Overview
The Game Critics Awards are decided by an independent group of worldwide media outlets. They have selected the most promising games of each Electronic Entertainment Expo since 1998, and have thus become recognized as the most respected "Best of" awards that come out of the annual show. Games qualify for nomination by having hands-on playable versions of the game at the show. Games that are not available for play by the judges (i.e. shown only in trailers, announcements, or developer walkthroughs) do not qualify, but can still be considered for Special Commendations.
Judges
As of E3 2019, there are sixty-five media outlets considered as judges for the awards. Included among these judges are:
North America
- ArsTechnica
- CG Magazine
- Easy Allies
- Electric Playground
- Entertainment Weekly
- Forbes
- Game Informer
- GamesRadar
- GameRanx
- Gannett News
- GameSpot
- Giant Bomb
- Hollywood Reporter
- IGN
- Kinda Funny
- LA Times
- Newsweek
- PC Gamer
- Polygon
- ShackNews
- US Gamer
- VentureBeat
- The Verge
- Waypoint
- What's Good Games
International
- Cultura Geek (Argentina)
- Maditos Nerds (Argentina)
- AusGamers (Australia)
- Press Start (Australia)
- Stevivor (Australia)
- Omelete/The Enemy (Brazil)
- Jovem Nerd (Brazil)
- Voxel (Brazil)
- A9VG (China)
- GamerSky (China)
- GameBlog (France)
- JeuxVideo Magazine (France)
- GamePro (Germany)
- GameStar (Germany)
- PCGames.de (Germany)
- EveryEye.it (Italy)
- Multiplayer.it (Italy)
- 4Gamer (Japan)
- EAA!! (Japan)
- Famitsu (Japan)
- Inven (Korea)
- Atomix (Mexico)
- Level Up (Mexico)
- Saudi Gamer (Middle East)
- True Gaming (Middle East)
- Tec.com.pe (Peru)
- GameCored (Peru)
- GRY Online (Poland)
- Hobbyconsolas (Spain)
- Meristation (Spain)
- Vandal.net (Spain)
- EuroGamer (UK)
- DailyStar (UK)
- EDGE (UK)
- GameReactor (UK)
- Metro (UK)
- PCGames N (UK)
- UNILAD Gaming (UK)
- VG 24/7 (UK)
- GameByte (UK)
Previous judges have included 1UP Network, 3DJuegos (Spain), AOL GameDaily, Associated Press, Business 2.0, CNN, Comcast Games, Destructoid, Digital Trends, EGM, The Escapist, Fortune, Game-Revolution, Gamer, Games for Windows Magazine, Giant, Glixel, Igromania, Joystiq, Kotaku, Machinima, Mashable, Nerdist, Official PlayStation Magazine, Official Xbox Magazine, Penny Arcade Report, Play Magazine, Playboy, PSM, Revision3, Rolling Stone, San Jose Mercury News, SpieleTipps, SpikeTV, Sun Media, TIME Magazine, UGO, UOL Jogos (Brazil), USA Today, Variety, Vice, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Wenner Media, Wired, and Yahoo!
Winners
The Game Critics Awards co-chairmen, Aaron Loeb and Rob Smith, determine what categories will be open each year. After E3, the judges submit their top five nominees for each category and from those, official nominees are named. The judges then vote for their top pick in each category among those final nominations. In the event of a tie, the title with the most total nominations will break the tie.
For a full list of nominations for each year, see the corresponding E3 page for that year.
BEST OF SHOW
BEST ORIGINAL GAME
2002 Best Original GameBEST CONSOLE GAME
1998 Best Console GameBEST PC GAME
2003 Best PC GameBEST HANDHELD / MOBILE GAME
2005 Best Handheld GameBEST PERIPHERAL / HARDWARE
1999 Best HardwareBEST ACTION GAME
2007 Best Action GameBEST ACTION / ADVENTURE GAME
2008 Best Action/Adventure Game
BEST FIGHTING GAME
2000 Best Fighting GameBEST INDEPENDENT / DOWNLOADABLE GAME
BEST MOTION SIMULATION
BEST ONLINE MULTIPLAYER
1998 Best Online MultiplayerBEST PLATFORMER
BEST RACING GAME
2004 Best Racing GameBEST ROLE PLAYING GAME
2009 Best RPGBEST SIMULATION GAME
2003 Best Simulation GameBEST SOCIAL/FAMILY/CASUAL/PUZZLE/PARLOR GAME
2001 Best Casual GameBEST SPORTS GAME
2006 Best Sports GameBEST STRATEGY GAME
2000 Best Strategy GameBEST VR / AR GAME
BEST ONGOING GAME
SPECIAL COMMENDATION FOR GRAPHICS
1999 GraphicsSPECIAL COMMENDATION FOR INNOVATION
SPECIAL COMMENDATION FOR SOUND
BEST BOOTH
BEST PARTY
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