"Red Dead Redemption 2" made an early impact on The Game Award's fifth annual event in Los Angeles. But "God of War" prevailed in the end.
The blockbuster Western open world epic from Rockstar Games won the first award presented during the event—best narrative—which kicked off at 9 p.m. ET and can be seen on many sites including YouTube.
Soon after, Roger Clark, who voiced the starring character in the game, Arthur Morgan, won for best performance. The game also won for the award for best music/score, and best audio design.
Actor and director Jonah Hill ("Mid90s") presented the Industry Icon award to Greg Thomas, president of Visual Concepts, which makes the NBA 2K games. "This has never been about making a name for myself, it's always been about making great games," he said.
But "God of War" made an early mark winning best game direction and best action adventure game, but then won the biggest award of the night, Game of the Year—besting "Red Dead Redemption 2," "Assassin's Creed Odyssey," "Celeste," "Marvel's Spider-Man," and "Monster Hunter: World."
For a complete list of winners go to The Game Awards site.
Of course, it wasn't just about the awards. The event also shined a spotlight on upcoming games in development, including superhero epic "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3," which will debut exclusively on the Nintendo Switch video game console, a new entry for the classic fighting series "Mortal Kombat," and action game "Far Cry: New Dawn."
The biggest game on the planet right now, "Fortnite," also made an appearance. Off the heels of launching Season 7 and its Creative mode, Epic Games announced The Block, a new space available in the game where players can view the best creations assembled in Creative mode.
"Fortnite" also notched two awards: Best Multiplayer Game and Best Online Game. Meanwhile, top "Fortnite" player Ninja won Content Creator of the Year.
Tim Cain, one of the original "Fallout" designers and Leonard Boyarsky ("Fallout," "Diablo") of Obsidian Entertainment, which developed "Fallout: New Vegas" premiered a "The Outer Worlds," The single-player role-playing game is due in 2019.
BioWare GM Casey Hudson debuted a new trailer for its game "Anthem," out in February, in which players are "an armored superhero in a fantasy setting. .. Like any BioWare game, we are building a whole world to discover."
But BioWare also teased a new Dragon Age game, "The Dread Wolf Rises." Executive producer Mark Darrah then posted a note on BioWare's blog. "While we won't be sharing any details for now, I can tell you we have been building a new team around a core of 'Dragon Age' veterans, people I've worked with on 'Dragon Age,' 'Jade Empire,' and some of whom I've worked with since the 'Baldur's Gate' days," he said.
Actor Joel McHale ("Santa Clarita Diet"), before presenting the award for best esports player said, "whoever wins is basically the LeBron James of sitting."
The winner: Dominique "SonicFox" McLean.
At the outset of the show, host and show creator Geoff Keighley kicked it off with The Game Awards orchestra, conducted by the "Mission: Impossible—Fallout" composer Lorne Balfe, playing the show's new theme.
Explore further: 'Red Dead Redemption 2' online game set to launch beta on Tuesday