The 2025 Game Awards opened with an early preshow victory for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which took best independent game ahead of high-profile contenders. The main show quickly returned to the title: an orchestral and operatic performance of the game’s score set the tone, and the evening repeatedly circled back to the indie sensation.
Clair Obscur arrived as a frontrunner for the top prize and left as the ceremony’s clear winner, collecting nine awards in total. Its Game of the Year victory made it the most awarded title in Game Awards history, surpassing the previous record holder. The sweep felt like anointing as the indie was featured prominently across the broadcast.
Created by a small French studio formed by former Ubisoft developers, Clair Obscur channels classic turn-based RPG inspirations while delivering a compact, existential story within a whimsical but sprawling world. The production brought prominent talent on board, including motion-capture work from Andy Serkis, and it earned acting honors for performers such as Ben Starr and Jennifer English. After receiving best performance, English delivered one of the night’s most memorable moments: “To every neurodivergent person watching… To all of you that feel like life is stuck on hard mode, this is for you.”
Two larger trends emerged from the awards. First, independent studios are increasingly prominent: half of the Game of the Year nominees were classified as indie by voters, reflecting how the line between indie and AA/AAA has blurred as some smaller teams operate with larger budgets or publisher partnerships. Second, the voting body has become more international. The Game Awards polls more than 150 media outlets worldwide—each outlet defines categories like “independent game” for its ballot—and combines those media votes with a public online vote that counts for 10 percent of the result. As the jury has expanded beyond the U.S. (which now represents roughly 15 percent of outlets), winners have skewed more global and, in some cases, less U.S.-centric.
Clair Obscur’s success also underscores how a small team can reach mainstream audiences today: strong word-of-mouth and inclusion on Xbox Game Pass let many players try the game without an immediate purchase, broadening its reach beyond niche prestige circles.
Major publishers still took home significant honors. Nintendo won multiple awards for Switch 2 exclusives—Donkey Kong Bananza earned best family and Mario Kart World won best sports/racing. Grand Theft Auto VI was named the most anticipated game. Wuthering Waves, a Chinese mobile-focused title with a large player base, won the Players’ Voice award—the only category decided entirely by public voting.
Winners (by category):
– Game of the Year: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
– Best Game Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Narrative: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Art Direction: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Score and Music: Lorien Testard, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Audio Design: Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios/EA)
– Best Performance: Jennifer English, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Innovation in Accessibility: Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
– Games for Impact: South of Midnight (Compulsion Games/Xbox Game Studios)
– Best Ongoing: No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
– Best Community Support: Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
– Best Independent Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Debut Indie Game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Mobile Game: Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Cygames Inc.)
– Best VR/AR: The Midnight Walk (MoonHood/Fast Travel Games)
– Best Action: Hades II (Supergiant Games)
– Best Action/Adventure: Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
– Best RPG: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
– Best Fighting: Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (SNK Corporation)
– Best Family: Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
– Best Sim/Strategy: FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles (Square Enix)
– Best Sports/Racing: Mario Kart World (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
– Best Multiplayer: Arc Raiders (Embark Studios)
– Best Adaptation: The Last of Us: Season 2 (HBO/PlayStation Productions)
– Most Anticipated Game: Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar Games)
– Content Creator of the Year: MoistCr1TiKaL
– Best Esports Game: Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
– Best Esports Athlete: Chovy — Jeong Ji-hoon (League of Legends)
– Best Esports Team: Team Vitality (Counter-Strike 2)
– Players’ Voice: Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)
The 2025 show highlighted the shifting landscape of game development and awards recognition: smaller teams can now achieve mass exposure, international perspectives are reshaping outcomes, and the definition of “indie” continues to evolve as projects grow in scale and reach.