The Game Awards 2024 was an award show to honor the best video games of 2024. It was the eleventh show hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of the Game Awards, and held with a live audience at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on December 12, 2024, and live streamed across online platforms globally. It featured musical performances from d4vd, Royal & the Serpent, Snoop Dogg, and Twenty One Pilots, and presentations from celebrity guests including Harrison Ford, Hideo Kojima, and Aaron Paul.
Astro Bot and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth led the nominees with seven each, and the former led the show with four wins, including Game of the Year. The inaugural Game Changer award honored Amir Satvat for helping workers in the industry find jobs amid mass layoffs. Several new games were announced, including Elden Ring Nightreign, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and The Witcher IV. The show was viewed by over 154 million streams, the most in its history to date. Journalists praised the game announcements, developer speeches, and deserving winners, though the eligibility of downloadable content led to mixed responses.
Background As with previous iterations of the Game Awards, the 2024 show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalist Geoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie Kim, while Richard Preuss returned as director and LeRoy Bennett as creative director and production designer, and Michael E. Peter joined as co-executive producer. The presentation, celebrating the show's tenth anniversary, took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on December 12, 2024, and was live streamed across more than 30 online platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Steam, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube. Alternative live streams offering American Sign Language and audio descriptions were also available on YouTube.
The 2024 stage featured more LED displays than its predecessors, an intentional choice by Bennett to change the show's look each year. Sydnee Goodman returned as host of the 30-minute preshow, titled Opening Act. Public tickets became available for purchase on November 1. Future Class organizer Emily Bouchac indicated that the Future Class initiative—an annual list of 50 individuals from the industry who best represent its future, introduced in 2020—would not induct new members in 2024, instead focusing on valuing existing alumni.
Announcements Preceding the Game Awards, several announcements were made during broadcasts by Wholesome Games and the Latin American Games Showcase on December 10, and Day of the Devs and the Women-Led Games Showcase on December 11. Fewer film and television announcements were made during the Game Awards 2024, instead focusing almost primarily on games; a preview for Squid Games second season was aired, but considered secondary to the promotion of the game Squid Game: Unleashed. Announcements on released and upcoming games were made for:
Borderlands 4 Crimson Desert Dave the Diver Den of Wolves Double Dragon Revive Dungeon & Fighter: Arad Dying Light: The Beast Final Fantasy VII Rebirth The First Berserker: Khazan Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Helldivers 2 Honkai: Star Rail Hunt: Showdown Infinity Nikki Mafia: The Old Country Monster Hunter Now Palworld Slay the Spire 2 Solo Leveling: Arise Squid Game: Unleashed Splitgate 2 Tekken 8 The Last of Us Part II Remastered The Outer Worlds 2 Zenless Zone Zero
New games announced included:
Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 Catly Dispatch Elden Ring Nightreign Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Kyora Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound Untitled Ōkami sequel One Move Away Onimusha: Way of the Sword Project Century Project Robot Rematch Shadow Labyrinth Solasta II Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Split Fiction Stage Fright Steel Hunters Thick as Thieves Turok: Origins Untitled Virtua Fighter game The Witcher IV
To promote its own game without the budget necessary for the Game Awards, Pengonauts Studio created its own humorous show with Joystick Ventures: the Game Awards for Games Who Can't Afford the Game Awards (TGAGWCAGA). The ceremony on December 13 showcased more than 70 games out of 600 submitted, with specific award names like "Most Likely to Make You Quit Your Job and Become an Artist".
Winners and nominees Nominees were announced on November 18, 2024. Any game released for public consumption on or before November 22 was eligible for consideration, including downloadable content (DLC), expansions, remakes, remasters, and seasonal content. The nominees were compiled by a jury panel composed of members from over 130 media outlets globally; ballots were due by November 12. Winners were determined between the jury (90 percent) and public voting (10 percent); the latter was held via the official website and on Discord until December 11. The exception was the publicly-voted Players' Voice, for which voting opened on December 2. Specialized juries decided nominees for categories like accessibility, adaptation, and esports. Two awards—Best Esports Coach and Best Esports Event—were discontinued, while an additional honorary award, Game Changer, was introduced. Approximately 112 million public votes were cast overall, a 25% increase from 2023.
As with the preceding year, the Game Awards partnered with map developer Studio 568 and artists Nighttimes and Spiral House to create an in-game hub world in Fortnite, allowing players to vote from November 25 to December 11 for their favorite user-created islands among ten nominees selected by Keighley and his team; the winner was announced during the ceremony. The hub world opened with a photorealistic "MetaHuman" model of Keighley, for which he was scanned in to Unreal Editor for Fortnite at 3Lateral in Manchester. Several critics found the model strange and uncanny. Keighley saw the event as "a prototype" for blending the Game Awards and in-game worlds.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on December 12, 2024. Astro Bot became the third game published by Sony Interactive Entertainment to win Game of the Year (after God of War in 2018 and The Last of Us Part II in 2020); its nomination marked Sony's ninth consecutive year in the category and thirteenth nomination overall. It was the second Best Family Game nominee to win the top prize (after It Takes Two in 2021). Balatro was the first solo-developed Game of the Year nominee (and second card game after Hearthstone in 2014), while Black Myth: Wukong was the first Chinese-developed nominee and Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree was the first DLC to be nominated.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirths Best Score and Music win was the second consecutive and third overall for the series (after VII Remake in 2020 and XVI in 2023). Melina Juergens became the first two-time Best Performance winner, having won for the same role in 2017, and Nomada Studio won its second Games for Impact award with Neva (after 2018's Gris. Faker's Best Esports Athlete win was his second consecutive and third overall, and League of Legendss Best Esports Game win was Riot Games's sixth consecutive and the game's fourth overall.
Awards Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger ().
Media
Game of the Year Astro Bot – Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment Balatro – LocalThunk / Playstack Black Myth: Wukong – Game Science Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix Metaphor: ReFantazio – Studio Zero / Sega | valign="top" | Astro Bot – Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment Balatro – LocalThunk / Playstack Black Myth: Wukong – Game Science Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix Metaphor: ReFantazio – Studio Zero / Sega |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Metaphor: ReFantazio – Studio Zero / Sega Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / Sega Senua's Saga: Hellblade II – Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios Silent Hill 2 – Bloober Team / Konami | valign="top" | Metaphor: ReFantazio – Studio Zero / Sega Astro Bot – Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment Black Myth: Wukong – Game Science Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment Neva – Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix Astro Bot – Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment Metaphor: ReFantazio – Studio Zero / Sega Silent Hill 2 – Bloober Team / Konami Stellar Blade – Shift Up / Sony Interactive Entertainment | valign="top" | Senua's Saga: Hellblade II – Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios Astro Bot – Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – Treyarch, Raven Software / Activision Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix Silent Hill 2 – Bloober Team / Konami |- ! style="background:#eedd82" | ! style="background:#eedd82" | |- | valign="top" | Melina Juergens as Senua – Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Briana White as Aerith Gainsborough – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Hannah Telle as Max Caulfield – Life Is Strange: Double Exposure Humberly González as Kay Vess – Star Wars Outlaws Luke Roberts as James Sunderland – Silent Hill 2 Neva – Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital Closer the Distance – Osmotic Studios / Skybound Games Indika – Odd Meter / 11 Bit Studios Life Is Strange: Double Exposure – Deck Nine / Square Enix Senua's Saga: Hellblade II – Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios Tales of Kenzera: Zau – Surgent Studios / Electronic Arts Balatro – LocalThunk / Playstack Animal Well – Shared Memory / Bigmode Lorelei and the Laser Eyes – Simogo / Annapurna Interactive Neva – Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital UFO 50 – Mossmouth Balatro – LocalThunk / Playstack Animal Well – Shared Memory / Bigmode Manor Lords – Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse Pacific Drive – Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive The Plucky Squire – All Possible Futures / Devolver Digital Helldivers II – Arrowhead Game Studios / Sony Interactive Entertainment Destiny 2: The Final Shape – Bungie Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred – Blizzard Entertainment Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail – Square Enix Fortnite – Epic Games Baldur's Gate 3 – Larian Studios Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail – Square Enix Fortnite – Epic Games Helldivers II – Arrowhead Game Studios / Sony Interactive Entertainment No Man's Sky – Hello Games Balatro – LocalThunk / Playstack AFK Journey – Lilith Games / Farlight Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket – Creatures Inc., DeNA / The Pokémon Company Wuthering Waves – Kuro Games Zenless Zone Zero – miHoYo Batman: Arkham Shadow – Camouflaj / Oculus Studios Arizona Sunshine Remake – Vertigo Games Asgard's Wrath 2 – Sanzaru Games / Oculus Studios Metal: Hellsinger VR – Lab42, The Outsiders / Funcom Metro Awakening – Vertigo Games / Deep Silver Black Myth: Wukong – Game Science Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – Treyarch, Raven Software / Activision Helldivers II – Arrowhead Game Studios / Sony Interactive Entertainment Stellar Blade – Shift Up / Sony Interactive Entertainment Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Saber Interactive / Focus Entertainment Astro Bot – Team Asobi / Sony Interactive Entertainment The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Nintendo EPD, Grezzo / Nintendo Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – Ubisoft Montpellier / Ubisoft Silent Hill 2 – Bloober Team / Konami Star Wars Outlaws – Massive Entertainment / Ubisoft Metaphor: ReFantazio – Studio Zero / Sega Dragon's Dogma 2 – Capcom Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Square Enix