 years, The Game Awards has struggled to perfect its secret formula. Geoff Keighley’s annual gala has always tried to blend a traditional awards show like the Oscars with an E3 press conference. That’s historically led to mixed results. Last year’s show was especially a low point for the experiment, as award recipients were rushed off stage as quickly as possible in order to squeeze in a deluge of exhausting gameplay trailers. As I left Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater last year, I feared that it was all downhill from here.

I walked away from this year’s ceremony singing a very different tune. Keighley delivered what might have been the best stage show he’s organized since he became gaming’s go-to event planner. The show delivered non-truncated speeches, dazzling musical performances, and some genuinely show-stopping game reveals. It was an event constructed to prove that The Game Awards will be here for another 10 years, whether you like it or not.
Don't wrap it up
It was hard to gauge just how successful this year’s ceremony would be heading into it, as the build-up was dotted with pain points. Some were par for the course, like a predictable nominee field that featured puzzling exclusions in categories like Best Mobile Game and Best Sports/Racing Game. Others felt like long-standing problems with the show’s format reaching a boiling point. That could be seen in this year’s Players’ Choice race, the show’s fan-voted category. After a few rounds of elimination-style voting, the final five included three free-to-play gacha titles. That list included Genshin Impact, a game that has a history of incentivizing players to vote by dangling in-game rewards in front of them, something that’s seemingly become standard practice for games like it. It was hard to shake the feeling that the awards part of the show was in some way compromised and that Keighley didn’t see that as much of a concern.

Read more
As more layoffs hit the game industry, ZeniMax Online Studios votes to unionize
the elder scrolls online shadow over morrowind 2023 updates

The gaming industry has faced a tidal wave of difficulties this year, the most pressing of which involved the layoffs of thousands of workers from various positions and multiple companies. Microsoft alone made up 2,000 of the layoffs in January alone. The suffering of the workers in the industry was acknowledged during The Game Awards 2024, but while awards were being passed out, 461 members of ZeniMax Online Studios voted to unionize.

Microsoft has recognized the union, marking a major win for workers' rights, according to a press release from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Union. “By coming together and forming a union, we’re able to take a powerful step forward in ensuring a better future for ourselves and for our families, to create protections against layoffs and workplace exploitation, and to provide additional layers of support for workers beyond what [Family and Medical Leave Act] and workplace policies already provide,” said senior motion graphics artist and ZOS United-CWA member Alyssa Gobelle. “At ZeniMax, unions belong here.”

Read more
The best trailers from The Game Awards 2024: Witcher 4, Intergalactic, and more
Ciri in The Witcher 4.

The Game Awards 2024 took place Thursday night, and it was very entertaining. Host Geoff Keighley invited several high-profile game developers and publishers to announce their new games there. In turn, plenty of stunning announcement trailers aired during the event, from the purely cinematic to ones that used those pretty cinematics to draw people in before showing off gameplay. If you didn't tune into The Game Awards 2024 live, but are wondering which trailers from it you should check out, we recommend watching the seven following trailers from the event, listed in order of appearance during the show.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound | Reveal trailer | Coming Summer 2025

From Shadow Labyrinth to Rematch, The Game Awards 2024's Opening Act was full of surprise announcements. None shocked me more (or had a better trailer) than the game that kicked the night off. That would be Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a 2D platformer revival of an iconic Koei Tecmo series. As the first trailer of the night, it had great pacing. It slowly teases the lauded studios involved in the project before cutting to a beautiful cinematic reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden, with that connection finally being confirmed once you see Ryu Hayabusa. Not long after that, we get a brief look at some gameplay, which I always appreciate in a reveal trailer, before the title and release date are confirmed. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound started The Game Awards 2024 on a high note, and the show kept up the momentum from there.
The Witcher IV
The Witcher IV — Cinematic Reveal Trailer | The Game Awards 2024

Read more