The Game Awards: Not Rockstar Games! This Developer Has Won the Most Awards
The Game Awards 2024 is just around the corner, so this is the best time to check who has performed most impressively over the decade.
- The Game Awards have been felicitating well-made games since 2014, and this year it won't be any different.
- Throughout the years, the developers have received multiple awards, but Nintendo has surpassed most.
- Before knowing who wins the Game of the Year award this year, keep an eye on who had this achievement previously.
It’s almost December, and it’s The Game Awards time. The Game Awards 2024 is almost around the corner with a few days left before players finally know which title is going to get the crown. Several renowned games are in the race, and the anticipations are going wild. Therefore, this is probably the best time to dive a little deeper into the topic and look at some developers’ glorious The Game Awards history.
Currently, the entire gaming world is eagerly looking forward to getting GTA 6. Since the award show came into existence, the GTA franchise has earned Rockstar Games multiple awards in The Game Awards. Still, Rockstar Games isn’t the most award-winning studio.
Who Has Had the Most Game Awards Over the Decade?
Awards are always a token of appreciation. It motivates all the involved people to work harder to create something more satisfying, and this idea is executed in the gaming world with The Game Awards. It is the biggest appreciation that games, most importantly developers, achieve. In 2014, journalist and presenter Geoff Keighley founded the prestigious award ceremony to honor the efforts of the developers.
Across these nine years, almost all the renowned developer companies received nominations in different categories, and a lot of them have won multiple The Game Awards combining all these. For example, over the decade, Rockstar has had five wins. Capcom also has five awards over these nine years.
Going forward to other gigantic names like Santa Monica Studio or FromSoftware, they also have 9 and 8 wins, respectively. Even with titles like God of War and Elden Ring, these developer studios couldn’t compete with Naughty Dog, which has 10 awards in its possession.
However, leaving all of them far behind, Nintendo has been leading in the scoreboard with 16 Game Awards. With games like Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Metroid, the developer company received nearly 50 nominations over the decade and 16 wins.
Notably, 2017 was the biggest year for Nintendo. It won a whopping four awards for Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including the Game of The Year award.
Which Gaming Studio Has the Most Nominations in the Game Awards History?
Every year, the gaming world encounters the release of thousands of games, including some remakes. Sometimes these remake games are as impressive as the original ones. Therefore, these are also tough contenders in The Game Awards. In this crowded world, getting a nomination is already enough achievement, considering the fact that not all the nominated games will win.
Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, Capcom, and Ubisoft, all the mountainous game developers and publishers, fight to get nominations in different categories, and most of them secure a few nominations. Starting from 2014, once again Nintendo has nailed it with 46 nominations. Though the nomination and win ratio is a little weird, up to 2023, no other developer is even close to Nintendo in The Game Awards nominations.
In the second rank, Ubisoft is standing with 35 nominations, and next is Capcom with 30. However, 2024 is a little rocky for Nintendo, as, prior to Switch 2’s release, it has received only a few nominations this year.
It’s not like Nintendo games aren’t on the list, but they are mostly multiplatform games with only a few Nintendo exclusives.
Which Games Have the Game of the Year Honor?
Getting nominated for The Game Awards is already a big achievement, but winning The Game of the Year award is something more satisfying for each developer. Since 2014, multiple games every year have been nominated for the GOTY award, but only one of them secured the trophy each season.
Below we have prepared a list for you to know which games have this honor already and who the contenders they beat are:
- Dragon Age: Inquisition won it in 2014. [Nominees: Bayonetta 2, Hearthstone, Dark Souls 2, and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor]
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt got it in 2015. [Nominees: Bloodborne, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Fallout 4, and Super Mario Maker]
- Overwatch had it in 2016. [Nominees: Doom, Inside, Titanfall 2, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End]
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had it in 2017. [Nominees: Persona 5, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Super Mario Odyssey]
- God of War got it in 2018. [Nominees: Marvel’s Spider-Man, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Celeste, Monster Hunter: World, and Red Dead Redemption 2]
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice got the honor in 2019. [Nominees: Death Stranding, Resident Evil 2, Control, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and The Outer Worlds]
- The Last of Us Part 2 had the GOTY in 2020. [Nominees: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, and Hades]
- It Takes Two was the Game of the Year in 2021. [Nominees: Deathloop, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, and Resident Evil Village]
- Elden Ring was the GOTY in 2022. [Nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3]
- Baldur’s Gate 3 had this honor in 2023. [Nominees: Alan Wake 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder]
These are Game of the Year winners throughout the decade, and we can’t deny all of them are worthy of this achievement because they have given gamers some of the most wonderful gaming experiences.
