Witcher 3 wins Game of the Year at 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt won the Game of the Year Award at the Game Developer’s Choice Awards 2016, and dominated the nominations along with Sam Barlow’s Her Story.

The Witcher 3 received awards for Best Technology and the overall Game of the Year award, competing against other nominations such as Fallout 4, Bloodborne and Rocket League.

A full list of categories and nominees, winners as well as honorable mentions, is available below.

16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees:

Game of the Year

• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• WINNER: The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (From Software / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Rocket League (Psyonix)

Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)

Innovation Award

• WINNER: Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
• The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions: Rocket League (Psyonix), Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)

Best Debut

• Studio Wildcard (Ark: Survival Evolved)
• Toby Fox (Undertale)
• WINNER: Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
• Moppin (Downwell)
• Steel Crate Games (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes)

Honorable Mentions: Asteroid Base (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime), Question (The Magic Circle), Thomas Happ (Axiom Verge), Dinosaur Polo Club (Mini Metro), MidBoss (Read Only Memories)

Best Design

• WINNER: Rocket League (Psyonix)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (From Software / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

• Lara Croft: GO (Square Enix Montréal / Square Enix)
• Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
• WINNER: Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• AlphaBear (Spry Fox)

Honorable Mentions: Prune (Joel McDonald), The Room Three (Fireproof Games), Subterfuge (Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis), Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets / Bandai Namco), Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage), SteamWorld Heist (Image and Form), You Must Build a Boat (EightyEight Games)

Best Visual Art

• WINNER: Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Bloodborne (From Software / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami), Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn / Sony Computer Entertainment), Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Best Narrative

• WINNER: Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions: Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Soma (Frictional Games)

Best Audio

• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• WINNER: Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Honorable Mentions: Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), SOMA (Frictional Games), Bloodborne (From Software / Sony Computer Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Best Technology

• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• WINNER The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios / Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)

Audience Award

• WINNER: Life is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment)

Pioneer Award

• Markus “Notch” Persson

Ambassador Award

• Tracy Fullerton

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Todd Howard

For the IGF (Independent Games Festival), the winners were as follows:

• Excellence in Narrative: Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Excellence in Audio: Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Excellence in Design: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
• Excellence in Visual Art: Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
• ID@Xbox Rising Star Award: Girls Make Games – The Hole Story
• Nuovo Award: Cibele (Star Maid Games)
• Best Student Game: Beglitched (Jennifer Jiao Hsia and Alec Thomson)
• Audience Award: Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Seumas McNally Grand Prize: Her Story (Sam Barlow)