Elden Ring gets first Game of the Year award

In 2021, Ghost of Tsushima and Monster Hunter Rise shared the grand prize award for the JGA. Winners from the JGA FromSoftware took home three awards from the Japan Game Awards.

Aside from Elden Ring, several other games also received recognition at the Japan Game Awards.

The Award for Excellence was also given to the following games: Resident Evil Village Sky: Children of the Light Tales of Arise Lost Judgment Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Pokemon Legends: Arceus Horizon Forbidden West Ghostwire: Tokyo Kirby and the Forgotten Land Call of Duty: Vanguard won the Global Award for Foreign Product. Meanwhile, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl won the Global Award for Japanese Product and Best Sales Award. The roguelike deck-building game Inscryption also won The Game Designers Award. Finally, 7 Days to End With You and Needy Streamer Overload were also recognized as Honorable Mentions for the award. Other contenders for GOTY God of War: Ragnarok will prove to be a worthy challenger for Elden Ring as the GOTY.

Several games are in the running for GOTY. The leading candidates are Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Horizon Forbidden West. Others that could get nominated are Stray and Gotham Knights. But, most eyes are on God of War: Ragnarok. The upcoming Santa Monica Studio title is set to come out on November 9, just a month before The Game Awards in December.

It looks to be a two-horse race between Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok. The two games have previously been nominated for Most Anticipated game in 2020 and 2021 with Elden Ring winning both years.

FromSoftware has previously won the coveted Game of the Year award in 2019 for Sekiro Die Twice while Santa Monica Studio's God of War also won the award in 2018.