Breath of the Wild wins Game of the Year at Game Developers Choice Awards

To the surprise of absolutely no one who’s been paying attention to the gaming scene in the last year, Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took home another Game of the Year Award, this time at the  18th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

The award ceremony took place on Wednesday 21 March at the San Francisco Game Developer Conference, with the votes cast by game developers themselves. The win adds to the ever growing list of  Game of the Year  awards that Nintendo’s revolutionary open world adventure game has received – it has previously won the coveted title at The Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards,  and the D.I.C.E. Awards, to name a few. It also snagged the award  for Best Audio and Best Design.

Other notable winners include game studio StudioMDHR for their charming and notoriously difficult retro shooter Cuphead (Best Debut and Best Visual Art); What Remains of Edith Finch (Best Narrative); Horizon Zero Dawn (Best Technology); and puzzle game Gorogoa (Best Mobile Game and Innovation).  The slightly insane Nier: Automata took home the audience award, which was open to an online public vote.

See the full list of winners (and who they were up against) from the Game Developers Choice Awards:

BEST AUDIO

• Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
• Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo) (WINNER)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

BEST DEBUT

• Team Cherry (Hollow Knight)
• Sidebar Games (Golf Story)
• StudioMDHR (Cuphead) (WINNER)
• Infinite Fall (Night in the Woods)
• Jason Roberts / Buried Signal (Gorogoa)

BEST DESIGN

• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo) (WINNER)
• Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)

BEST MOBILE GAME

• Reigns: Her Majesty (Nerial / Devolver Digital)
• Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg)
• Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)
• Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive) (WINNER)
• Bury Me, My Love (The Pixel Hunt / Figs / ARTE France / Playdius)

INNOVATION AWARD

• Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive) (WINNER)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)
• Everything (David OReilly / Double Fine Productions)
• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)

BEST NARRATIVE

• Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive) (WINNER)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda Softworks)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
• Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment) (WINNER)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

BEST VISUAL ART

• Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus)
• Cuphead (Studio MDHR) (WINNER)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

BEST VR/AR GAME

• Superhot VR (SUPERHOT Team) (WINNER)
• Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Red Storm Entertainment / Ubisoft)
• Lone Echo (Ready at Dawn / Oculus Studios)
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

GAME OF THE YEAR

• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
• Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo) (WINNER)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

AUDIENCE AWARD

The audience award is decided via an online public vote against all other Game Developer Choice Awards’ Finalists.

• Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix) (WINNER)

AMBASSADOR AWARD

The Ambassador Award honours an individual or individuals who have helped the game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to be an advocate for video games and help further our art.

• Rami Ismail (WINNER)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole.

• Tim Schafer (WINNER)