The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2019. The event was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 12, 2019. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. The event was live streamed across more than 50 digital platforms; it was the first to broadcast live in India and was simulcast in 53 movie theaters across the United States. The show featured musical performances from Chvrches, Grimes, and Green Day, and presentations from celebrity guests including Stephen Curry, Vin Diesel, Norman Reedus, and Michelle Rodriguez. In association with the event, a virtual games festival was held online, allowing free demos to be played through Steam over a 48-hour period.
Death Stranding received ten nominations, the most of any Game Awards to date, while Disco Elysium tied for the highest-awarded game in the show's history with four wins. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was awarded Game of the Year. Several new games were revealed during the show, including Bravely Default II, Godfall, and Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, and Microsoft revealed the Xbox Series X as the successor to the Xbox One. Death Strandings nominations prompted allegations of impropriety due to Keighley's friendship with game director Hideo Kojima; Keighley clarified he does not partake in voting. Reviews for the ceremony were mixed, with praise for announcements but criticism directed at the decreasing focus on awards. The show was viewed by over 45 million streams, the most in its history to date, with 7.5 million concurrent viewers at its peak.
Background
As with previous iterations of The Game Awards, the show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalist Geoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie H. Kim, and Richard Preuss and LeRoy Bennett returned as director and creative director, respectively. The preshow was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. The presentation was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 12, 2019, and live streamed across more than 50 digital platforms, including Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube. By partnering with Nodwin Gaming, the 2019 show was the first to broadcast live in India, on television via MTV and online through services such as JioTV, MX Player, and Voot. The show was simulcast in 53 Cinemark movie theaters across the United States alongside the opening night screening of Jumanji: The Next Level in partnership with Sony Pictures. Keighley had previously wanted to broadcast in theaters and felt the release of Jumanji—which largely focuses on a video game—was a perfect fit.
Keighley spent most of the year preparing for the show, as did about eight of the production's full-time staff; hundreds of contributors worked on the final show. In November, Kim worked 11-hour days to coordinate the show with contractors and decipher its pacing. During the ceremony, Keighley spoke to the animated character Mirage from Apex Legends for the announcement of the game's holiday event. The interaction took place in real-time, with actor Roger Craig Smith performing the movements through motion capture in a studio besides the Microsoft Theater. The game's creative director Drew Stauffer approached creative production studio The Mill in October 2018 with the idea. The Mill partnered with Cubic Motion to develop the technology, and with Animatrik for the motion capture movement. The production teams considered revealing the technology during the show, but opted to maintain the illusion until afterwards.
The show featured presenters such as Stephen Curry, Vin Diesel, and Norman Reedus, performances from Chvrches, Green Day, and Grimes. Keighley ensured the presenters and performers were relevant to the video games industry, wanting to avoid a "celebrity in the show for the sake of celebrity". Reggie Fils-Aimé's award presentation was his fifth for the show, and his first since retiring as president of Nintendo of America. The presentation from Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker marked the second appearance of Muppets, following Pepe the King Prawn's appearance at The Game Awards 2018. In association with the event, a virtual games festival was held online from December 12–14, 2019. Several upcoming games released free demos through Steam, including Carrion, Spiritfarer, and Skatebird, available for 48 hours.
Announcements Valve announced it would showcase Half-Life: Alyx at the ceremony, but pulled out several hours prior to the event. Announcements on recently released and upcoming games were made for Apex Legends, Beat Saber, Black Desert Online, Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Gears Tactics, Ghost of Tsushima, Humankind, Magic: The Gathering Arena, New World, No More Heroes III, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. New games announced during the ceremony included:
Bravely Default II Convergence: A League of Legends Story Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Fast & Furious Crossroads Godfall Magic: Legends Naraka: Bladepoint Nine to Five Path of the Warrior Prologue Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Sons of the Forest Surgeon Simulator 2 Ultimate Rivals: The Rink Weird West The Wolf Among Us 2
Additionally, Microsoft revealed the Xbox Series X as the successor to the Xbox One. The announcement was so secretive that Phil Spencer read a fake script about Xbox Game Pass during rehearsals. Godfalls reveal marked the first PlayStation 5 game to be announced.
Winners and nominees The nominees for The Game Awards 2019 were announced on November 19, 2019. Any game released on or before November 15, 2019, was eligible for consideration. The nominees were compiled by a jury panel with members from 80 media outlets globally. Winners were determined between the jury (90 percent) and public votes (10 percent); the latter was held via the official website. The exception was the Player's Voice award, fully nominated and voted-on by the public after three 24-hour votes that started with 24 games and ended with four. Public votes totaled 15.5 million, a 50 percent increase from the previous show. The show included new honorees of the Global Gaming Citizens award, in partnership with Facebook Gaming; two winners were announced at E3 2019, and the final three during the awards show alongside videos by Indie Game: The Movie directors Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky.
Awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger ().
Video games Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – FromSoftware / Activision Control – Remedy Entertainment / 505 Games Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment The Outer Worlds – Obsidian Entertainment / Private Division Resident Evil 2 – Capcom Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Bandai Namco Studios, Sora Ltd. / Nintendo | valign="top" | Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment Control – Remedy Entertainment / 505 Games Outer Wilds – Mobius Digital / Annapurna Interactive Resident Evil 2 – Capcom Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – FromSoftware / Activision |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | Best Narrative ! style="background:#eedd82" | Best Art Direction |- | valign="top" | Disco Elysium – ZA/UM A Plague Tale: Innocence – Asobo Studio / Focus Home Interactive Control – Remedy Entertainment / 505 Games Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment The Outer Worlds – Obsidian Entertainment / Private Division | valign="top" | Control – Remedy Entertainment / 505 Games Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment Gris – Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening – Grezzo / Nintendo Sayonara Wild Hearts – Simogo / Annapurna Interactive Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – FromSoftware / Activision |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | Best Score/Music ! style="background:#eedd82" | Best Audio Design |- | valign="top" | Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment Cadence of Hyrule – Brace Yourself Games / Nintendo Devil May Cry 5 – Capcom Kingdom Hearts III – Square Enix Business Division 3 / Square Enix Sayonara Wild Hearts – Simogo / Annapurna Interactive | valign="top" | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Infinity Ward / Activision Control – Remedy Entertainment / 505 Games Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment Gears 5 – The Coalition / Xbox Game Studios Resident Evil 2 – Capcom Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – FromSoftware / Activision |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | Best Performance ! style="background:#eedd82" | Games for Impact |- | valign="top" | Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff – Death Stranding Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz – Gears 5 Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb – The Outer Worlds Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden – Control Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling – Control Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges – Death Stranding Gris – Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital Concrete Genie – Pixelopus / Sony Interactive Entertainment Kind Words – Popcannibal Life Is Strange 2 – Dontnod / Square Enix Sea of Solitude – Jo-Mei Games / Electronic Arts |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | Best Ongoing Game ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Fortnite – Epic Games ‡ Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts Destiny 2 – Bungie Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege – Ubisoft Disco Elysium – ZA/UM Baba Is You – Hempuli Katana Zero – Askiisoft / Devolver Digital Outer Wilds – Mobius Digital / Annapurna Interactive Untitled Goose Game – House House / Panic Call of Duty: Mobile – TiMi Studios / Activision Grindstone – Capybara Games Sayonara Wild Hearts – Simogo / Annapurna Interactive Sky: Children of the Light – Thatgamecompany What the Golf? – Triband Beat Saber – Beat Games Asgard's Wrath – Sanzaru Games / Oculus Studios Blood & Truth – London Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment No Man's Sky – Hello Games Trover Saves the Universe – Squanch Games / Gearbox Publishing Devil May Cry 5 – Capcom Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts Astral Chain – PlatinumGames / Nintendo Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Infinity Ward / Activision Gears 5 – The Coalition / Xbox Game Studios Metro Exodus – 4A Games / Deep Silver Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – FromSoftware / Activision Borderlands 3 – Gearbox Software / 2K Games Control – Remedy Entertainment / 505 Games Death Stranding – Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening – Grezzo / Nintendo Resident Evil 2 – Capcom Disco Elysium – ZA/UM Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix Kingdom Hearts III – Square Enix Business Division 3 / Square Enix Monster Hunter World: Iceborne – Capcom The Outer Worlds – Obsidian Entertainment / Private Division Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Bandai Namco Studios, Sora Ltd. / Nintendo Dead or Alive 6 – Team Ninja / Koei Tecmo Jump Force – Spike Chunsoft / Bandai Namco Mortal Kombat 11 – NetherRealm / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Samurai Shodown – SNK Corporation / Athlon Games Luigi's Mansion 3 – Next Level Games / Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure – Nintendo Super Mario Maker 2 – Nintendo Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Bandai Namco Studios, Sora Ltd. / Nintendo Yoshi's Crafted World – Good-Feel / Nintendo Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Intelligent Systems, Koei Tecmo / Nintendo Age of Wonders: Planetfall – Triumph Studios / Paradox Interactive Anno 1800 – Blue Byte / Ubisoft Total War: Three Kingdoms – Creative Assembly / Sega Tropico 6 – Limbic Entertainment / Kalypso Media Wargroove – Chucklefish Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled – Beenox / Activision Dirt Rally 2.0 – Codemasters eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 – PES Productions / Konami F1 2019 – Codemasters