Baldur’s Gate 3 won big at the 2023 Golden Joystick Awards. The hit CRPG based on Dungeons & Dragons and developed by Larian Studios took home multiple titles, including the Ultimate Game of the Year Award.
While the official release of Baldur’s Game 3 in August had been riddled with bugs and glitches from the start, these did nothing to deter the game’s critical acclaim and sales success. Fans have been raving about BG3’s superb story, character development, and the sheer scale in a single RPG title. To say that Larian Studios rolled a nat 20 would be an understatement.
But how would it fare in a year with other stellar AAA titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Starfield, Final Fantasy XVI, Diablo 4, and more? If the results of the Golden Joystick Awards are any indication, BG3 is doing extremely well.
Ultimate Game of the Year goes to…. @baldursgate3! Congratulations!! #GoldenJoystickAwards pic.twitter.com/jKu0zwhuX4
— Golden Joysticks (@GoldenJoysticks) November 10, 2023
The 41st Golden Joystick Awards (powered by Intel) was held in London on November 10. It is one of the most prestigious and long-running award giving bodies in the video game industry.
And with 2023 being such a packed year of great games, the speculation as to who would be the winners had been running high with over five million votes that were tallied, according to the official data.
In the end, Baldur’s Gate 3 virtually bulldozed its way over the competition, getting the coveted Ultimate Game of the Year. Aside from the UGOTY title, BG3 won PC Game of the Year, Best Game Community, Best Visual Design, and Best Storytelling. Plus, Neil Newborn (who voiced Astarion) won Best Supporting Performer and Studio of the Year went to Larian Studios.
The rest of this year’s Golden Joystick Awards winners are as follows:
- Best Game Trailer – Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Best Streaming Game – Valorant
- Best Multiplayer Game – Mortal Kombat 1
- Best VR Game – Horizon: Call of the Mountain
- Best Game Expansion – Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Best Audio – Final Fantasy XVI
- Best Indie Game – Sea of Stars
- Best Lead Performer – Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI)
- Best Gaming Hardware – PSVR 2
- Still Playing Award – No Man’s Sky
- Critic’s Choice Award – Alan Wake 2
- Nintendo Game of the Year – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Playstation Game of the Year – Resident Evil 4
- Xbox Game of the Year – Starfield
- Breakthrough Award – COCOON
- Most Wanted Game of the Year – Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Wizards of the Coast (which owns the Dungeons & Dragons IP) congratulated the team of Swen Vincke and Larian Studios for the multiple wins at this year’s Golden Joystick Awards.
It's official! Baldur's Gate 3 has been named @GoldenJoysticks Ultimate Game of the Year and PC Game of the Year!
Congratulations to @larianstudios on their success with Baldur's Gate 3! pic.twitter.com/50cs3WijmL
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) November 11, 2023
Interestingly, some high profile titles such as Diablo 4, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, Street Fighter 6, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor did not win any of the categories they were in.
Regardless, the fact that Baldur’s Gate 3 won most of the prestigious titles at the Golden Joystick Awards is a testament to how good the game is. Turn-based and story-driven computer roleplaying games had been viewed as past its prime for a while, with RPGs being either primarily action-based (such as Diablo IV) or fully open-world explorations (such as The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Elden Ring).
However, one should take into account that Larian Studios took six years to develop Baldur’s Gate 3. The game studio had been hard at work from negotiating the D&D and Forgotten Realms licenses from Wizards of the Coast, to the Early Access version in 2020, and even after it was released with multiple patches and hotfixes. This is why other companies have referred to Baldur’s Gate 3 as a masterpiece, but also an “anomaly“.
Now that Baldur’s Gate 3 has tested its mettle with the huge wins at the Golden Joystick Awards, what do you think of its chances at The Game Awards 2023 this December? Is BG3 a sure-bet for the Game of the Year 2023? And when will it finally get in the hands of Xbox players as the year comes to a close?
