Blizzard Entertainment's brilliant and popular multiplayer shooter Overwatch won game of the year at the 17th annual Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony held during GDC in San Francisco. Overwatch's careful balance in gameplay and mechanics also gave it the award for Best Design.
Developer Playdead's beautifully macabre and engrossing platformer, Inside, also earned two awards in total. One for Best Audio and another for Best Visual Art.
Developer Campo Santo's compelling first-person adventure game, Firewatch, was the final double award-winner of the night, earning the team the awards for Best Debut and Best Narrative.
The full line up of winners at the ceremony includes the AR title Pokémon Go by Niantic and the Pokémon Company which became a worldwide sensation overnight and earned the title of best mobile/handheld game. No Man's Sky earned its developers Hello Games, in what some would say is a little surprising, but clearly the games industry saw merit in their accomplishments where perhaps gamers have been more critical. As previously announced, Epic's Tim Sweeney was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Best Audio: Inside (Playdead)
Best Debut: Campo Santo (Firewatch)
Best Design: Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Pokemon Go (Niantic)
Innovation Award: No Man's Sky (Hello Games)
Best Narrative: Firewatch (Campo Santo)
Best Technology: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog)
Best Visual Art: Inside (Playdead)
Best VR/AR Game: Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives (Owlchemy Labs)
Audience Award: Battlefield 1 (EA DICE)
Game of the Year: Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)
Pioneer Award: Jordan Mechner
Ambassador Award: Mark DeLoura
Lifetime Achievement Award: Tim Sweeney