Thousands of joystick jockeys and a smattering of Hollywood stars descended upon downtown LA’s Peacock Theater on Thursday to celebrate the best and brightest in video games at the Game Awards.
The 11th annual ceremony is often called the “Oscars of gaming” — but the presentation of awards is where its similarities to the Academy Awards end. It’s a rowdy night that welcomes not just industry leaders, but real fans, who swap their gaming headsets for cocktail attire as they nerd out together.
And as the worlds of technology and tinseltown overlap more and more with high-profile gaming adaptations like “The Last of Us,” “A Minecraft Movie” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the Game Awards also attracted a menagerie of major Hollywood players.
The A-list cast of Paramount’s upcoming adaptation of “Street Fighter,” one of the highest-grossing games of all time, was naturally on hand to hype up the crowd in between awards.
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” star Noah Centineo, prolific wrestler Cody Rhodes, comedian Andrew Schulz and “Game of Thrones” actor Jason Momoa were met by deafening screams and rapturous applause as they gave fans their first sneak peek at their roles in the action-packed 2026 movie.
Momoa barreled onto the stage with gusto, calling himself a “lifelong ‘Street Fighter’ fan” and joking that he threatened to kill the film’s producers if they didn’t cast him as Blanka, a feral jungle dwelling brawler with green skin.
Later in the evening, “Crazy Rich Asians” actress Gemma Chan made an appearance to introduce another A-lister joining her upcoming game, “007: First Light.” Singer Lenny Kravitz was revealed as James Bond’s primary antagonist, Bawma, in the highly-anticipated title.
The four-time Grammy winner then took the stage himself, dressed as his villainous new character in a mustard yellow suit with a snakeskin tank peeking out beneath.
“Where others see chaos, Bawma sees freedom,” Kravitz said, calling him “a wild, unpredictable ruler of Africa’s biggest black market hub.”
“Stranger Things” star, and Lily Allen’s ex, David Harbour was positively giddy as he introduced a brand new entry into the “Total War” franchise, based on the beloved British tabletop game “Warhammer.”
“Some of you may not know this, but I am a huge fan of tabletop gaming. I’ve painted endless miniatures and I’ve spent a crazy amount of time dropping dice under a table,” Harbour said, revealing he’ll star in the upcoming game, “Total War.”
But no star shined brighter than the original diva herself: Miss Piggy.
The well-dressed, sassy Muppet made frequent appearances alongside the evening’s host, Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley, and even made a few passes at him — don’t tell Kermit!
The porcine icon capped off the evening alongside fellow “The Muppet Show” character, Rowlf, singing a lively duet about their favorite video games, from “Fortnite” to “The Legend of Zelda.”
Other celebs in attendance included Oscar-nominated “Westworld” alum Jeffrey Wright, “We Were Liars” star Rahul Kohli, blockbuster director J.J. Abrams, “Resident Evil” actress Mila Jovovich and rock band Evanescence, who brought the house down with a performance of their hit “Afterlife” from Netflix’s “Devil May Cry.”
Going into Thursday evening’s ceremony, indie title “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33,” fronted by “Daredevil” star Charlie Cox, led the nominations with a record 13 nods.
As expected, it similarly emerged as the most-recognized game of the evening with a whopping nine wins, including top prize Game of the Year and a trophy for Best Performance from actress Jennifer English.
See all the night’s winners from The Game Awards, bolded below:
Game of the Year Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Donkey Kong Bananza Hades II Hollow Knight: Silksong Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Best Game Direction Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Ghost of Yōtei Hades II Split Fiction
Best Adaptation A Minecraft Movie Devil May Cry The Last of Us: Season 2 Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Until Dawn
Best Narrative Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Ghost of Yōtei Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Silent Hill f
Best Art Direction Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Death Stranding 2: On The Beach Ghost of Yōtei Hades II Hollow Knight: Silksong
Best Score and Music Hollow Knight: Silksong Hades II Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Ghost of Yōtei Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Best Audio Design Battlefield 6 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Ghost of Yōtei Silent Hill f
Best Performance Ben Starr (Expedition 33) Charlie Cox (Expedition 33) Erika Ishii (Ghost of Yotei) Jennifer English (Expedition 33) Konatsu Kato (Silent Hill f) Troy Baker (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle)
Innovation In Accessibility Assassin’s Creed Shadows Atomfall Doom: The Dark Ages EA Sports FC 26 South of Midnight
Games for Impact Consume Me Despelote Lost Records: Bloom & Rage South of Midnight Wanderstop
Best Ongoing Game Final Fantasy XIV Fortnite Helldivers 2 Marvel Rivals No Man’s Sky
Best Community Support Baldur’s Gate 3 Final Fantasy XIV Fortnite Helldivers 2 No Man’s Sky
Best Independent Game Absolum Ball x Pit Blue Prince Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Hades II Hollow Knight: Silksong
Best Debut Indie Game Blue Prince Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Despelote Dispatch
Best Mobile Game Destiny: Rising Persona 5: The Phantom X Sonic Rumble Umamusume: Pretty Derby Wuthering Waves
Best VR/AR Game Alien: Rogue Incursion Arken Age Ghost Town Marvel’s Deadpool VR The Midnight Walk
Best Action Game Battlefield 6 Doom: The Dark Ages Hades II Ninja Gaiden 4 Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Best Action/Adventure Game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Ghost of Yōtei Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Hollow Knight: Silksong Split Fiction
Best RPG Avowed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Kingdom Come: Deliverance II The Outer Worlds 2 Monster Hunter Wilds
Best Fighting Game 2XKO Capcom Fighting Collection 2 Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage
Best Family Game Donkey Kong Bananza LEGO Party! LEGO Voyagers Mario Kart World Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Split Fiction
Best Sim/Strategy Game The Alters FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles Jurassic World Evolution 3 Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Tempest Rising Two Point Museum
Best Sports/Racing EA Sports FC 26 F1 25 Mario Kart World Rematch Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
Best Multiplayer Arc Raiders Battlefield 6 Elden Ring Nightreign Peak Split Fiction
Most Anticipated Game 007 First Light Grand Theft Auto VI Marvel’s Wolverine Resident Evil Requiem The Witcher IV
Content Creator of the Year Caedrel Kai Cenat MoistCr1TiKaL Sakura Miko The Burnt Peanut
Best Esports Game Counter-Strike 2 Dota 2 League of Legends Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Valorant
Best Esports Athlete brawk Chovy f0rsakeN Kakeru MenaRD Zyw0o
Best Esports Team Gen.G – League of Legends NRG – Valorant Team Falcons – DOTA 2 Team Liquid PH – Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Team Vitality – Counter-Strike 2
Players’ Voice Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Dispatch Genshin Impact Hollow Knight: Silksong Wuthering Waves
The post Jason Momoa, Lenny Kravitz, Miss Piggy nerd out at ‘Oscars of gaming’ appeared first on Page Six.
