The Game Awards 2025: Full Winners List and GOTY Highlights

This year’s ceremony brought surprises, stunning performances, and plenty of discussion about the future of the industry.

The night belonged to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which took home the top prize against stiff competition. Other notable winners included:

• 🏆 Game of the Year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• 🎬 Best Game Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• 📖 Best Narrative: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• 🎵 Best Score and Music: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• 🎨 Best Art Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• 🎭 Best Performance: Ella Balinska — Forspoken II
• 💥 Best Action Game: Helldivers 2
• 🐞 Best Indie Game: Hollow Knight: Silksong
• ⚔️ Best RPG: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• ♾️ Best Ongoing Game: Fortnite Additional categories—including esports, VR, community support, and accessibility—were also recognized, with full breakdowns available in Polygon's comprehensive winners list.

The biggest headline of the night came from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 securing the GOTY title. The game’s innovative combat, painterly aesthetic, and emotional storytelling pushed it above a highly competitive field. Coverage from The Verge emphasizes how the game resonated with both critics and audiences through its worldbuilding and bold artistic vision—traits often associated with GOTY-caliber titles. For a game that began as a cult favorite during previews, this win catapulted it directly into mainstream recognition.

The show itself was a spectacle of sound and scale. The orchestra delivered one of the best live medleys the awards have seen, jumping from sweeping fantasy themes to electrifying action motifs. The performers elevated every moment they touched, reminding viewers why music remains such a core part of gaming culture. But the stream also carried some familiar frustrations. Ads dominated the pacing, sometimes overtaking the ceremony’s emotional highs. With advertising slots reportedly reaching $450,000 for 60 seconds, the commercial density was impossible to ignore. It’s understandable—the show has grown, the audience has grown, and the corporate investment has grown—but many viewers felt the balance tipped more toward promotion than celebration. Still, the energy remained strong, and the transitions between live performances, winners, and premieres were smoother than in previous years.

The Game Awards 2025 left us with exciting teases and a jam-packed year ahead. Based on announcements, industry insight, and ongoing development cycles, here are some of the games expected to dominate conversations in 2026:

• 🔥 GTA 6 — Finally launching in late 2026
• 📦 Death Stranding 2
• 🌌 Metroid Prime 4
• 🐉 Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Post-launch updates & DLC)
• ⚔️ Fable (New trailers expected)
• 🎨 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Follow-up content)
• 🕶️ Perfect Dark (Reboot)
• 🕷️ Hollow Knight: Silksong (DLC) If this year’s ceremony showed anything, it’s that creativity in gaming is far from slowing down. 2026 could be one of the industry's most ambitious years yet.