Ever since 2014, renowned game journalist Geoff Keighley and his dedicated crew have put on The Game Awards, a celebratory show where awards are doled out to the best games of the year. Since E3 shut down several years ago, The Game Awards have become not just a great place to celebrate the year’s best games, but also one of the biggest nights for new game announcements. The 2025 show was a record-setting one, with over 170 million viewers around the world, garnering much hype along the way. With several cool announcements and some huge wins, let’s take a look back at the big night and recap all the big news of The Game Awards 2025!
Expedition 33 Sweeps the Awards
As far as The Game Awards were concerned, 2025 was the year of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Developed by Sandfall Interactive, this turn-based RPG set the record for the most nominations ever in the show’s history, with a total of 13. Nominations are great, but wins are what really matter, and Expedition 33 followed through with a total of 9 wins, setting yet another Game Awards record. Of the 9 wins, the most notable included Best Narrative, Best RPG, and Best Game Direction, as well as the big one: The 2025 Game of the Year.
In addition to these larger categories, Expedition 33 also picked up awards for Best Indie Game and Best Debut Indie Game, which actually caused quite a bit of controversy online. Some gamers, even hardcore fans of Expedition 33, called the sweep a bit excessive, citing that the abundance of wins may have overshadowed other deserving games on a night when the year’s finest are supposed to be celebrated. No matter what your opinion on the matter, it’s clear that Expedition 33 made a huge impression on the industry, with its record-breaking performance far from charity.
New Games Revealed and More
Of course, The Game Awards 2025 wasn’t just for awards, as several new, upcoming games were revealed at a steady pace. Indie/mid-tier games were popular, with reveals for titles like Bradley the Badger, a satirical 3D platformer, Orbitals, a new co-op adventure game, and No Law, an FPS from the creators of The Ascent. We also received some updates for previously announced games, like the release date of the Capcom action game, Pragmata (coming out April 24), the reveal of Leon Kennedy as a playable character in Resident Evil Requiem, and more.
Several new game reveals also caused a stir, like Capcom’s revival of Mega Man, a new Star Wars RPG, Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, Larian Studios’ newest RPG, Divinity, and more. Surprise sequel announcements also shocked, like the reveal of Control Resonant, Tomb Raider Catalyst, Lords of the Fallen 2, and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. The most notable announcement of The Game Awards 2025 was also the most controversial, with the last reveal of the show hyped up beyond belief: Highguard. Despite Geoff Keighley’s overwhelming hype, many were disappointed to learn that this game was none other than an online, live-service hero shooter, something that no one was really asking for.
Overall, The Game Awards 2025 was an entertaining show, even if the reveals were somewhat lackluster and Expedition 33 continued to win award after award. With a year as stacked as this one, it was going to be hard to impress all viewers, but I believe that Geoff Keighley did his best with what was available. With any luck, 2026 will be just as exciting for the games industry, with some of the most anticipated titles still left to release. Below, you can find a full list of the award winners, sans Expedition 33‘s aforementioned wins.
- Best Audio Design – Battlefield 6
- Best Performance – Jennifer English, Expedition 33
- Games for Impact – South of Midnight
- Best Ongoing Game – No Man’s Sky
- Best Community Support – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Best Mobile Game – Umamusume: Pretty Derby
- Best VR/AR Game – The Midnight Walk
- Best Action Game – Hades
- Best Action/Adventure Game – Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Best Fighting Game – Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
- Best Family Game – Donkey Kong Bananza
- Best Sim/Strategy Game – Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
- Best Sports/Racing Game – Mario Kart World
- Best Multiplayer Game – Arc Raiders
- Innovation in Accessibility – Doom: The Dark Ages
- Players’ Voice – Wuthering Waves
- Best eSports Game – Counter-Strike 2
