Lifetime Achievement Winner
Hironobu Sakaguchi
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 Winner
David Braben
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 Winner
Brenda Romero
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 Winner
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments)
Game of the Year
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)
Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Honorable Mentions: Titanfall, Valiant Hearts, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Super Smash Bros.
Wii-U
Innovation Award
Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Bounden (Game Oven)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
Honorable Mentions: Crypt Of The Necrodancer, Extrasolar, Elite: Dangerous, Elegy For A Dead World, 80 Days
Best Audio
Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Hohokum (Honeyslug/Sony)
Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Transistor (Supergiant Games)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
Honorable Mentions: Child Of Light, Far Cry 4, D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, Bayonetta 2, Crypt Of The Necrodancer
Best Debut
The Banner Saga (Stoic Studio)
Yacht Club Games (Shovel Knight)
Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall)
The Astronauts (The Vanishing of Ethan Carter)
Upper One Games (Never Alone)
Honorable mentions: CounterSpy, The Long Dark, Leo's Fortune, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Crossy Road
Best Design
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo EAD Tokyo and 1-Up Studio/Nintendo)
Honorable Mentions: Mario Kart 8, Alien: Isolation, Destiny, Monument Valley, Far Cry 4
Best Handheld/Mobile Game
Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Threes! (Sirvo)
Super Smash Bros. 3DS (Sora Ltd. and BANDAI NAMCO/Nintendo)
Hearthstone (Blizzard)
80 Days (Inkle Studios)
Honorable Mentions: Bounden, Bravely Default Flying Fairy, Desert Golfing, Velocity 2X, Fantasy Life
Best Narrative
Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3 (Cardboard Computer)
80 Days (Inkle Studios)
This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
Honorable Mentions: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Valiant Hearts, Tales From The Borderlands, D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, Hatoful Boyfriend
Best Technology
Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (MachineGames/Bethesda)
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments)
Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Honorable Mentions: Assassin's Creed Unity, The Last Of Us: Remastered, Sunset Overdrive, Alien: Isolation, Infamous: Second Son
Best Visual Arts
Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Hohokum (Honeyslug and Sony Santa Monica/Sony)
Child of Light (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Honorable Mentions: Never Alone, The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter, Transistor, Broken Age: Episode 1, Destiny