What just happened? The Game Awards wrapped up a few hours ago, finishing an event that saw the usual slew of trailers and announcements. As expected, Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarök were the big winners on the night, with FromSoftware’s title taking the coveted Game of the Year award. What did come as a surprise was the now-arrested stage invader, who managed to say a few bizarre words as the Elden Ring devs accepted their prize.
Elden Ring was always the favorite to win Game of the Year, even with God of War: Ragnarök in the same category. But the night will be remembered for the stage invader who got out of their seat and followed Elden Ring’s director Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team onto the stage as they went to collect the award. Jump to the end of the video above to see what happened.
The way the person casually walked alongside the devs and then stood behind them on stage ensured security and the award winners assumed he was supposed to be there. As the group started walking away and the outro music began playing, the hijacker jumped on the microphone. “I want to thank everybody and say that I think I want to nominate this award to my Reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton,” they said.
Host Geoff Keighley returned to the stage looking perturbed but never mentioned the incident. He later tweeted, “the individual who interrupted our Game of the Year moment has been arrested.”
The individual who interrupted our Game of the Year moment has been arrested.
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 9, 2022
Twitter users have posted Discord chat logs and text messages showing that the invasion was pre-planned. One person said the invader revealed their intentions to them while they were playing Warzone four days ago. They are referred to as “the same kid who was on Info Wars,” which, for those don’t know, is Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory site.
As for the awards themselves, Elden Ring won Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best Role Playing in addition to GOTY. God of War: Ragnarök had been nominated in ten categories and won seven of them, including the best performance award for Christopher Judge as Kratos.
Looking at some of the awards, Final Fantasy 14 won Best Community Support, Bayonetta 3 won Best Action Game, and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope won Best Sim/Strategy Game. Arcane: League of Legends won best adaptation, beating the excellent Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
Full list of Game Awards 2022 nominees and winners:
Game of the Year
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Elden Ring – WINNER
- God of War Ragnarok
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Game Direction
- Elden Ring – WINNER
- God of War Ragnarok
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
- Stray
Best Narrative
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarok – WINNER
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
Best Art Direction
- Elden Ring – WINNER
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Horizon: Forbidden West
- Scorn
- Stray
Best Score/Music
- Olivier Deriviere – A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Tsukasa Saitoh – Elden Ring
- Bear McCreary – God of War: Ragnarok – WINNER
- Two Feathers – Metal Hellsinger
- Yasunori Mitsuda
Best Audio Design
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarok – WINNER
- Gran Turismo 7
- Horizon Forbidden West
Best Performance
- Ashly Birch – Horizon: Forbidden West
- Charlotte McBurney – A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Christopher Judge – God of War: Ragnarok – WINNER
- Manon Gage – Immortality
- Sunny Suljic – God of War: Ragnarok
Games for Impact
- A Memoir Blue
- As Dusk Falls – WINNER
- Citizen Sleeper
- Endling – Extinction is Forever
- Hindsight
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Best Ongoing Game
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy 14 Online – WINNER
- Fortnite
- Genshin Impact
Best Indie Game
- Cult of the Lamb
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Stray – WINNER
- TUNIC
Best Debut Indie Game
- Neon White
- NORCO
- Stray – WINNER
- TUNIC
- Vampire Survivors
Best Mobile Game
- Apex Legends Mobile
- Diablo Immortal
- Genshin Impact
- Marvel Snap – WINNER
- Tower of Fantasy
Best Community Support
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy 14 Online – WINNER
- Fortnite
- No Man’s Sky
Best VR/AR Game
- After the Fall
- Among Us VR
- BONELAB
- Moss: Book II – WINNER
- Red Matter 2
Innovation in Accessibility
- As Dusk Falls
- God of War: Ragnarok – WINNER
- Returnal
- Return to Monkey Island
- The Last of Us Part 1
- The Quarry
Best Action Game
- Bayonetta 3 – WINNER
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Best Action/Adventure Game
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- God of War Ragnarok – WINNER
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- TUNIC
Best RPG
- Elden Ring – WINNER
- Live a Live
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Triangle Strategy
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Fighting Game
- DNF Duel
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
- The King of Fighters 15
- MultiVersus – WINNER
- Sifu
Best Family Game
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land – WINNER
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Splatoon 3
Best Sports/Racing Game
- F1 22
- FIFA 23
- NBA 2K23
- Gran Turismo 7 – WINNER
- OlliOlli World
Best SIM/Strategy Game
- Dune: Spice Wars
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – WINNER
- Total War: WARHAMMER 3
- Two Point Campus
- Victoria 3
Best Multiplayer Game
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Multiversus
- Overwatch 2
- Splatoon 3 – WINNER
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Content Creator of the Year
- Karl Jacobs
- Ludwig – WINNER
- Nibellion
- Nobru
- QTCinderella
Best Esports Athlete
- Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)
- Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL)
- Finn “karrigan” Andersen ( (FaZe Clan – CS:GO)
- Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
- Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant) – WINNER
Best Esports Coach
- Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
- Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT) – WINNER
- Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
- Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
- Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)
Best Esports Event
- EVO 2022
- 2022 League of Legends World Championship – WINNER
- PGL Major Antwerp 2022
- The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
- VALORANT Champions 2022
Best Esports Game
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- DOTA 2
- League of Legends
- Rocket League
- VALORANT – WINNER
Best Esports Team
- DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
- FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
- Gen.G (League of Legends)
- LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
- LOUD (Valorant) – WINNER
Most Anticipated Game
- Final Fantasy 16
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Resident Evil 4
- Starfield
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – WINNER
Best Adaptation
- Arcane: League of Legends – WINNER
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
- The Cuphead Show!
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Uncharted