Grounded Wins Xbox GOTY At Golden Joystick Awards 2022

Elden Ring crowned the "Ultimate" GOTY

by Liam Doolan & Fraser Gilbert Wed 23rd Nov 2022

Grounded Wins Xbox GOTY At Golden Joystick Awards 2022

The Golden Joystick Awards 2022 took place yesterday, and Obsidian's fantastic garden multiplayer game Grounded took home the 'Xbox Game of the Year' award.

Grounded managed to beat Halo Infinite, Scorn, As Dusk Falls, Sniper Elite 5 and Dying Light 2: Stay Human to secure this award. A bit of a strange list of games there, but a worthy winner in any case!

The 'Ultimate' GOTY award went to FromSoftware's Elden Ring. The same title also picked up awards for 'Best Visual Design' and 'Best Multiplayer', and the developer won studio of the year. Vampire Survivors got the 'Breakthrough Award' and another one of Phil Spencer's favourites Cult of the Lamb got the Best Indie Game, while Manon Gage won the Best Performer award for her role as Marissa Marcel in the outstanding Immortality.

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Here are all the winners from this year's event (if you want a full list of nominees, head over to GamesRadar):

Best Storytelling - Horizon Forbidden West
Still Playing Award - Genshin Impact
Best Visual Design - Elden Ring
Studio of the Year - FromSoftware
Best Game Expansion - Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
Best Early Access Launch - Slime Rancher 2
Best Indie Game - Cult of the Lamb
Best Multiplayer Game - Elden Ring
Best Audio - Metal: Hellsinger
Best Game Trailer - Goat Simulator 3
Best Game Community - Final Fantasy 14
Best Gaming Hardware - Steam Deck
Breakthrough Award - Vampire Survivors
Critics' Choice Award - Elden Ring
Best Performer - Manon Gage (Marissa Marcel, Immortality)
Nintendo Game of the Year - Pokemon Legends Arceus
PC Game of the Year - Return to Monkey Island
PlayStation Game of the Year - Stray
Xbox Game of the Year - Grounded
Most Wanted Game - Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Ultimate Game of the Year - Elden Ring

Grounded 1.0 was officially released in September after having spent the past couple of years in Game Preview form, and was positively received by critics and fans alike across Xbox and PC.

What do you think of the winners list? Have you played Grounded yet? Comment below.

[source gamesradar.com]

Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.

1
themightyant
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

An interesting list but a few absolute howlers.

As @grumpypotato said PC GOTY...

Or PS GOTY they gave it to Stray... Seriously WTF? I liked the game but ultimate goty was 1) ER 2) GOW:R 3) H:FW how do you then give it to Stray... weird AF

Regardless congratulations to all the winners and nominees. Even with all the delays it's been a good year to be a gamer.

2
trev666
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

Best Storytelling - Horizon Forbidden West

not a chance the story was poor the first game was alot better

3
Sakisa
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

Deserved. Grounded is an amazing game.

4
somnambulance
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

@trev666 @themightyant I’d vote for Stray over Ragnarok and HFW, personally.

Also, agree that it’s a travesty HFW won for narrative, which was ironically the absolute worst part of the game. XC3 deserved that award.

Not sure how I feel about Grounded winning. I mean, it’s fine. It didn’t have much competition. Personally, despite some glaring flaws, Halo Infinite is still likely the best game of the competition. Seriously though, why did they exclude Immortality from the Xbox Games category? For me, it’d be no contest with that title.

5
munstahunta
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

Pokémon arceus switch game of the year , xenoblade chronicles 3 is way better

6
themightyant
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

@somnambulance personal preference sure, we all like different things. But it's just weird that Ragnarok and Forbidden West were voted #2 & #3 on 'Ultimate GOTY' category but snubbed for PS GOTY, and critically there's no contest. But obviously they must be different voting blocks.

Not that any of it matters, it's just subjective opinions, just seemed weird is all.

Not played XC3 properly yet, despite getting it day 1, looking forward to finally digging in over xmas when I have some needed time off.

7
BRT15
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

Horizon Forbidden West winning best storytelling? By that same token, Rings of Power should win Best Writing in the Golden Globes.

HFW was my biggest disappointment in terms of gaming this year and there are plenty better stories in games this year.

8
BacklogBrad
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

Elden Ring for multiplayer goty is weird. Isn't that mostly just a co op option to summon someone else into your game when you find it too hard?

Haven't played elden ring but I still feel confident that grounded or the best call of duty in years deserve this over it.

9
ParsnipHero
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

@Somebody I agree. Elden Ring deserves tonnes of praise but as a multiplayer title? Not sure about that.

10
somnambulance
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

@Somebody You can legitimately play long durations of the game in multiplayer. I played a lot of Elden Ring with friends either in my world or in theirs. It’s a social game. While you are essentially a summons, you’re also playing with others. I didn’t think of it as a multiplayer game, per se, but honestly it might be the multiplayer title I enjoyed the most with friends this year, looking back.

11
somnambulance
Wed 23rd Nov 2022

@themightyant it’s totally odd to me too. I thought for sure Ragnarok would receive that award, but perhaps too, as this is based on voting, maybe people just stopped voting after the big award? Could be a big indicator? Or not. I dunno. Maybe there’s a bigger loop of Elden Ring/Stray fans than anyone realized. At least I’m not alone in this world. Lol

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