The 40th annual Golden Joystick awards took place yesterday. The event was dominated by Elden Ring, which walked off with four awards, including the coveted Ultimate Game of the Year prize. You can see the complete list of winners and nominations at the bottom of the page. It’s not all software at the Golden Joystick. There’s also a Best Gaming Hardware Category, which this year consisted of The Playdate, Steam Deck, Analogue Pocket, Backbone One: PlayStation Edition, Roccat Kone XP, and WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5. The Steam Deck didn’t have much competition in its group, so it wasn’t surprising to see Valve’s device win. Newell accepted, taking the opportunity to talk about the openness and customization of the PC platform (top). “On behalf of everyone at Valve, I would like to say thank you for giving Steam Deck the Golden Joystick award for best gaming hardware. So, on my PC, I have an AMD CPU, a Nvidia GPU, the PC’s from Falcon Northwest, I have a Corsair mouse, I have a Logitech keyboard, I have a Samsung monitor,” Newell said. “And it’s that interoperability, that compatibility, that openness that really enables products like Steam Deck.” It’s interesting to learn that Newell has moved to team red for his CPU. Back in 2019, he was sporting an Intel i7-5930K in a PC also from custom high-end PC builder Falcon Northwest. No word on which Nvidia graphics card he now uses, but he’ll have presumably upgraded his old GTX 1080 from three years ago. Newell also highlighted Naoki Yoshida’s acceptance speech at last year’s awards. The director of Final Fantasy 14, an MMO Newell loves, talked about gaming communities, a sentiment Valve’s CEO repeated. “If it weren’t possible, if we didn’t have that gaming community behind us driving the entire industry forward, products like Steam Deck wouldn’t be possible. So, in addition, I’d really like to accept this award on behalf of the gaming community,” Newell said. Elsewhere at the awards, Return to Monkey Island won PC game of the year, beating one of this writer’s favorite games, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters. Meanwhile, God of War Ragnarok, nominated in two categories, won nothing. Here’s the complete list of nominees and winners from the game awards:
Ultimate Game of the Year
Elden Ring (WINNER) Gran Turismo 7 Horizon Forbidden West Immortality Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope God of War: Ragnarok Return to Monkey Island Teardown Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Bayonetta 3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Neon White
Best Storytelling
IMMORTALITY Return to Monkey Island Horizon Forbidden West (WINNER) NORCO I Was A Teenage Exocolonist Wayward Strand
Still Playing Award
Genshin Impact (WINNER) The Sims 4 Destiny 2 Final Fantasy XIV Minecraft Fortnite Pokémon GO Apex Legends Lost Ark The Elder Scrolls Online
Best Visual Design
Elden Ring (WINNER) Horizon Forbidden West Cult of the Lamb Ghostwire: Tokyo A Plague Tale: Requiem Lost in Play
Studio of the Year
Roll7 Terrible Toybox Half Mermaid FromSoftware Inc. (WINNER) Interior / Night Tribute Games
Best Game Expansion
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course (WINNER) GTA Online: The Contract Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons Total War: Warhammer III - Immortal Empires
Best Early Access Launch
Disney Dreamlight Valley Slime Rancher 2 (WINNER) Dune: Spice Wars Core Keeper Vampire Survivors Gloomwood
Best Indie Game
Cult of the Lamb (WINNER) Tunic Rollerdrome Dorfromantik Neon White Teardown
Best Multiplayer Game
Elden Ring (WINNER) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenue MultiVersus Splatoon 3 Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Best Audio
We Are OFK Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Metal: Hellsinger (WINNER) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Gran Turismo 7 OlliOlli World
Best Game Trailer
The Callisto Protocol The Truth of Black Iron Trailer Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer (WINNER) skate. Still Working On It Trailer Bloody Hell Hotel Reveal Trailer Time Flies Announcement Trailer Alan Wake 2 Reveal Trailer
Best Game Community
Dreams Final Fantasy 14 (WINNER) GRID Legends No Man’s Sky Splatoon 3 Warframe
Best Gaming Hardware
Playdate Steam Deck (WINNER) Analogue Pocket Backbone One: PlayStation Edition Roccat Kone XP WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
Breakthrough Award
Vampire Survivors
Critics’ Choice Award
Elden Ring
Best Performer
Manon Gage (Marissa Marcel, Immortality) (WINNER) Ted Rami (Travis, The Quarry) Dominic Armato (Guybrush Threepwood, Return to Monkey Island) Angela Bassett (Regalla, Horizon Forbidden West) Ashly Burch (Tiny Tina, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands) Christopher Judge (Kratos, God of War Ragnarok)
Nintendo Game of the Year
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Pokémon Legends: Arceus (WINNER) Kirby and the Forgotten Land Live A Live Splatoon 3 Nintendo Switch Sports
PC Game of the Year
Neon White Return to Monkey Island (WINNER) Hardspace: Shipbreaker Teardown Total War: Warhammer 3 Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters
PlayStation Game of the Year
Gran Turismo 7 Horizon Forbidden West Stray (WINNER) Elden Ring The Last Of Us Part I Sifu
Xbox Game of the Year
Halo Infinite Scorn Grounded (WINNER) As Dusk Falls Sniper Elite 5 Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Most Wanted Game
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (WINNER) Final Fantasy XVI Assassin’s Creed Mirage Dead Island 2 Forspoken Street Fighter 6 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Honkai: Star Rail Starfield Exoprimal Redfall Hogwarts Legacy Mass Effect Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Hollow Knight: Silksong Kerbal Space Program 2 Dead Space
h/t: GamesRadar/PC Gamer
