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The winners of the 36th The Golden Joystick Awards have been announced.
God of War secured five awards including PlayStation Game of the Year, Best Storytelling, Best Visual Design, and Best Audio, with SIE Santa Monica Studio also winning Studio of the Year. Subnautica won PC Game of the Year, with developer Unknown Worlds also winning the Breakthrough Award.
Red Dead Redemption 2 picked up the Critics’ Choice Award, and the Xbox Adaptive Controller secured the Outstanding Contribution Award. From Software CEO and director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.
"To receive such a prestigious award from the Golden Joysticks fills me with great surprise and a sense of great honour," Miyazaki said. "I am tremendously grateful to everyone who has played, enjoyed and appreciated our games. Rather than myself, this award goes to the many people who have built these games with me, and shared their passion with me over the years."
"We are extremely honoured to have awarded Hidetaka Miyazaki the Lifetime Achievement award, a man whose games are widely considered among the most influential of his generation," said Daniel Dawkins, Global Editor-In-Chief, GamesRadar+. "We are delighted that he could join us on-stage to accept the honour from fantasy luminaries Ian Livingstone CBE and Steve Jackson whose works were so influential on Miyazaki’s distinctive style.”
"2018 has been an incredible year for videogames," Dawkins added. "We have had year-defining blockbuster hits such as Fortnite Battle Royale, Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War, sitting alongside indie breakthrough games such as Subnautica and Dead Cells. This year’s Golden Joystick Awards received a record number of voters, casting millions of votes, and we are not surprised to see all these games being recognised for their inventive brilliance and the sheer joy they bring to so many people."
Now in its 36th year, The Golden Joystick Awards is the world’s largest and longest running public-voted gaming awards. The "event honours the people and products that have transformed the global games industry in 2018" and features 23 categories, the majority of which are voted for by the public. This year, a "record number of voters had their say, casting millions of votes".
Along with the 18 categories voted for by the public, five critics choice awards were also revealed, including Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Contribution, and the Critics Choice Award.
Here’s the full list of winners:
- Best Storytelling: God of War
- Best Competitive Game: Fortnite Battle Royale
- Best Cooperative Game: Monster Hunter: World
- Best Visual Design: God of War
- Best Indie Game: Dead Cells
- Best Audio: God of War
- Still Playing Award: World of Tanks
- Best Performer: Bryan Dechart, Detroit: Become Human
- Esports Game of the Year: Overwatch
- Best VR Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
- Studio of the Year: SIE Santa Monica Studio
- Best New Streamer / Broadcaster: Bryan Dechart and Amelia Rose Blaire
- Mobile Game of the Year: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile
- PC Game of the Year: Subnautica
- PlayStation Game of the Year: God of War
- Xbox Game of the Year: Forza Horizon 4
- Nintendo Game of the Year: Octopath Traveler
- Breakthrough Award: Unknown Worlds
- Most Wanted Game: Cyberpunk 2077
- Critics Choice Award: Red Dead Redemption 2
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Hidetaka Miyazaki
- Outstanding Contribution: Xbox Adaptive Controller
- Ultimate Game of the Year: Fortnite Battle Royale
