The results of this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) Gaming Awards are in. The winners for each of the twelve categories were decided both by the public, as well as the staff of the SXSW Gaming Awards and its advisory board. The event was held online due to the COVID-19 situation, and it showed segments of behind-the-scenes work for some of the games.
The SXSW Gaming Awards is presented by IGN in partnership with Discord, and is usually held in Texas but was canceled last year due to coronavirus and changed to an online format this year. Developers can send games to be considered for the awards, and only games released during the year before the event can participate. The top four or five games of each category are selected by the board and the SXSW staff, but the public gets the final vote and decides which games should win.
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Yesterday was the final day of the event which started on March 16. In addition to the award ceremony, SXSW offered conferences and a music festival for pass holders. However, the award ceremony is available to watch on IGN's Twitch account. In total, 43 titles were competing to earn one of the awards. This year, games such as Half-Life: Alyx, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us 2, and Doom Eternal won a SXSW Award. Most notably, both Hades and Deep Rock Galactic took top accolades in two categories.
Hades's success did not come as a surprise, since this Supergiant Games title has received amazing review scores in the past. However, it was somewhat unexpected that the indie title would win Game of the Year over other major games such as DOOM Eternal, Ghost of Tsushima, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and most notably The Last of Us 2. The Naughty Dog sequel was the favorite to win Game of the Year given its success at the Game Awards 2020 where it won seven of the nine titles it was nominated for.
On the other hand, audience opinions play a big role in selecting the winners for the SXSW Gaming Awards, and titles like Deep Rock Galactic and Hades received excellent reviews ever since they were released. In that sense, it was only natural these titles would be recognized as some of the best, even when competing against The Last of Us 2 and other major games.
Here is the list of winners for the 2021 SXSW Gaming Awards:
Video Game of the Year
Hades — Supergiant Games
Indie Game of the Year
Deep Rock Galactic — Ghost Ship Games / Coffee Stain Publishing
Tabletop Game of the Year
The Search for Planet X — Renegade Game Studios / Foxtrot Games
VR Game of the Year
Half-Life: Alyx — Valve
Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award
Dreams — Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Excellence in Animation, Art, & Visual Achievement
Ghost of Tsushima — Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Excellence in Game Design
Hades — Supergiant Games
Excellence in Score
Ori and the Will of the Wisps — Moon Studios / Xbox Game Studios
Excellence in Multiplayer
Deep Rock Galactic — Ghost Ship Games / Coffee Stain Publishing
Excellence in Narrative
The Last of Us Part II — Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Excellence in Audio Design
DOOM Eternal — id Software / Bethesda Softworks
Excellence in Technical Achievement
Microsoft Flight Simulator — Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios
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Source: SXSW