Elden Ring named Game of the Year at the Game Developers Choice Awards

Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök took home the lion’s share of the prizes at the 23rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards on Thursday.

From Software’s RPG and Sony Santa Monica’s action game each scooped three prizes at the peer-based awards show, which took place as part of GDC 2023 at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center.

Elden Ring was named Game of the Year, and also came out on top in the Best Design and Best Visual Arts categories.

God of War Ragnarök won the Audience Award, which was voted for by players, as well as the Best Audio and Best Technology prizes.

Other winners on the night included Stray (Best Debut), Immortality (Innovation Award), Pentiment (Best Narrative) and Citizen Sleeper (Social Impact).

John Romero, who helped pioneer the FPS genre as a designer on Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D, received the Lifetime Achievement award.

And the Pioneer award was posthumously given to Mabel Addis. She’s widely credited as the first female game designer for her work on 1964’s The Sumerian Game, an IBM 7090 resource management title for school students.

23rd Annual GDC Awards winners:

• Best Debut: Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive)
• Best Visual Art: Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Best Audio: God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Best Narrative: Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
• Social Impact: Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)
• Innovation: Immortality (Half Mermaid Productions)
• Best Technology: God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Best Design: Elden Ring (FromSoftware /Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Audience Award: God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Game of the Year: Elden Ring (FromSoftware /Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Pioneer: Mabel Addis
• Lifetime Achievement: John Romero