16th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Honoring the Best Games of 2015

For photos, please browse our albums.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Todd Howard

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole.

Pioneer Award

Markus "Notch" Persson

The Pioneer Award (formerly known as the First Penguin Award) celebrates those individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture video game history - paving the way for the myriads who followed them.

Ambassador Award

Tracy Fullerton

The Ambassador Award honors an individual or individuals who have helped the game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to be an advocate for video games and help further our art.

Audience Award

Life is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment)

Game of the Year

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED)

Finalists:

• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Rocket League (Psyonix)

Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)

Innovation Award

Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Finalists:

• Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
• The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions: Rocket League (Psyonix), Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)

Best Audio

Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Finalists:

• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)

Honorable Mentions: Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), SOMA (Frictional Games), Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Best Debut

Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios)

Finalists:

• ARK: Survival Evolved (Studio Wildcard)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Downwell (Moppin)
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)

Honorable mentions: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Asteroid Base), The Magic Circle (Question), Axiom Verge (Thomas Happ), Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club), Read Only Memories (MidBoss)

Best Design

Rocket League (Psyonix)

Finalists:

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/ Bethesda Softworks)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Finalists:

• Lara Croft: GO (Square Enix Montréal / Square Enix)
• Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
• AlphaBear (Spry Fox)

Honorable Mentions: Prune (Joel McDonald), The Room Three (Fireproof Games), Subterfuge (Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis), Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets / BANDAI NAMCO), Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage), SteamWorld Heist (Image and Form), You Must Build a Boat (EightyEight Games)

Best Narrative

Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Finalists:

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Soma (Frictional Games)

Best Technology

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED)

Finalists:

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios / Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)

Best Visual Arts

Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios)

Finalists:

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami), Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn / Sony Computer Entertainment), Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)