War of Awards Winners Include God of War and Return of the Obra Dinn at 5th Annual Live Event

BOSTON, MA – The winners for the 5^th annual War of Awards, the awards showdown where fans determine the best games among the major award winners, have been decided after an impassioned caucus-style live debate at PAX East 2019.

All nominees in the War of Awards earned their place in the ceremony by winning one or more awards from the following bodies and awards programs: Golden Joysticks, Game Awards, DICE, NAVGTR, SXSW, IGF, Indie Prize, GDC, and GANG awards.

Golden Joysticks winners prevailed the most, with 4 wins at War of Awards. NAVGTR saw 3 winners advance. GANG and DICE had 2, and IGF and SXSW had 1. GDC and The Game Awards saw none of their winners prevail.

Fans of each game attending the ceremony at PAX East 2019 debated which title was the most deserving, with the game that has the most supporters in each category being declared the winner. The full list of winners and nominees is available below.

Excellence in Art + Graphics Nominees

God of War (Golden Joysticks, DICE, NAVGTR, SXSW)

Return of the Obra Dinn (Game Awards)

Gris (NAVGTR, GDC)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (NAVGTR)

Octopath Traveler (SXSW)

Mirror Drop (IGF)

Numbala (Indie Prize)

Excellence in Art + Graphics Award Winner: God of War

Excellence in Audio Nominees

God of War (Golden Joysticks, DICE, NAVGTR, GANG)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Game Awards, SXSW)

Detroit: Become Human (NAVGTR)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (NAVGTR)

Tetris Effect (SXSW)

Paratopic (IGF)

Celeste (GDC)

Zebrainy ABC (Indie Prize)

Excellence in Audio Award Winner: God of War

Best Character / Performer Nominees

Detroit: Become Human – Connor (Golden Joysticks)

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Arthur Morgan (Game Awards)

God of War – Kratos (DICE, NAVGTR)

Marvel’s Spider-Man – Mary Jane (NAVGTR)

Best Character / Performer Award Winner: Detroit: Become Human – Connor

Excellence in Game Design Nominees

God of War (DICE, NAVGTR, SXSW)

Hollow Knight (NAVGTR)

Super Smash Bros Ultimate (SXSW)

Opus Magnum (IGF)

Into the Breach (GDC)

Enigmabox (Indie Prize)

Excellence in Game Design Award Winner: Hollow Knight

Best Story Nominees

God of War (Golden Joysticks, DICE, NAVGTR)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Game Awards)

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (NAVGTR)

Detroit: Become Human (SXSW)

Return of the Obra Dinn (IGF, GDC)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (GANG)

Galaxy of Pen and Paper (Indie Prize)

Best Story Award Winner: Marvel’s Spider-Man

Excellence in Multiplayer Nominees

Monster Hunter: World (Golden Joysticks)

Fortnite (Golden Joysticks, Game Awards, DICE, SXSW)

We Were Here Too (Indie Prize)

Excellence Multiplayer Award Winner: Monster Hunter: World

Game of the Year Nominees

Fortnite (Golden Joysticks)

God of War (Game Awards, DICE, NAVGTR, SXSW, GDC)

Return of the Obra Dinn (IGF)

Running Knight (Indie Prize)

Game of the Year: Return of the Obra Dinn

Leaders who presented the best arguments for their candidates as determined by HipHopGamer were asked to give their predictions for next year’s War of Awards race. After an audience vote on those predictions, Apex Legends emerged as the game most likely to win War of Awards next year.

“We witnessed the release of some truly fantastic games in 2018, and you could see the fans’ passion for them in our debates this weekend,” said Thomas Allen, creator, War of Awards. “The thrill of taking these discussions out of comment sections and industry voting panels and into a live caucus format produces some exciting results.”

Live video from the event was recorded on Twitch. An edited video of the event will later appear on the War of Awards Twitch channel. The ceremony was hosted by Vanessa Fernandez and HipHopGamer. To learn more about War of Awards, please visit the official site and join the Discord server for updates.

Nathan Stevens

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I have always enjoyed playing video games and am a programming team lead for a video game company. I co-founded Gaming Cypher because I enjoy the gaming community and would like to provide the best news service around. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will make sure to get back to you quickly.