The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3 takes top honors at GDC Awards while Her Story racks up other wins

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from developer CD Projekt Red beat out rivals such as Fallout 4 (which won at the recent DICE Awards) at the Game Developers Choice Awards, the equivalent of the Oscars for video games. Sam Barlow’s indie hit Her Story came away with three awards.

Here’s the list of winners of the 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Game of the Year

WINNER: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red)

Other nominees: 

Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (From Software / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Rocket League (Psyonix)

Innovation Award

WINNER: Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Best Debut

WINNER: Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)

Best Design

WINNER: Rocket League (Psyonix)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

WINNER: Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Best Visual Art

WINNER: Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Best Narrative

WINNER: Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Best Audio

WINNER: Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Best Technology

WINNER The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)

Audience Award

WINNER: Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment)

Pioneer Award

WINNER: Markus “Notch” Persson

Ambassador Award

WINNER: Tracy Fullerton

Lifetime Achievement Award

WINNER: Todd Howard

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.