GAMES
Game Awards 2020: PlayStation vs. Xbox – Who Won More
With The Game Awards 2020 all said and done, it’s time to look back at whether PlayStation or Xbox “won” this year’s somewhat unorthodox ceremony.
With The Game Awards 2020 in the rear-view, it’s interesting to see which games, consoles, and publishers managed to win the most awards. While the success of PlayStation or Xbox’s consoles over its competitor’s isn’t necessarily determined by how many of its exclusives won awards, the metric is certainly a piece of the overall PlayStation-versus-Xbox “console war.”
There are few years more important for gaming than when new PlayStation and Xbox consoles drop, but without games, the new consoles would be reduced to streaming-capable Blu-ray players. Both console families had interesting showings and announcements at The Game Awards, but one clearly took home more awards than the other.
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Based solely on the number of console exclusives that won awards, Sony definitely came out on top, with 11 total wins and 24 nominations. The Last of Us 2 won seven awards, beating out the previous record of four wins for Disco Elysium, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Overwatch in 2019, 2018, and 2016, respectively. The Last of Us 2 also beat out Death Stranding’s 10 nominations in 2019, with 11 of its own.
Which 2020 Game Awards PlayStation Won Over Xbox
The dramatic action-adventure title from Naughty Dog won 2020’s coveted Game of the Year award, as well as Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Audio Design, Best Performance, Best Action/Adventure Game, and Innovation in Accessibility. Other wins for PlayStation came with Best RPG and Best Score and Music for Final Fantasy VII Remake, as well as Best Art Direction and Player’s Voice for Ghost of Tsushima.
Conversely, Xbox’s console-exclusive nominees won just two awards based on eight nominations, taking home the Games for Impact award for Tell Me Why and the Best Sim/Strategy award for Microsoft Flight Simulator. While these raw numbers may seem abysmal for Xbox, it’s worth noting that Microsoft and Sony have taken very different strategies when it comes to exclusives this console generation – in addition to factors like timed-exclusive releases, as Final Fantasy VII Remake is only a PlayStation-exclusive until its exclusivity period ends in March 2021.
Most of The Game Awards 2020’s big game announcements didn’t come from Sony or Microsoft, but each did have a few surprises in store. Despite telling viewers beforehand to lower their expectations, Xbox surprise-revealed the Perfect Dark reboot, which likely excited fans of the long-dormant Rare franchise. Xbox also announced Ark 2, and PlayStation revealed the charming Season and F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch. There’s no word yet on whether games like Ark 2 and F.I.S.T., which aren’t published by either Microsoft or Sony, are timed exclusives. But with Perfect Dark alone, Xbox’s reveals likely made a bigger impression than PlayStation’s.
This year’sThe Game Awards saw exciting new games announced and records broken. As this incontrovertibly terrible year comes to a close, the time has come to look toward what’s next. Based on what was shown and announced at this year’s ceremony, the future of gaming seems brighter than ever.
Author: Dimitri is a freelance video game writer for Screen Rant. He is a lover of movies and video games and an even bigger lover of writing about them. In addition to writing, he is a video producer and Partnered Twitch streamer. Growing up in the Seattle area, he attended Washington State University and enjoys watching the Seahawks and the Sounders (usually) win.
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