Control leads the 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards, while Untitled Goose Game secures Game of the Year

Remedy Entertainment’s Control, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium and Hempuli’s Baba is You led the Game Developers Choice Awards this year, with House House’s Untitled Goose Game securing the coveted Game of the Year award. 

Control scooped the top prize for Best Technology, Best Audio and Best Visual Art whilst narrative-driven role-playing game, Disco Elysium, won the awards for Best Narrative and Best Debut for developer ZA/UM. Baba is You won the Innovation Award and the award for Best Design.

Though leading the nominations, Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding did not secure an award on the night.

Originally scheduled to take place during the now-postponed GDC, the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony was “reformatted as a virtual livestream to recognise the best and brightest games released in the last year”.

“We are so happy to continue to honour the creative work of the finest game designers in the world by hosting the Game Developers Choice Awards online this year,” said Katie Stern, general manager of the Game Developers Conference. “Games can help us connect, they can inspire us to create, and sometimes they help us to escape. There is perhaps no better time for us to appreciate what games mean to us than in trying times like these.

“Games like Untitled Goose Game and Baba is You are unbridled in their joyful approach to play, while others like Control and Disco Elysiumcan offer compelling narrative experiences to delve into. We thank and honour the winners, nominees and all creators for their part in creating some of the best entertainment the world has to offer.”

The Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:

Best Audio: Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)

Best Debut: ZA/UM (Disco Elysium)

Best Design: Baba is You (Hempuli)

Best Mobile Game: What the Golf? (Triband/The Label Limited)

Innovation Award: Baba is You (Hempuli)

Best Narrative: Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)

Best Technology: Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)

Best Visual Art: Control (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)

Best VR/AR Game: Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (ILMxLAB & Oculus Studios/Disney)

Audience Award: Sky: Children of the Light (thatgamecompany)

Game of the Year: Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

Pioneer Award: Roberta Williams

Ambassador Award: Kate Edwards

The Ambassador Award is rewarded for “helping video games advance to a better place through advocacy and action” and is selected each year by the Game Developers Choice Special Awards Jury, which currently includes Frank Cifaldi (The Video Game History Foundation), Ed Fries (1Up Ventures), Tracy Fullerton (USC Games), Raph Koster (Playable Worlds), and Erin Robinson (Guerrilla Games).

“The true ambassadors of the games industry are those figures who have helped progress the state of games to embrace more players, and Kate has done that by bridging cultural divides and connecting people across diverse game communities,” said GDC general manager Katie Stern. “Kate has always been an incredible evangelist to the game community itself, both through her work with the IGDA and now Global Game Jam, as well as her culturalisation work, and we’re so happy to give her this award.”