The winners in 24 different categories, were revealed during the fifth annual Gaming Awards ceremony, which was hosted by IGN producer and writer Alanah Pearce, and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and esports broadcaster for H1Z1, Hearthstone and Call of Duty World League, Richard Campbell.
Award winner highlights include Game of the Year winner The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo); Mobile Game of the Year winner Fire Emblem Heroes (Nintendo, Intelligent Systems); Esports Game of the Year winner PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (Bluehole Studio Inc.); Tabletop Game of the Year winner Gloomhaven (Cephalofair Games); and Trending Game of the Year winner PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (Bluehole Studio Inc.).
Submissions for the SXSW Gaming Awards opened in August 2017 through the official Gaming Awards page and closed in December. Finalists for the SXSW Gaming Awards categories were selected and voted on by the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board and select staff, consisting of more than 40 industry experts well-versed in everything gaming and geek culture. Once finalists were revealed, the general public, along with the Advisory Board, were invited to cast their vote on IGN.com to help determine the winners in each category, which were unveiled and honored at tonight’s SXSW Gaming Awards ceremony.
2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners:
- Excellence in SFX: Super Mario Odyssey
- Excellence in Musical Score: NieR: Automata
- Excellence in Technical Achievement: NieR: Automata
- Excellence in Visual Achievement: Horizon Zero Dawn
- Excellence in Animation: Cuphead
- Excellence in Art: Cuphead
- Excellence in Convergence: Star Wars Battlefront II
- Excellence in Multiplayer: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- Most Promising New Intellectual Property: Horizon Zero Dawn
- Most Fulfilling Community-Funded Game: Night in the Woods
- Excellence in Gameplay: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Excellence in Design: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Excellence in Narrative: What Remains of Edith Finch
- Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award: Doki Doki Literature Club
- Gamer’s Voice Award Video Game: Battlesloths 2025: The Great Pizza Wars
- Gamer’s Voice Award Mobile Game: Tiny Bubbles
- Gamer’s Voice Award Tabletop Game: Sol: Last Days of a Star
- Gamer's Voice Award Virtual Reality Game: SUPERHOTVR
- Trending Game of the Year: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- Esports Game of the Year: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- Tabletop Game of the Year: Gloomhaven
- Virtual Reality Game of the Year: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Mobile Game of the Year: Fire Emblem Heroes
- Video Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild