And the Game Award Goes To...

About Last Night…

Did you catch Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards last night? Viewership keeps going up year after year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. Grand Theft Auto VI won its first of possibly many Game Awards, securing the most anticipated game of the year.

Metaphor: ReFantazio got a lot of love, and Balatro was recognized for best (debut) indie game and mobile game. The big winner of the night though, was Astro Bot, and it’s well deserved. In a stroke of luck, the game also just got a big holiday update you can check out.

And that doesn’t even get into the game announcements.

• Naughty Dog revealed its upcoming game, Intergalactic, which is full of product placement

• Elden Ring lives on with a co-op fast-paced spin-off, Nightreign

• Ciri will lead the next entry in The Witcher game series

• Okami’s getting a sequel

• Ryu Ga Gotoku is working on a new Virtua Fighter and something called Project Century

But a lot of other news happened before last night, too! Let’s get into it.

Itch.io Was Taken Down by Funko… Or Maybe Not?

You might have seen earlier this week that Funko issued a claim to take down itch.io, the indie game market. However, Funko has denied that claim, asserting that it only requested to take down one specific URL, not the entire site. But things get a little weirder than that, too.

God of War Ragnarok Art Director Raf Grassetti Joins Naughty Dog

Considering the recent reveal of Intergalactic, you have to wonder just how Grassetti is going to impact Naughty Dog’s upcoming sci-fi game. There were some sci-fi-ish landscapes in Ragnarok, so I could see it.

Game Announcements That Weren’t at The Game Awards

• Golf With Your Friends 2 Brings More Golf Madness Next Year

• Toem 2 Promises More Monochrome Photography Shenanigans

• Space Engineers 2 Announced, Release Date Coming Next Week

• The One Ring Realms of the Three Rings Brings Elven Wisdom To Tables

• Sunless Sea Director Announces New Narrative CRPG Travelling At Night

• Stop-Motion Animation Studio Aardman Collaborating With Pokemon for a 2027 Project

Marvel Rivals Player Count Reaches 10 Million in "Just 72 Hours"

Is it the Overwatch killer? Maybe, maybe not, but regardless, this free-to-play literal hero shooter has taken the internet by storm. And I get why; it nails all the basics it needs to simply be fun, no strings attached (except ludicrous monetization, of course).

It’s not the only free-to-play game capturing hearts this past week though. Infinity Nikki, the console-mobile dress-em-up, also hit 10 million users in roughly four days.

In similar news, indie darling and award winner Balatro sold 3.5 million units since its launch, which is well deserved.

Suicide Squad Seasons Ending in January, Offline Mode Available Today

Even with Superman’s super vision, who could have seen this coming?

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Update Adds Splitscreen Play to All Stages and More

It might not have won the best fighting game at the Game Awards, but it did score a W with this update, finally allowing couch competitive gameplay, just like the good ol’ days. It also adds a new, even faster Dragon Dash.