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“Elden Ring” was the top winner Thursday evening at The Game Awards 2022, an event sometimes dubbed the “Oscars for video games.”
And, like the famed awards show for Hollywood elite, The Game Awards was not without its own controversial moments.
The action role-playing epic from FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki took home the Game of the Year Award — his team’s second after their win for “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice” in 2019 — along with other top honours in Game Direction and Art Direction.
Celebrate the best video games of the year and see what’s next at THE GAME AWARDS. Hosted by Geoff Keighley, live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Featuring performances by The Game Awards Orchestra and Hozier, plus presenters including Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, Daniel Craig, Rian Johnson and Jessica Henwick, Ken and Roberta Williams, Josef Fares, Fuslie and Valkyrae, Animal from The Muppets and more!
The game, which was written with help from “Game of Thrones” writer George R.R. Martin, was released in February to critical acclaim and sold more than 17.5 million copies on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.
PlayStation exclusive “God of War Ragnarök” was the other big winner at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, taking home the hardware for Best Narrative and Best Performance for actor Christopher Judge, the latter being presented by Hollywood icon Al Pacino.
However, the show ended on a rather sour and very confusing note when an unidentified person crashed the Game of the Year Award speech for Miyazaki and the Elden Ring producers. After the Japanese game developers wrapped their speech, the person who was not associated with Elden Ring or the Game Awards took the mic and incoherently said something about dedicating the award to “Bill Clinton” before being ushered offstage by security.
Canadian game journalist Geoff Keighley, who has produced and hosted the awards show since 2014, said in a tweet later Thursday evening that the “individual who interrupted our Game of the Year moment has been arrested.”
The Game Awards is the successor to the Spike Video Game Awards, which ran from 2003 to 2013. In addition to celebrating the best in gaming for the year, the show is also known for unveiling many previously unannounced titles. This year’s big reveal was “Death Stranding 2” from critically acclaimed director Hideo Kojima.
You can see all the winners from last night’s show here.
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