The 2020 GDC Developers Choice Awards took place last night albeit in virtual stance thanks to the event being postponed due to concerns for the coronavirus. Numerous games were up for many awards this night, but the big winner was once again House House’s puzzle platforming title that has, in a sense, took over the gaming landscape for the better half of 2019: Untitled Goose Game. The Goose beat out some heavy hitters to win Game of the Year which included Death Stranding, Control, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Outer Wilds.
Believe it or not, but this isn’t even the first Game of the Year award that the game has won. Untitled Goose Game also won the top prize at the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards last month, shocking the video game community in the process. We’ve already gone over why the Goose has essentially won the hearts and minds of video game developers all over the world, but it’s important to emphasize this victory as it shows that not every big winner has to be a massive AAA title. It’s also important to note that the developer, House House, is only comprised of four people, making this an astonishing feat.
Remedy Entertainment’s Control was the other big winner of the evening, taking home three separate awards: Best Audio, Best Technology, and Best Visual Art. Other winners included Disco Elysium which won Best Narrative, while Baba is You won Best Design. Best Mobile Game went to What is Golf? while developer ZA/UM won for Best Debut for their game Disco Elysium. In addition to these awards, GDC also hosted the Independent Game Festival Awards, which highlights a plethora of Indie titles for both professional designers and student designers.
The big winner for this event was a game titled A Short Hike, which ironically beat out Untitled Goose Game in the same category. The studio, adamgryu, was awarded the Seumas McNally Grand Prize as well as $30,000. Other big named titles to win this award in the past were Return of the Obra Dinn, Night in the Woods, Her Story, and Outer Wilds. Despite not having an audience, Informa is doing everything they can to keep GDC going this week by allowing all of the planned panels to be streamed for free as talks. You can watch these talks on their official Twitch channel here.