Balatro cleaned house at the 2025 Game Developers Choice Awards, named Game of the Year, Best Debut, and winner of the Innovation Award reports Variety.
The 25th annual awards were presented March 19 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco amid the Game Developers Conference.
Best Debut
- Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)
Best Visual Art
- Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
Best Audio
- Astro Bot (PlayStation Studios Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Narrative
- Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero / ATLUS)
Social Impact Award
- Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine Games / Square Enix)
Innovation Award
- Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)
https://a4b366d450b93c6468bb976942caa2b6.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html Best Technology
- Astro Bot (PlayStation Studios Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Design
- Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)
Audience Award
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
Game of the Year
- Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)
Pioneer Award
- Lucas Pope
The Pioneer Award (formerly known as the First Penguin Award) celebrates those individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture video game history – paving the way for the myriads who followed them.
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Sam Lake
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole.
And below are the winners of the 27th annual Independent Games Festival Awards (IGFA)
Excellence in Visual Art ($2,000)
- Hauntii (Moonloop Games / Firestoke)
Excellence in Audio ($2,000)
- Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
Excellence in Design ($2,000)
- Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)
Excellence in Narrative ($2,000)
- Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
Nuovo Award ($2,000)
- Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
Best Student Game ($2,000)
- Slot Waste (Vinny Roca)
Audience Award ($2,000)
- The WereCleaner (The WereCleaner Team / USC Games)
alt.ctrl.GDC Award ($2,000)
- ChromaCorp (Art Center)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000)
- Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)