The Last of Us Part II, a PlayStation 4 exclusive, was the biggest winner at the Golden Joystick Awards 2020, taking home five trophies including Game of the Year, while its developer Naughty Dog was named Studio of the Year.
Main wins and studio recognition
The PlayStation sequel, which continues the story of Ellie and Joel from the 2013 original, earned awards for Storytelling, Visual Design, Audio, and PlayStation Game of the Year in addition to the overall Game of the Year honor at the 38th edition of the event organized by GamesRadar.
Naughty Dog received the Studio of the Year award, recognizing the developer behind the multiple wins for The Last of Us Part II.
Platform and category winners
Microsoft’s platform pick for the year was Ori and the Will of the Wisps as Xbox Game of the Year, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons was named Nintendo Exclusive of the Year. God of War: Ragnarok was voted Most Anticipated Game.
Death Stranding, originally released for PlayStation 4 and created by designer Hideo Kojima, was chosen as PC Game of the Year.
Indie, mobile and competitive categories
Hades won Best Indie Game and also captured the Critics’ Choice award. Lego Builder’s Journey was recognized as the top mobile game.
In esports, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was selected as the Best Esports Game of 2020.
Community, ongoing titles and expansions
Long-running titles also received recognition: Minecraft won in both the Still Playing and Best Community categories. No Man’s Sky’s ongoing development was acknowledged as its Origins expansion won Best Expansion.
Individual and hardware awards
Content creator Brandon “iamBrandon” Stennis was named Best Streamer/Broadcaster. Actress Sandra Saad was honored for her performance as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel in Marvel’s Avengers.
For hardware, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 was chosen as Best Gaming Hardware—information that may interest shoppers ahead of Black Friday.
Industry acknowledgment
The awards also included a special recognition for the games industry itself, citing efforts by studios to support vulnerable communities through charity and to provide entertainment during a year marked by social distancing measures.
