Baldur’s Gate 3, the critically acclaimed role-playing game by Larian Studios, was presented with the Game of the Year award during the 24th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards on Wednesday—taking home four awards over the course of the evening.
Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 is a role-playing game based upon the tabletop fantasy RPG system of Dungeons & Dragons and was created by the team who developed the beloved Divinity series. The game was partially released in Early Access in October 2020 but has received a breadth of new content and features leading up to its full release in late 2023. The game is directed by Larian Studios’ founder and CEO Swen Vincke, who has had a hand in all of the studio’s creations since its founding in 1996.
In addition to Game of the Year, Baldur’s Gate 3 also claimed three other distinguished awards at tonight’s ceremony: Best Narrative, Best Design and the Audience Award.
Here is a video highlighting this year's winners:
Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom also claimed high honors at the show, winning both the Innovation and Best Technology Awards. The title is a continuation of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which won Game of the Year, Best Audio and Best Design Awards during the 2018 GDCA ceremony. Visai Games’ Venba also received two awards, with the unique narrative cooking game having all the ingredients needed to be served with Best Debut and the Social Impact Award.
Other winners of the night include Alan Wake 2, created by Remedy Entertainment, which received the Best Visual Art Award in recognition of its chilling atmosphere and visually impressive graphics. Hi-Fi Rush by Tango Gameworks took home the Best Audio Award thanks to its impressive soundtrack composed of both licensed and original compositions alongside its unique overall audio direction.
The Game Developers Choice Awards also took the time to celebrate two important and influential figures in the industry. This year, the GDCA was honored to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Yoko Shimomura, the respected Japanese composer and pianist who has delighted players across the world thanks to her work creating music for iconic games including Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario RPG, Street Fighter II and Final Fantasy XV.
The GDCA also welcomes the return of the Ambassador Award, which is given to individuals who have helped video games advance to a better place. The honor was presented to Fawzi Mesmar, an award-winning creative director, game designer, author, public speaker and mentor whose career has spanned over two decades in the games industry and has had a hand in developing well-known franchises such as the Battlefield, Candy Crush, Mario Rabbids, Star Wars and Persona series.
The 24th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:
Best Debut
Venba (Visai Games)
Best Visual Art
Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games)
Best Audio
Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)
Best Narrative
Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Social Impact Award
Venba (Visai Games)
Innovation Award
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
Best Technology
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
Best Design
Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Audience Award
Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Game of the Year
Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Ambassador Award
Fawzi Mesmar
Lifetime Achievement Award
Yoko Shimomura
The GDCA ceremony took place as part of the 2024 Game Developers Conference, taking place in San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. Winners were selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, composed of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.
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