Nominated 13 times, winning 9: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 set new records at the 2025 Game Awards. EA SPORTS came away empty-handed in the “Sports and Racing Games” category despite having two nominations.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had already set a record with its 13 nominations. Nine awards ultimately went to the turn-based role-playing game from French developer Sandfall Interactive on Friday night. This is also a new record, previously held by The Last of Us Part II with its seven awards in 2020.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 not only won Game of the Year, but also awards for Best Direction, Best Music, and Best Indie Game, among others. Lead actress Jennifer English also received the award for Best Performance. Co-favorites such as Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei came away empty-handed amid the one-sided flood of titles.
Mario Kart World beats FC 26 and F1 25
Speaking of coming away empty-handed, EA SPORTS also suffered this fate, even though the Vancouver-based studio was nominated twice in the “Best Sports/Racing Game” category. However, EA SPORTS FC 26 and F1 25 had to give way to Nintendo’s Mario Kart World.
Arc Raiders was named Best Multiplayer Title, while Counter-Strike 2 was voted Best eSports Game. Fittingly, Vitality’s CS2 team won the Team Award. The French team won numerous titles in 2025, including the IEM in Katowice and the Major in Austin.
The best eSports player is South Korean LoL pro Ji-Hoon ‘Chovy’ Jeong. With Gen.G, he won both the MSI and the Esports World Cup as well as the LCK this year. At Worlds, however, he and his team were defeated by KT Rolster in the semifinals – T1 triumphed once again.
Fans don’t see Clair Obscur in the lead
The Game Awards nominees are selected by more than 100 gaming media outlets and influencers. The final decisions are based 90 percent on the votes of expert juries and 10 percent on the community. The exception is the “Player’s Voice” award, which is decided entirely by fan voting. Wuthering Waves prevailed over Clair Obscur.
