Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025. Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive’s role-playing game took the top prize at the December 11 ceremony, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
The complete results include competitive category winners across console, PC, mobile, VR, esports and entertainment, plus a separate Game Changer Award and the fan-voted Players’ Voice prize. Here is the full list and what the results mean.
When and where were The Game Awards 2025 held?
The 2025 ceremony took place on December 11, 2025, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The official winners pages provide the event’s category names and winning entries, including the dedicated Game of the Year listing and the complete winners index.
The show combines broad awards such as Game of the Year with craft, genre, platform, creator and esports categories. That is why the list includes everything from audio design and narrative to mobile games, competitive teams and content creators.
Who won Game of the Year?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year. The award went to Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive, making the French-developed role-playing game the ceremony’s overall winner.
The result is especially notable because the same title also appeared prominently in independent-game, debut, role-playing, creative and performance categories. The full table below shows every category result rather than treating the GOTY announcement as the only important award.
What is the complete list of The Game Awards 2025 winners?
The table below reproduces the complete main-category results announced for the 2025 ceremony.
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Game of the Year | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Game Direction | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Narrative | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Art Direction | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Score and Music | Lorien Testard — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Audio Design | Battlefield 6 |
| Best Performance | Jennifer English — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Innovation in Accessibility | DOOM: The Dark Ages |
| Games for Impact | South of Midnight |
| Best Ongoing Game | No Man’s Sky |
| Best Community Support | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Best Independent Game | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Debut Indie Game | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Mobile Game | Umamusume: Pretty Derby |
| Best Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality | The Midnight Walk |
| Best Action Game | Hades II |
| Best Action / Adventure | Hollow Knight: Silksong |
| Best RPG | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| Best Fighting Game | Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection |
| Best Family Game | Donkey Kong Bananza |
| Best Sim / Strategy Game | FINAL FANTASY TACTICS — The Ivalice Chronicles |
| Best Sports / Racing | Mario Kart World |
| Best Multiplayer | ARC Raiders |
| Best Adaptation | The Last of Us: Season 2 |
| Most Anticipated Game | Grand Theft Auto VI |
| Content Creator of the Year | MoistCr1TiKaL |
| Best Esports Game | Counter-Strike 2 |
| Best Esports Athlete | Chovy — Jeong Ji-hoon, League of Legends |
| Best Esports Team | Team Vitality — Counter-Strike 2 |
| Players’ Voice | Wuthering Waves |
How many awards did Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 win?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won nine awards, the largest haul of the 2025 show. Its wins covered the overall prize, direction, writing, visual design, music, acting, independent development, debut status and role-playing.
That total set a new record for the most awards won by one game at a Game Awards ceremony. It surpassed The Last of Us Part II’s previous record of seven awards at the 2020 ceremony, according to Video Games Chronicle’s results report.
The distribution matters as much as the number. Winning both a major genre category and craft awards indicates recognition across different parts of production, while the independent and debut prizes identify the project’s development status rather than just its commercial profile.
What special recognition was presented outside the main categories?
Girls Make Games received the Game Changer Award. This is a special recognition honor, not one of the competitive categories shown in the main winners index.
The award acknowledges the organization’s contribution to expanding opportunities for people entering game development. Coverage of the ceremony and the announcement appears in ESPN’s Game Awards report.
Why did Players’ Voice go to a different game?
Wuthering Waves won Players’ Voice. Unlike the main category results, Players’ Voice was a separate award decided entirely by fans, so it did not need to match the Game of the Year result.
This distinction helps explain why the two headline awards can point to different games. Game of the Year represents the ceremony’s principal award result, while Players’ Voice records the preference expressed through the public vote. Gematsu’s announcement also identifies Players’ Voice as a 100-percent fan-voted award.
Readers comparing the two should therefore treat them as different measurements rather than as conflicting versions of the same ballot. One is the show’s top overall category; the other is a direct expression of the participating audience.
How are the 2025 awards organized by type?
The winners list is easier to scan when its categories are grouped by what they measure:
- Overall and craft: Game of the Year, Game Direction, Narrative, Art Direction, Score and Music, Audio Design and Performance focus on the work inside a game and the people who made it.
- Purpose and support: Innovation in Accessibility, Games for Impact, Ongoing Game and Community Support recognize accessibility work, social themes, long-term service and relationships with players.
- Development identity: Independent Game and Debut Indie Game identify projects by studio status and first-release distinction.
- Platform and format: Mobile Game and Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality separate experiences built for distinct hardware and play environments.
- Genre: Action, Action / Adventure, RPG, Fighting, Family, Sim / Strategy, Sports / Racing and Multiplayer let readers compare games within a familiar style of play.
- Screen and anticipation: Best Adaptation covers a work moved into another medium, while Most Anticipated Game points to a future release rather than judging a completed game’s 2025 quality.
- People and competition: Content Creator of the Year and the three esports categories cover creators, a competitive game, an individual athlete and a team.
Because these groups measure different things, a title can win a genre award without appearing in the overall race, and an ongoing game can be recognized for support even if it was not released during the same period as the nominees.
What patterns stand out in the winners list?
The clearest pattern is concentration at the top: one game dominated the overall, creative, performance and role-playing results, while other games took specialized honors. That creates a list with both a defining champion and a wide spread of winners.
The results also separate development scale from category success. The independent and debut awards went to the same game that won GOTY, showing that the 2025 list does not reserve its highest recognition for established blockbuster franchises. At the same time, the table includes long-running games, new releases, adaptations, mobile titles and competitive esports, reflecting the breadth of the medium.
Another useful distinction is between retrospective and forward-looking awards. Most categories assess work that audiences could play or watch during the eligibility period; Most Anticipated Game instead identifies the release attracting the greatest expectation. Players’ Voice adds a public-vote perspective, and the Game Changer Award recognizes contribution outside the competitive category structure.
Where can you verify the official 2025 results?
Use The Game Awards’ official winners index for the category names and winning entries, and the dedicated Game of the Year page for the top award. Independent reports from Video Games Chronicle, ESPN and Gematsu provide corroborating coverage, including the record, special recognition and fan-voted result.
When citing the list, preserve the category distinctions: the main winners table, the Game Changer Award and Players’ Voice are related parts of the ceremony but not interchangeable honors.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many esports categories were awarded at The Game Awards 2025?
Three categories focused specifically on esports: Best Esports Game, Best Esports Athlete and Best Esports Team. They distinguish the game itself from individual and team achievement.
Is Most Anticipated Game an award for a game that has already launched?
Not necessarily. The category is designed for a forthcoming title that generated major anticipation, so it should not be read as a judgment of a finished release’s gameplay or final quality.
Can one game win both the main award and an independent-game award?
Yes. The 2025 results demonstrate that the judging categories are not mutually exclusive by studio scale; a game can be recognized as independent while also competing for the ceremony’s overall honor.
Where is the official Game of the Year winner page?
The Game Awards hosts the dedicated page at thegameawards.com/winners/game-of-the-year, with the rest of the categories available through its winners index.