The Game Awards 2024 LIVE: Winners, Game of the Year, and every new trailer and announcement

It’s finally time to see some Borderlands 4

For Borderlands fans, The Game Awards is Christmas arriving early. We already know Borderlands 4 exists and is scheduled to drop in 2025, but beyond that, not a whole lot. The Game Awards is going to be the first big look at the “most ambitious Borderlands yet” and it’s the thing I’m most excited for.

Sure, I want Balatro to win GOTY, but I love Borderlands. The franchise that really kicked off the whole looter shooter genre with a bang, and without it, some of my favorite titles may never have come to be. Plus, Borderlands fits so well with my own ridiculous sense of humor, I have no doubts I’m going to enjoy what I see tonight. Bring it on! — Richard Devine, Managing Editor

If Balatro doesn’t win GOTY, we riot

Before the nominations were announced, I said that we riot if Balatro wasn’t nominated for Game of the Year. Now it has been nominated, we riot if it doesn’t win Game of the Year. Balatro isn’t my most played game of 2024, but it’s far and away my pick to claim that coveted prize.

I could talk for hours about it, but I won’t. The shortened version is that Balatro embodies everything about what makes a great game. At its core, it’s pure fun. It doesn’t hide behind complicated narratives, flashy graphics, or endless battle passes. It’s just a really good, addictive, well-executed game that I can honestly say anyone I’ve turned to playing it has totally got why I, and so many others, love it so much. — Richard Devine, Managing Editor

Here are my The Game Awards 2024 picks

With the actual The Game Awards show now under 24 hours away, I thought it would be fun to share what my personal picks for all of this year’s 30 award categories are based on what got nominated and what I’ve gotten around to playing and watching. Here’s my list:

• Game of the Year: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
• Players’ Voice: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
• Best Game Direction: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
• Best Narrative: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
• Best Art Direction: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
• Best Score and Music: Silent Hill 2
• Best Audio Design: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
• Best Performance: Melina Juergens as Senua
• Innovation in Accessibility: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Games for Impact: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
• Best Ongoing: Final Fantasy XIV
• Best Community Support: Baldur’s Gate 3
• Best Independent Game: Animal Well
• Best Debut Indie Game: Animal Well
• Best Mobile Game: Balatro
• Best VR/AR: Metro Awakening
• Best Action Game: Helldivers 2
• Best Action/Adventure: Silent Hill 2
• Best RPG: Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Best Fighting: Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
• Best Family: Astro Bot
• Best Sim/Strategy: Manor Lords
• Best Sports/Racing: EA Sports FC 24
• Best Multiplayer: Helldivers 2
• Best Adaptation: Fallout
• Most Anticipated Game: Grand Theft Auto 6
• Content Creator of the Year: CaseOh
• Best Esports Game: Counter-Strike 2
• Best Esports Athlete: N/A
• Best Esports Team: N/A

I begrudgingly voted for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree for many of these categories, as while I absolutely love the expansion and think it’s largely better than the nominees it’s up against, I don’t think DLCs should be included in The Game Awards unless they’re in their own separate category. If it was up to me, Helldivers 2 would be in (and win) the Game of the Year running, and Players’ Voice wouldn’t have three gacha games nominated (players were encouraged to vote for them with promises of free currency in these games by their developers, which is pretty lame). Alas, it is not up to me, so here I sit. Salty.

Still, it’s nice to see the presentation and performances in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 get the recognition they deserve, and I’m hoping Animal Well wins both indie awards since it’s pretty mind-blowing a solo developer made such a deep and create Metroidvania. Shoutout to Manor Lords in Best Sim/Strategy, too; it’s another excellent solo-developed project.

Also, I really need to set a day or two aside to watch Arcane Season 2. Fallout probably wouldn’t be my pick for Best Adaptation if I’d done so already, based on what I’ve heard. — Brendan Lowry, Gaming Contributor

“Oh boy, @geoffkeighley cooked”

That’s a direct quote from none other than Windows Central’s very own executive editor and Xbox aficionado Jez Corden. Jez posted that to X (Twitter) a few days ago, clearly having heard about some of what’s coming in this year’s The Game Awards. He went on to say “without hard spoilers” that he’s expecting to see impressive multiplatform announcements and “other fun stuff,” though believes that Microsoft and Xbox won’t have much to show since it has its own Developer_Direct presentation coming in Q1 2025.

Sounds like we’re in for a good show this year. — Brendan Lowry, Gaming Contributor

What to expect from The Game Awards 2024

The vast majority of what’s being shown at The Game Awards 2024 will remain a mystery until the show itself kicks off, but that doesn’t mean we’re going into it completely blind. In fact, the opposite is true, as many developers as well as Geoff Keighley himself have publicly teased several of the games, reveals, trailers, and performances that will appear during the event. These include the following:

In addition to these, note that several celebrities and developers will be presenting awards throughout the evening, including Bethesda’s Todd Howard, actress Isabela Merced from HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2, Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, prolific game voice actor Laura Bailey, Remedy Entertainment’s Sam Lake, and none other than Hideo Kojima himself.

If we learn anything else about the show before it starts, I’ll be sure to post about it here. With that said, I don’t expect we will, as it’s bound to have plenty of surprises that the showrunners don’t want to spoil. — Brendan Lowry, Gaming Contributor

Where you can watch The Game Awards 2024

The YouTube stream we embedded above is one way to watch this year’s The Game Awards show, but it’s not the only one. The presentation is being broadcast on a variety of different platforms once it begins on December 12 at 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 a.m. GMT, including the following:

If you end up having trouble with the stream on one platform, try using one of the others instead and hopefully it’ll work better for you. — Brendan Lowry, Gaming Contributor

Hello everyone, and welcome to our live coverage of The Game Awards 2024! The show may still be a day away, but there’s already quite a few things to talk about ahead of its scheduled start time. There have been several teases of what to expect from the presentation from The Game Awards and its partners, all of which I’ll be covering here shortly.

There’s quite a bit of stiff competition in this year’s nominations, and there’s some noteworthy controversy too; many are frustrated with the inclusion of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree in the running, for example, because it’s ultimately still a DLC expansion even if it is the size of a standalone game. As usual, there are also lots of fans who feel their favorite game got snubbed from Game of the Year nominations or other categories (that’s me with Helldivers 2, 100%).

Still, I’m hoping that it’ll be a great event, even if I still have a sour taste in my mouth from how The Game Awards 2023 let down developers and viewers alike by being more about advertisements and trailers than actually celebrating that year’s best and brightest titles. Fingers crossed! — Brendan Lowry, Gaming Contributor