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Game Awards 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 wins game of the year

Picturegroup Timothée Chalamet wears a navy three-piece suit with a white shirt open at the neck. He's standing in front of a light blue patterned stage backdrop and speaking into a microphone on a thin stand. He looks relaxed and is smiling as his medium-length black hair cascades down, framing his face.Picturegroup
Timothée Chalamet - aka Moddedcontroller360 - took the the stage in Los Angeles

Actor Timothée Chalamet revealed the Game of the Year at the videogame industry's biggest awards ceremony.

The Wonka star announced that fantasy RPG Baldur's Gate 3 had won the top prize at the Los Angeles ceremony.

Accepting the award, Belgian developer Larian said the epic fantasy RPG based on Dungeons and Dragons was a labour of love.

It dominated the awards with six wins including best performance, best RPG and player's choice.

Timothée was introduced by awards host Geoff Keighley as "ModdedController360" - the name of his now-deleted teenage YouTube channel celebrating painted gaming peripherals.

The Wonka star has spoken about being a keen gamer in interviews and was recently photographed on a visit to legendary developer Hideo Kojima's Japanese studio.

Game Awards winners

In total, Baldur's Gate 3 picked up six awards, including best performance for actor Neil Newbon, who played fan favourite Astarion.

Survival horror game Alan Wake 2 took home three awards for best game direction, narrative and art direction.

Other notable wins included The Last of Us TV series, which won best adaptation, Cyberpunk 2077 for best ongoing game, and puzzle adventure Cocoon in the best independent game category.

EPA Four men stand on a stage smiling and celebrating. One, dressed in a suit of armour, holds an awards statue - a winged figure with head thrown back as if about to take flight - above his head with one hand. A man to his left in a purple suit smiles and waves, and another immediately behind the armour-wearer has both fingers pointing upwards in celebration. The fourth man, to the right of the shot, looks very pleased but is more restrained.EPA
The people behind Baldur's Gate 3 said they'd poured their heart into the RPG as they collected the Game of the Year prize

Elsewhere, Forza Motorsport picked up the innovation in accessibility award and action-adventure Tchia was named Game for Impact winner.

Super Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4: Remake were also in the running for Game of the Year.

New reveals

The Game Awards is a mixture of awards show and preview event, with many fans watching for new trailers and announcements of forthcoming titles.

Fans got a first look at Exodus, a sci-fi RPG from Archetype Entertainment, a studio made up of ex-Bioware developers.

And legendary videogame creator Hideo Kojima unveiled OD, or Overdose, a project he's working on with Get Out director Jordan Peele.

A remake of 2013 game Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons was revealed, alongside new looks at Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth.

Players also got a glimpse of Jurassic Park: Survival gameplay, and Sega announced it was reviving classic franchises Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio.

Wizards of the Coast and Larian Studios A mythical female warrior from Baldur's Gate 3 with green skin and pointy ears. She looks stern, her red eyes focused on something in the distance. We can see her braided hair spilling down her back and the silver shoulder guard of her ornate armour. In the background, a large, black dragon flies into the shot through a thick yellowish-brown cloud.Wizards of the Coast and Larian Studios
Baldur's Gate 3 was the big winner of the evening

No mention of job cuts

The awards follow a year that has seen thousands of job cuts in the games industry, despite an above-average number of highly praised titles.

Games companies including Fortnite maker Epic Games, Assassin's Creed developer Ubisoft Montreal and Pokemon Go creator Niantic have all announced cuts.

The awards, organised by gaming journalist Geoff Keighley, is often criticised for spending more time on trailers and adverts than handing out prizes during the three-hour show.

And this year there have been complaints that the show sped through multiple awards at once without inviting the winners on stage.

Gaming site Kotaku said: "In a year when developers were laid off nearly every week, it would have been nice... to give all these talented people a moment to shine."

There are 31 awards in total across a wide range of categories including audio design, best independent game and accessibility and innovation.

Winners are decided by a panel of industry experts and a fan vote which counts for 10% of the final score.

The full list is on the Game Awards website.

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