Expedition 33 Wins Yet Another GOTY--See All The Winners From The 2026 Game Dev Awards

The Game Developers Conference took place this week in San Francisco, and the event capped off with the Game Developers Choice Awards. The awards show took place on March 12, and now all the winners have been revealed.

Unsurprisingly, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was a big winner for the night, taking home Game of the Year and other awards. It beat out Blue Prince, Donkey Kong Bananza, Ghost of Yotei, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Split Fiction for GOTY.

Expedition 33 had already won numerous other GOTY awards, and this was just the latest. The game already had amassed the most GOTYs of all time.

In addition to Game of the Year, Expedition 33 won awards for Best Visual Art, Best Narrative, Best Audio, and Best Debut.

Blue Prince was another big winner, taking home awards for Best Design and Innovation.

The winners were chosen by the Game Developers Choice Awards' International Choice Awards Network. This is a private organization made up of "leading game creators."

Expedition 33 took home the overall Game of the Year at The Game Awards. It was also GameSpot's Game of the Year.

Game of the Year

• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Social Impact

• And Roger (TearyHand Studio / Kodansha)
• Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)

Best Visual Art

• Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Hades II (Supergiant Games)
• Keeper (Double Fine Productions / Xbox Game Studios)

Best Technology

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Best Narrative

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
• Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Innovation Award

• Ball X Pit (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Design

• Ball X Pit (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Best Debut

• Ball X Pit (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
• Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Dispatch (Adhoc Studio)

Best Audio

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Rift of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games / Klei Publishing)
• South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios)

Audience Award (voted on by fans)

And Roger (TearyHand Studio / Kodansha)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Don Daglow received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards for his career and achievements. Daglow worked in gaming for more than 50 years and contributed to more than 100 games, beginning with Intellivision. His long and successful career would see him also work as an executive producer on EA Sports, Lord of the Rings, Prince of Persia, and Star Wars games.

Image credit: GDC

Ambassador Award

This award is given to a person who has helped the video game industry get to a better place, and this year it went to Rebecca Ann Heineman, who passed away in 2025.

She was known for winning the first ever Space Invaders national championship, and then worked as a game developer for 45+ years, working on titles like The Bard's Tale III, Dragon Wars, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom (3DO).