Astro Bot, a game honoring the characters of Sony's flagship consoles, won the title of Video Game of the Year at the annual Game Awards 2024, a ceremony central to the video game industry.
On stage at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, Frenchman Nicolas Doucet, head of Japanese studio Team Asobi, thanked his team for their "generosity".
"They don't calculate, they just think of the children because we have the great privilege of being potentially the first game in their hands," he said, as quoted by AFP.
The platform game, which follows the space adventures of a small robot, also won the titles of "best family game", "best director" and "best action/adventure game" - significant wins for the 65-member studio.
Selling more than 1.5 million copies according to Sony (owner of Team Asobi), Astro Bot received the year's highest score on review aggregator Metacritic - 94 out of 100, tied with Metaphor: ReFantazio and "Elden Ring: Shadows of the Erdtree, both nominated for the top title.
Metaphor: ReFantazio, the latest offering from Persona saga director Katsura Hashino, didn't go home empty-handed.
This medieval-fantasy adventure from Japanese studio Atlus, published by Sega, won the awards for best role-playing game and best narrative.
Another favorite, Balatro - a poker game powered by popular streamers - took the prize for "Best Indie Game" and "Best Mobile Game."
For its eleventh edition, the Games Awards invited a number of celebrities to take part, including actor Harrison Ford and rapper Snoop Dogg, who performed a song from his new album Missionary.
New games were also announced at the ceremony, including "Intergalatic" by Naughty Dog, the studio behind The Last of Us.
Joseph Phares, founder of Hazelight Studios, introduced Split Fiction, a sci-fi fantasy game, with much enthusiasm and profanity.
His previous title, It Takes Two, sold over 20 million copies and won the grand prize in 2021.
Jeff Keeley, host of the Game Awards, also spoke of the "sad reality" of the wave of industry cuts this year.
He presented a new Game Changer award to Amir Satwat for his support of many unemployed developers.
"We've lost more than 34,000 jobs in the last three years," the influencer lamented.
"This has had its consequences. You can't make great games without great people," he concluded. | BGNES
