The Game Awards 2021: All the Winners and Nominations

Here are all the winners from The Game Awards 2021, along with the finalists who were in the running.
The Game Awards xbox microsoft announcement

The Game Awards continues to be a much-discussed end-of-year event in the realm of video games, though more attention is usually poured onto the new game announcements rather than the awards themselves. Nonetheless, it’s still interesting to see which titles make the cut every year for the finalists, and more interesting still to see which games end up winning their respective awards.

This year, Arkane Studios and Deathloop lead the nominations, and took out awards in Best Game Direction and Best Art Direction. The surprise winner for the coveted Game of the Year award was It Takes Two, led by the infamously entertaining Josef Fares, whose ‘fuck The Oscars’ remark at The Game Awards in 2017 remains a memorable moment.

You can find all the winners and finalists for The Game Awards 2021 below.

How are The Game Award winners decided?

The finalists for The Game Awards are chosen by a pool of over 100 gaming publications and ‘influencer outlets’ across the globe, each of which put forward 5 nominees in each category.

As a result, this means the more widely-played titles tend to dominate and, unfortunately, niche titles are rarely part of the conversation regardless of quality. It also means there’s usually some contention around categories like ‘Best Indie Game’

Winners are then voted on by the jury, as well as public voting, which makes up 10% of the vote.

Read: Every major game announcement at The Game Awards 2021

The Game Awards 2021 Winners

The Game Awards 2021: Game of the Year

  • Deathloop
  • It Takes Two [WINNER]
  • Metroid Dread
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Resident Evil Village

Best Game Direction

  • Deathloop [WINNER]
  • It Takes Two
  • Returnal
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Best Narrative

  • Deathloop
  • It Takes Two
  • Life is Strange: True Colors
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy [WINNER]
  • Psychonauts 2

Best Art Direction

  • Deathloop [WINNER]
  • Kena: Bridge of Spirits
  • Psychonauts 2
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • The Artful Escape

Best Score/Music

  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Deathloop
  • Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139 [WINNER]
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • The Artful Escape

Best Audio Design

  • Deathloop
  • Forza Horizon 5 [WINNER]
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Resident Evil Village
  • Returnal

Best Performance

  • Erika Mori, Life is Strange
  • Giancarlo Esposito, Far Cry 6
  • Jason E. Kelley, Deathloop
  • Maggie Robertson, Resident Evil Village [WINNER]
  • Ozioama Akagha, Deathloop

Games for Impact

  • Before Your Eyes
  • Boyfriend Dungeon
  • Chicory: A Colorful Tale
  • Life is Strange: True Colors [WINNER]
  • No Longer Home

Best Ongoing Game

  • Apex Legends
  • Call of Duty: War Zone
  • Final Fantasy XIV Online [WINNER]
  • Fortnite
  • Genshin Impact

Best Indie Game

  • 12 Minutes
  • Death’s Door
  • Kena: Bridge of Spirits [WINNER]
  • Inscryption
  • Loop Hero

Best Debut Indie Game

  • Kena: Bridge of Spirits [WINNER]
  • Sable
  • The Artful Escape
  • The Forgotten City
  • Valheim

Best Mobile Game

  • Fantasian
  • Genshin Impact [WINNER]
  • League of Legends
  • MARVEL Future Revolution
  • Pokemon Unite

Best Community Support

Best VR/AR Game

  • Hitman III
  • I Expect You To Die 2
  • Lone Echo II
  • Resident Evil 4 VR [WINNER]
  • Sniper Elite VR

Innovation in Accessibility

  • Far Cry 6
  • Forza Horizon 5 [WINNER]
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

Best Action Game

  • Back 4 Blood
  • Chivalry II
  • Deathloop
  • Far Cry 6
  • Returnal [WINNER]

Best Action/Adventure Game

  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Metroid Dread [WINNER]
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
  • Resident Evil Village
  • Psychonauts 2

Best RPG

  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Monster Hunter Rise
  • Scarlet Nexus
  • Shin Megami Tensei V
  • Tales of Arise [WINNER]

Best Fighting Game

  • Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles
  • Guilty Gear -Strive- [WINNER]
  • Melty Blood: Type Lumina
  • Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
  • Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown

Best Family Game

  • It Takes Two [WINNER]
  • Mario Party Superstars
  • New Pokémon Snap
  • Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
  • WarioWare: Get It Together!

Best Sports/Racing Game

  • F1 2021
  • Fifa 22
  • Hot Wheels Unleashed
  • Forza Horizon 5 [WINNER]
  • Riders Republic

Best Sim/Strategy Game

  • Age of Empires IV [WINNER]
  • Evil Genius 2: World Domination
  • Humankind
  • Inscryption
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator

Best Multiplayer Game

  • Back 4 Blood
  • It Takes Two [WINNER]
  • Knockout City
  • Monster Hunter Rise
  • New World
  • Valheim

Content Creator of the Year

  • Dream [WINNER]
  • Fuslie
  • Gaules
  • Ibai
  • TheGrefg

Best Esports Athlete

  • Chris “Simp” Lehr
  • Heo “ShowMaker” Su
  • Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
  • Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev [WINNER]
  • Tyson “TenZ” Ngo

Best Esports Coach

  • Airat “Silent” Gaziev
  • Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov
  • Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi
  • James “Crowder” Crowder
  • Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun [WINNER]

Best Esports Event

  • The International 2021
  • 2021 League of Legends World Championship [WINNER]
  • Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters
  • PGL Major Stockholm 2021
  • PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020

Best Esports Game

  • Call of Duty
  • CS:GO
  • DOTA2
  • League of Legends [WINNER]
  • Valorant

Best Esports Team

  • Atlanta FaZe, Call of Duty
  • DWG KIA, League of Legends
  • NAVI, CS:GO [WINNER]
  • Team Spirit, DOTA2
  • Sentinels, Valorant

Most Anticipated Game

  • Elden Ring [WINNER]
  • God of War: Ragnarok
  • Horizon Forbidden West
  • The Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Starfield

Edmond was the founding managing editor of GamesHub. He was also previously at GameSpot for 13 years, where he was the Australian Editor and an award-winning video producer. You can follow him @EdmondTran