Skip to main content

‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ wins Game of the Year in 2018 Steam Awards

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the game that started the battle royale craze, was crowned Game of the Year at the 2018 Steam Awards.

Valve asked Steam users to choose their favorites across eight awards, with each participant given a set of digital trading cards for their votes. The results are now in, with Valve revealing the winner through a ceremony broadcast via Steam.tv.

Recommended Videos

Here are all the categories, nominees, and winners at the 2018 Steam Awards.

Game of the Year

  • PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
  • Monster Hunter: World
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance
  • Hitman 2
  • Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

VR Game of the Year 

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
  • VR Chat
  • Beat Saber
  • Fallout 4 VR
  • Superhot VR

Labor of Love – the best game that continues to receive new content despite being out for a while

  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • No Man’s Sky
  • Path of Exile
  • Dota 2
  • Stardew Valley

Best Developer

  • CD Projekt Red
  • Ubisoft
  • Bethesda
  • Rockstar Games
  • Digital Extremes
  • Square Enix
  • Capcom
  • Paradox Interactive
  • Bandai Namco
  • Klei

Best Environment – the game with the best scenery

  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Subnautica
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • Far Cry 5
  • Dark Souls III

Better With Friends – the best multiplayer game

  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
  • Payday 2
  • Dead by Daylight
  • CS: GO
  • Overcooked! 2

Best Alternate History – the game with the best tinkering on the history books

  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
  • Hearts of Iron IV
  • Civilization VI
  • Fallout 4

Most Fun With a Machine – the best game featuring machines

  • Rocket League
  • Euro Truck Simulator
  • Nier: Automata
  • Factorio
  • Space Engineers

PUBG is certainly deserving of grabbing Game of the Year in the 2018 Steam Awards. However, things have definitely changed since it first gripped the gaming world by launching the battle royale genre, as it has since been overshadowed by Fortnite. Apex Legends, which reached over 1 million players just eight hours after launch is also now in the mix.

The Fix PUBG campaign, which looked to address the worst bugs and performance problems in the game, was declared over in November last year, and the 2019 PUBG roadmap will focus on build stability and quality before the launch of new content. PUBG Lite, a slimmed-down, free-to-play version of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, also recently started beta testing.

It remains to be seen whether PUBG will be able to get back on top of the battle royale throne, but winning Game of the Year at the 2018 Steam Awards is certainly taking it in the right direction.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…
Starcraft is reportedly back, from the last developer you’d ever expect
Anniversary art for StarCraft.

A new Starcraft game has been the subject of discussion for a while now, and this morning, Money Today Broadcasting (MTN) announced Nexon had won the bid to work on a new game in the franchise. In addition, Nexon has also been selected as the publisher for a mobile version of Overwatch.

The report doesn't state what style of game the new Starcraft might be, but it probably won't be an RTS. There's a lot of evidence that it will be a shooter of some sort, as first claimed last year by Jason Schreier's book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. There have also been several job listing at Blizzard that point to the development of an "open-world shooter," although none specifically stated it would be part of the Starcraft IP.

Read more
Days Gone Remastered reveals a game that was both behind and ahead of its time
Deacon fires a gun while riding a motorcycle in Days Gone Remastered.

Is Days Gone a misunderstood masterpiece?

That’s a question that some gamers have been asking since April 26, 2019 -- the very day that Sony’s open-world zombie game first released. A wave of lukewarm critical reviews, including a dreaded “6.5” from IGN, kicked off a minor culture war as the game’s biggest defenders went to bat for it before it was even installed on most PS4s. Whether its genuine love or console tribalism fueling it, Days Gone’s legacy has long been held up by a vocal group of dedicated fans who are determined to give it a redemption arc.

Read more
One Oblivion player visited Hammerfell a game early
A lizard looks down on a town in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has rocketed in popularity as gamers revisit an old classic, but for some, Cyrodil isn't enough. In grand Bethesda tradition, several players have broken outside the boundaries of the map and traveled to the other regions shown in the world map, including Hammerfell — the suggested location for The Elder Scrolls VI.

You can't go to every region shown on the map, but you can visit quite a few. Players noted early on that the Throat of the World, the central mountain from Skyrim, is visible in the distance at certain points. Reddit user u/GnoblinXD said, "I've managed to find my way to both the Morrowind and Skyrim side of the border, but the walkable area does not extend very far. So no selfies from the Throat of the World, unfortunately."

Read more