Elden Ring Claims Game of the Year at the 23rd Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Elden Ring also Takes Best Design and Best Visual Arts, God of War Ragnarök Also Claims Three Accolades; Other Winners Include Stray, Pentiment, IMMORTALITY, and Citizen Sleeper

Informa Reveals GDC Showcase 2023, a Digital Event June 27-29
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#GDC23–Elden Ring, the acclaimed action role-playing game from renowned game director Hidetaka Miyazaki and fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, has been awarded the Game of the Year award at the 23rd Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs), the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry’s top games and developers. Not only does Elden Ring return to The Lands Between with the momentous Game of the Year award, but the title also claimed the prize in the Best Design and Best Visual Arts categories. The GDCA ceremony took place as part of the 2023 Game Developers Conference (GDC), which is taking place this week at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center.

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment’s smash hit Elden Ring is the latest game from the team who created the challenging yet rewarding Dark Souls series. The title is directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who pioneered the so-called “Soulsborne” genre itself and features writing and world-building from fantasy novelist and writer/producer George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon).

Sony Santa Monica Studio’s God of War Ragnarök also claimed high honors at the show, winning the Audience Award, selected by gamers around the world who cast their vote for the best game released in the past year, as well as Best Audio and Best Technology. God of War Ragnarök continues the story of the demigod Kratos and his son Atreus as they face down powerful foes from Norse Mythology while the world approaches Ragnarök, the world-ending cataclysmic battle.

The other big winners of the night include Stray (BlueTwelve Studio and Annapurna Interactive), which won Best Debut, IMMORTALITY (Half Mermaid Productions) which won the Innovation Award, Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios), winner for Best Narrative and Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller) which won the award for Social Impact.

The Game Developers Choice Awards also spotlights influential figures in the industry who push the medium forward each year. This year, the GDCA was honored to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to John Romero, who helped pioneer the first-person shooter genre, the widely popular multiplayer gamemode “Deathmatch” and much more through his work on games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. This year’s Pioneer Award was posthumously awarded to Mabel Addis, widely regarded as the first female video game designer, who designed The Sumerian Game for the IBM 7090 in 1964. Mabel’s award was accepted on her behalf by Mabel’s grandson, Erik Johnson.

The 23rd Annual Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:

Best Debut
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive)

Best Visual Art
Elden Ring (FromSoftware Inc./Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Best Audio
God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Narrative
Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)

Social Impact Award
Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)

Innovation Award
IMMORTALITY (Half Mermaid Productions)

Best Technology
God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Design
Elden Ring (FromSoftware Inc./Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Audience Award
God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Game of the Year
Elden Ring (FromSoftware Inc./Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Pioneer Award
Mabel Addis

Lifetime Achievement Award
John Romero

The awards were livestreamed on the official Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at Twitch.tv/GDC and are archived both on Twitch and on the official GDC YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/c/gdconf.

For more information about the 23nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards, visit: http://www.gamechoiceawards.com. For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc.

The GDC also announced the GDC Showcase 2023, which is a digital event created to provide the game developer community with another opportunity to enjoy GDC from home on June 27-29, 2023. The lower cost virtual GDC Showcase 2023 event will allow GDC attendees from around the world to join and interact with GDC speakers for three days of content and networking from the comfort and convenience of home. The online showcase includes GDC session highlights with live interviews sessions, roundtable discussions, interactive panels, forward-looking keynotes, networking sessions and insights from some of the top companies in the industry.

About GDC

The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers, and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game development community year-round through events and digital media, including the GDC Masterclass, GDC Vault, gamedeveloper.com, Game Career Guide, Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organizer in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information visit www.informa.com.
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