Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Dominates The Game Awards 2025 with Record-Breaking Wins

The Game Awards 2025, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on December 11, opened with a striking emphasis on the independent game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This title distinguished itself early on by capturing the Best Independent Game award during the preshow segment, outshining notable sequels such as Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Immediately following this, the main ceremony began with a dramatic musical performance featuring operatic vocalists, a full orchestra, and electric guitar, performing compositions directly from Clair Obscur. This powerful introduction set a definitive tone for the evening, underscoring the game's central role in the show.

Clair Obscur entered the ceremony as a clear favorite for the event's most coveted honor, Game of the Year. Its early spotlight on the schedule seemed to cement this expectation. Indeed, the game prevailed in nearly every category it was nominated in, accumulating a total of nine awards. Its victory for Game of the Year elevated it above The Last of Us: Part 2, making it the most awarded game in the history of The Game Awards.

Despite the predictability of its sweep, the game itself was far from conventional. Originating from Sandfall Interactive, a French independent studio staffed by developers with prior experience at Ubisoft, Clair Obscur ventured away from current mainstream genres such as battle royales or open-world action games. Instead, it drew creative inspiration from turn-based role-playing games, reminiscent of classic Final Fantasy titles. The narrative offered an intimate and existential story within a world simultaneously whimsical and grand in scale.

Noteworthy performances included motion-capture artist Andy Serkis, alongside seasoned game actors Ben Starr and Jennifer English. English, who also won Best Performance for her role in the game, delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech addressing neurodivergent viewers. She expressed gratitude to the gaming community, describing it as a welcoming home for those who face challenges, stating, "I just want to say to every neurodivergent person watching in this room, because I know there's probably quite a lot of you. To all of you that feel like life is stuck on hard mode, this is for you, and thank you so much to the games community and industry for giving us, so many of us, a home."

The predominance of Clair Obscur reflected two broader themes evident throughout The Game Awards 2025: the ascendancy of independent game studios and the increasingly global nature of the industry recognition. Half of the nominees for Game of the Year belonged to the independent category, a label that has evolved over time to encompass titles with significant funding and publishing collaborations.

This evolution is partly due to The Game Awards' voting methodology, which incorporates input from over 150 international media outlets, including NPR. Each outlet independently classifies nominees within categories such as "independent game" or "action adventure game." Their consensus determines the shortlist, before final voting combines these expert opinions with online public votes, where the latter accounts for 10% of the overall scoring. With U.S.-based outlets now comprising only about 15% of the voting panel, winners reflect a more global, mainstream perspective than in previous years.

Clair Obscur's sweeping success—outperforming other worthy independent games—underscores the significant cultural and commercial influence a small, dedicated team can achieve. Contrary to perceptions of indie games as niche or prestige-focused, Clair Obscur's traction was amplified through robust word-of-mouth and inclusion on the Xbox Game Pass service, enabling widespread player access without the necessity of immediate purchase.

While independent games dominated, major corporate entities also secured notable accolades. After a year without recognition, Nintendo earned multiple awards for exclusives on the Switch 2 platform. Donkey Kong Bananza was awarded Best Family Game, while Mario Kart World received Best Sports/Racing. Grand Theft Auto 6 remained the Most Anticipated Game for the second consecutive year. Furthermore, the Players' Voice award, determined solely by public online votes, was captured by Wuthering Waves, a Chinese mobile game with a substantial user base.

Below is the comprehensive list of nominees and winners from The Game Awards 2025 (winners are in bold):

The ceremony balanced recognizing independent innovation with awarding longstanding franchises and corporate giants, reflecting the diverse and rapidly evolving landscape of the video game industry in 2025.