The 2017 Golden Joystick Awards winners are in, revealed last night at the 35th annual ceremony that celebrated the best in gaming this year. Taking the Golden Joystick for ‘Best VR Game’ was Capcom’s horror-adventure Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), a game that equally supports PSVR and traditional monitors.
The ‘Best VR Game’ category was a new addition to the awards show this year. Since the show was opened last year to the voting public, the award represents the Best VR Game according to community choice. And the community that’s played Resident Evil 7 is truly massive by VR standards.
After its launch in January, some metrics showed that almost 10 percent of registered PSVR players were playing it concurrently. Capcom later announced early this month that Resident Evil 7 had some 475,000 PSVR players out of the ~4 billion units sold. When it comes to community choice, market penetration is definitely a deciding factor.
The nominees for Best VR Game were: Farpoint (PSVR), Lone Echo (Oculus Rift), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (PSVR), Star Trek: Bridge Crew (PSVR/Rift/Vive), and SUPERHOT VR (PSVR/Rift/Vive).
Besides Resident Evil 7, all of the nominees were built exclusively for VR.
Here’s the full list of last night’s winners:
- Best Storytelling – Horizon Zero Dawn
- Best Visual Design – Cuphead
- Best Audio – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Best Gaming Performance – Ashly Burch (Horizon Zero Dawn)
- Best Indie Game – Friday the 13th: The Game
- Best Multiplayer Game – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Studio of the Year – Nintendo EPD
- Best VR Game – Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- eSports Play of the Year – Agilities
- eSports Team of the Year – Seoul Dynasty (formerly Lunatic-Hai)
- eSports Game of the Year – Overwatch
- Best Streamer / Broadcaster – Markiplier
- Handheld / Mobile Game of the Year – Pokémon Sun and Moon
- Nintendo Game of the Year – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- PlayStation Game of the Year – Horizon Zero Dawn
- Xbox Game of the Year – Cuphead
- PC Game of the Year – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Critics’ Choice Award – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Breakthrough Award – Ashly Burch
- Hall of Fame – Final Fantasy
- Most Wanted Award – The Last of Us Part II
- Still Playing Award – World of Tanks
- Outstanding Contribution to the UK Games Industry – Debbie Bestwick MBE
- Lifetime Achievement – Sid Meier
- Ultimate Game of the Year – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
If you’re curious to see the full show, you can check it out on Twitch. Skip ahead to 1:21:00 to bypass the pre-show and get into the award ceremony.