The Game Awards 2016 Comes to Los Angeles
By: A.A. Cristi Dec. 02, 2016
The award show season officially kicked off with The Game Awards 2016. The Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles was filled with some of the most notable names in gaming, all on hand to celebrate the video game industry's biggest night. The show, which was live streamed on Twitter Live, Facebook Live, YouTube, as well as in virtual reality, represented a look back on the best games of 2016 while giving exclusive sneak peeks to the most anticipated games in the new year.
Blizzard was the big winner in the evening for their game Overwatch, including the Game of the Year award. Jeff Kaplan accepted the award on behalf of his team, citing a message of heroism, diversity, brightness, positivity, and hopeful future.
Other highlights from the event included:
- Hideo Kojima receiving the Game Awards Industry Icon award before premiering the trailer for his new game, Death Stranding;
- Michael Phelps was on hand to present the Best eSports Player of the Year to Marcelo "Coldzero" David;
- Tim Miller, director of Deadpool, presenting the Best Game Direction award to Overwatch
- Conan O'Brien, appearing in a video, presented the Best Action Game to Doom;
- Niantic winning for Best Mobile/Handheld Game and Best Family Game for Pokémon Go
- iJustine and MatPat presenting Best Impact Game award to Ryan Green, who accepted the award for That Dragon, Cancer, gave a touching speech in tribute to his son Joel, for whom he created the game;
- Nolan North winning best performance for "Nathan Drake" in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End;
- World premieres included:
- A first look at Dauntless;
- A trailer of Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series;
- Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild trailer;
- An exclusive first look at Prey;
- The first-ever live gaming of Mass Effect: Andromeda
- Special performances included:
- Mick Gordon, Matt Halpern, and Sascha Dikiciyan performing the DOOM soundtrack live;
- Hip-hop duo Run the Jewels bringing the house down with their performance of two of their hit songs, "Nobody Speaks" and "Talk to Me";
- Rae Sremmurd performing their Billboard chart-topping hit, "Black Beatles"
The Game Awards 2016 was executive produced by Geoff Keighley and Kimmie H. Kim. LeRoy Bennett was the creative director, andRyan Polito was the director. A full list of winners can be found below.
GAME OF THE YEAR:
- DOOM (id Software/Bethesda)
- Inside (Playdead)
- Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Titanfall 2 (Respawn/Electronic Arts)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
BEST GAME DIRECTION:
- Winner: Blizzard (for Overwatch)
- DICE (for Battlefield 1)
- id Software (for DOOM)
- Naughty Dog (for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End)
- Respawn (for Titanfall 2)
BEST NARRATIVE:
- Firewatch (Campo Santo)
- Inside (Playdead)
- Mafia III (Hangar 13/2K)
- Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
- Winner: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/SIE)
BEST ART DIRECTION:
- Abzu (Giant Squid/505)
- Firewatch (Campo Santo)
- Winner: Inside (Playdead)
- Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/SIE)
BEST MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN:
- Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
- Winner: DOOM (id/Bethesda)
- Inside (Playdead)
- Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
- Thumper (Drool)
BEST PERFORMANCE:
- Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay, Mafia III
- Cissy Jones as Delilah, Firewatch
- Emily Rose as Elena, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
- Winner: Nolan North as Nathan Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
- Rich Summer as Henry, Firewatch
- Troy Baker as Sam Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
GAMES FOR IMPACT:
- 1979 Revolution (iNK Stories)
- Block'hood (Plethora Project/Devolver Digital)
- Orwell (Osmotic Studios/Surprise Attack)
- Sea Hero Quest (Glitchers)
- Winner: That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)
BEST INDEPENDENT GAME:
- Firewatch (Campo Santo)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- Winner: Inside (Playdead)
- Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe/Chucklefish Games)
- The Witness (Thelka, Inc.)
BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD:
- Clash Royale (Supercell)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
- Monster Hunter Generations (Capcom)
- Winner: Pokemon Go (Niantic)
- Severed (DrinkBox Studios)
BEST VR GAME:
- Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios/WBIE)
- EVE: Valkyrie (CCP Games)
- Job Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)
- Winner: Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)
- Thumper (Drool)
BEST ACTION GAME:
- Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
- Winner: DOOM (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
- Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)
- Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME:
- Winner: Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
- Hitman (IO Interactive/Square-Enix)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
BEST RPG:
- Dark Souls 3 (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal/Square-Enix)
- Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Blood and Wine (CD Projekt RED)
- World of Warcraft: Legion (Blizzard)
- Xenoblade Chronicles X (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)
BEST FIGHTING GAME For a game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.
- Killer Instinct Season 3 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft Studios)
- King of Fighters XIV (SNK/Atlus USA)
- Pokken Tournament (Bandai Namco Studios/The Pokémon Co.)
- Winner: Street Fighter V (Capcom)
BEST STRATEGY GAME:
- Winner: Civilization 6 (Firaxis Games/2K)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
- The Banner Saga 2 (Stoic Studio/Versus Evil)
- Total War: Warhammer (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- XCOM 2 (Firaxis Games/2K)
BEST FAMILY GAME:
- Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix)
- Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TT Fusion/WBIE)
- Winner: Pokémon Go (Niantic)
- Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Skylanders: Imaginators (Toy for Bob/Activision)
BEST SPORTS/RACING:
- FIFA 17 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
- Winner: Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
- MLB The Show 16 (SCE San Diego Studio/SIE)
- NBA 2K17 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PES Productions/Konami)
BEST MULTIPLAYER:
- Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
- Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)
- Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team 17)
- Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
MOST ANTICIPATED GAME:
- God of War (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Mass Effect: Andromeda (Bioware/EA)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
- Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
TRENDING GAMER:
- AngryJoeShow
- Winner: Boogie2988
- Danny O'Dwyer
- JackSepticEye
- Lirik
BEST eSPORTS PLAYER:
- Faker - Lee Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom T1, League of Legends)
- Winner: Coldzera - Marcelo David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
- ByuN -Hyun Woo (Starcraft 2)
- Infiltrator - Lee Seeon-woo (Team Razer, Street Fighter V)
- Hungrybox - Juan Debiedma (Team Liquid, Super Smash Bros.)
BEST ESPORTS TEAM:
- SK Telecom T1 (League of Legends)
- Wings Gaming (DOTA2)
- SK Gaming
- ROX Tigers (League of Legends)
- Winner: Cloud 9
BEST ESPORTS GAME:
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
- DOTA2 (Valve)
- League of Legends (Riot)
- Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Street Fighter V (Capcom)
Best Fan Creation:
· Brutal Doom 64
· Winner: ENDERAL: THE SHARDS OF ORDER
About The Game Awards
The Game Awards, created by Geoff Keighley, is an annual awards ceremony to honor outstanding artistic, technical and gameplay achievements in the video game industry. Spanning console, mobile and PC gaming, as well as eSports, The Game Awards is the first of a new breed of award shows, built from the ground up exclusively for global digital and streaming platforms. The Game Awards 2015 was seen by more than 7 million viewers around the world and is guided by an advisory board that includes the executive leadership teams from Activision (Eric Hirshberg, CEO), AMD (Dr. Lisa Su, CEO), Electronic Arts (Peter Moore, CCO), Microsoft (Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox), Nintendo of America (Reggie Fils-Aime, President), Rockstar Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment (Shawn Layden, , Telltale Games (Steve Allison, SVP Publishing), Ubisoft (Yves Guillemot, CEO), Valve and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (David Haddad, President).
About GameSlice
Over the past two decades, Geoff Keighley's GameSlice has established itself as the leading live event Production Company for the video game industry. Founded by veteran video game journalist and TV host/producer Geoff Keighley, GameSlice is focused on building tent pole programming for millennial audiences that is exclusively distributed across digital platforms. GameSlice's flagship properties include YouTube's annual "Live at E3" broadcast and The Game Awards, the video game industry's annual awards show. Previously, Keighley worked as a videogame critic for Entertainment Weekly and spent nearly a decade producing and hosting programs for Viacom Media Networks, where he served as Executive in Charge of Publisher Relations.
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