The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit media organisation of 1,200 media voters and 13,200 subscribers, has announced winners for its 21st annual awards program honouring video game design and programming.
The NAVGTR Awards honour 57 competitive categories recognising achievement in animation, art direction, character design, controls, game design, game engineering, musical score, sound effects, writing, and more. Since its inception, the academy has recognised over 5,679 talented individuals.
Leading all winning games is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (7), followed by Psychonauts 2 with five awards. Deathloop, Metroid Dread, and Resident Evil 4 VR each won three awards. Far Cry 6, Halo Infinite, It Takes Two, Life is Strange: True Colors, Little Nightmares II, Resident Evil Village, Returnal, Tales of Arise, and The Medium each won two awards. Additional winners include Age of Empires IV, Forza Horizon 5, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Artful Escape.
Deathloop earned highest honours as Game of the Year. It Takes Two, Returnal, The Medium, and Deathloop were the only original intellectual properties to win multiple awards.
Voters were polled and asked to identify the most interesting races. The writing awards were deemed the most interesting races. Psychonauts 2 won the award for Writing in a Comedy over The Artful Escape, The Good Life, It Takes Two, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Life is Strange: True Colors won the award for Writing in a Drama over Before Your Eyes, Far Cry 6, Little Nightmares II, and Twelve Minutes.
Richard Horvitz won the award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy. He was also the first person to win (for the same character) in this specific category when it was created in 2005. With two awards, he joins only three other performers who have multiple NAVGTR awards: Laura Bailey (two awards), Mark Hamill (two awards for playing the “Joker”), and Troy Baker (three awards, with two for the same character).
Among developers, Insomniac Games led developers with seven wins for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Double Fine Productions won five awards. Ubisoft won four awards. Arkane Studios, Armature Studio, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Nintendo, MercurySteam, 343 Industries, Bloober Team, Deck Nine, Hazelight Studios, Housemarque, and Tarsier Studios also won multiple awards.
Among publishers, Sony Interactive Entertainment led publishers with 11 awards, followed by Xbox Game Studios with nine awards. Bandai Namco and Capcom each won six awards as publishers. Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Bethesda Softworks, Facebook, Nintendo, Square Enix, and Bloober Team also won multiple awards.
Number of Awards Won per Game
07 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
05 Psychonauts 2
03 Deathloop
03 Metroid Dread
03 Resident Evil 4 VR
02 Far Cry 6
02 Halo Infinite
02 It Takes Two
02 Life is Strange: True Colors
02 Little Nightmares II
02 Resident Evil Village
02 Returnal
02 Tales of Arise
02 The Medium
Number of Awards Won per Development Studio
07 Insomniac Games, Inc.
05 Double Fine Productions
03 Arkane Studios
03 Armature Studio
03 Bandai Namco
03 Capcom
03 Nintendo EPD
03 MercurySteam
02 343 Industries
02 Bloober Team
02 Deck Nine
02 Hazelight Studios
02 Housemarque
02 Tarsier Studios
Number of Awards Won per Publisher
11 Sony Interactive Entertainment
09 Xbox Game Studios
06 Bandai Namco
06 Capcom
04 Electronic Arts
04 Ubisoft
03 Bethesda Softworks LLC
03 Facebook
03 Nintendo
03 Square Enix
02 Bloober Team
Number of Awards Won per Individual
03 Sébastien Mitton
02 Carlos Zarzuela Sánchez
02 Daniel Birczynski
02 Dinga Bakaba
02 Elliot Grossman
02 Jacobo Luengo
02 Jeremie Voillot
02 José María Navarro Herrera
02 Kevin Grow
02 Loic Couthier
02 Paul Mudra
02 Steve Ryder
02 Toivo Kallio