The Game Awards 2020 took place in the early hours of this morning, it's the sixth annual awards ceremony of its kind hosted by Geoff Keighley, and traditionally there have been many Nintendo related announcements at these shows in addition to a lot of other exclusive 'world premiere's' encompassing most of the games industry in general.

Many staff and forum members stayed up to watch the show live, and indeed, there were some good Nintendo annoucements which made it worth sticking it out through all of the general games media/corporate promotion items, last year the Xbox Series X was announced, this year it seems that there is a new Perfect Dark game in development for the new console, albeit under a different developer called The Initiative, and while it might be a far cry from the N64 original Perfect Dark released twenty years ago, it is good to see the IP being used again.

But what about the Nintendo related news? Well, former President of Nintendo America, the ever-present Reggie Fils-Aime announced the award for Accessibility in Games, this didn't go to a game on a Nintendo platform though, but surely there must have been an award which Nintendo might have picked up? Well... not really, though Animal Crossing: New Horizons did get nominated for Best Multiplayer game, so that was nice, oh and it did win Best Family Game too.

I'm sure there was something else though, some Nintendo related announcement which the show might have opened with? Oh yeah, Sephiroth is coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! You'll be able to learn more about the latest addition to the Smash roster, when Mr. Sakurai himself, presents Sephiroth on December 17th, 2020 at 2pm BT / 5pm ET / 10pm GMT.

Check below for a handy list of ALL the nominees and winners, in addition to some Nintendo related trailers and press releases...

The Game Awards 2020 winners and nominees

Game of the Year

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE) - Winner

Best Game Direction

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE) - Winner

Best Narrative

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (George Kamitani)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Kazushige Nojima, Motomu Toriyama, Hiroki Iwaki, Sachie Hirano)
Ghost of Tsushima (Ian Ryan, Liz Albl, Patrick Downs, Jordan Lemos)
Hades (Greg Kasavin)
The Last of Us Part II (Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross) - Winner

Best Art Direction

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE) - Winner
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Score and Music

DOOM Eternal (Mick Gordon)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Nobuo Uematsu, Masahi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki) - Winner
Hades (Darren Korb)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker)
The Last of Us Part II (Gustavo Santaolala, Mac Quale)

Best Audio Design

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
Resident Evil 3 (Capcom)
The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog/SIE) - Winner

Best Performance

Ashley Johnson as Ellie, The Last of Us Part II
Laura Bailey as Abby, The Last of Us Part II - Winner
Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima
Logan Cunningham as Hades, Hades
Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Games for Impact

If Found… (DREAMFEEL/Annapurna Interactive)
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive)
Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)
Tell Me Why (Dontnod Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios) - Winner
Through the Darkest of Times (Paintbucket Games)

Best Ongoing

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Call of Duty Warzone (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games) - Winner

Best Indie

Carrion (Phobia Game Studio)
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
Hades (Supergiant Games) - Winner
Spelunky 2 (Mossmouth)
Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)

Best Mobile, Presented by LG WING, Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon

Among Us (InnerSloth) - Winner
Call of Duty Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)
Pokémon Café Mix (Genius Sonority)

Best Community Support

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver) - Winner
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Valorant (Riot Games)

Innovation in Accessibility

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Grounded (Obsidian/Xbox Game Studios)
HyperDot (Tribe Games)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE) - Winner
Watch Dogs Legion (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)

Best VR/AR

Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve) - Winner
MARVEL’s Iron Man VR (Camoflaj/SIE)
STAR WARS: Squadrons (Motive Studios/EA)
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)

Best Action

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
Hades (Supergiant Games) - Winner
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Nioh 2 (Team Ninja)
Streets of Rage 4 (DotEmu)

Best Action/Adventure

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
MARVEL’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/SIE)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Respawn/EA)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE) - Winner

Best Role Playing

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix) - Winner
Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Persona 5 Royal (Atlus, P Studios)
Wasteland 3 (inXile Entertainment/Koch)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)

Best Fighting

Granblue Fantasy: Versus (Arc System Works/Cygames)
Mortal Kombat 11/Ultimate (NetherRealm Studios/WB Games) - Winner
Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (Dimps/Capcom)
One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai-Namco)
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe: Late[cl-r] (French Bread/Arc System Works)

Best Family

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo) - Winner
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (Toys for Bob/Activision)
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Velan Studios/Nintendo)
Minecraft Dungeons (Mojang/Double Eleven/Xbox Game Studios)
Paper Mario: The Origami King (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

Best Sim/Strategy

Crusader Kings III (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox)
Desperados III (Mimimi Games/THQN)
Gears Tactics (Splash Damage/The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo/Xbox Game Studios) - Winner
XCOM: Chimera Squad (Firaxis/2K)

Best Sports/Racing

Dirt 5 (Codemasters Cheshire/Codemasters)
F1 2020 (Codemasters Birmingham /Codemasters)
FIFA 21 (EA Vancouver/EA Sports)
NBA 2K21 (Visual Concepts/2K)
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (Vicarious Visions/Activision) - Winner

Best Multiplayer

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
Among Us (InnerSloth) - Winner
Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Debut Game

Carrion (Phobia Game Studio/Devolver)
Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry/Playstack)
Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Heads Games)
Röki (Polygon Treehouse/CI Games)
Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games) - Winner

Content Creator of the Year, Presented by Adobe

Alanah Pearce
NickMercs
TimtheTatman
Jay Ann Lopez
Valkyrae - Winner

Best Esports Game

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
League of Legends (Riot Games) - Winner
Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

Ian “Crimsix” Porter / Call of Duty
Heo “Showmaker” Su / League of Legends - Winner
Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu / League of Legends
Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro / Call of Duty
Matthieu “ZywOo” Herbaut / CS:GO

Best Esports Team

DAMWON Gaming / League of Legends
Dallas Empire / Call of Duty
San Francisco Shock / Overwatch League
G2 Esports / League of Legends - Winner
Team Secret / DOTA2

Best Esports Coach

Crusty
Grabbz
Rambo
Zefa
Zonic - Winner

Best Esports Event

BLAST Premier: Spring E2020 European Finals (CS:GO)
Call of Duty League Championship 2020
IEM Katowice 2020 (CS:GO)
League of Legends World Championship 2020 - Winner
Overwatch League Grand Finals 2020

Best Esports Host

Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere - Winner
Alex “Machine” Richardson
Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
James “Dash” Patterson
Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden

Most Anticipated

Elden Ring - Winner
God of War sequel
Halo Infinite
Horizon Forbidden West
Resident Evil West
Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel

Player’s Voice

Doom Eternal
Ghost of Tsushima - Winner
Hades
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
The Last of Us Part II

And here's the official press release from Nintendo...

In a new trailer that debuted during The Game Awards, Nintendo announced that Sephiroth, the iconic villain from the FINAL FANTASY series, is joining the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game as a playable fighter this month. Sephiroth is part of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass Vol. 2 DLC, which also includes DLC fighters Min-Min from the ARMS game and Steve & Alex from Minecraft, along with three yet-to-be-announced fighters. Sephiroth joins Cloud as the second character from the FINAL FANTASY series available as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. More information about Sephiroth will be revealed in a special video dedicated to the upcoming fighter on Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. PT.

In addition to the Sephiroth reveal, more Nintendo Switch news was announced during the live virtual show. Development and publishing partner Capcom debuted an announcement trailer for Ghosts ’n Goblins Resurrection, a new entry in the classic Ghosts ’n Goblins series, releasing digitally on Nintendo Switch on February 25, 2021. The new action platforming game features beautiful storybook-like graphics and pays homage to Ghosts ’n Goblins and Ghouls ’n Ghosts.

Fans that want to play the first two games in the Ghosts ’n Goblins series will be able to do so with the just-announced Capcom Arcade Stadium game, a digital collection of 32 classic Capcom games, coming to Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch in February 2021. The game collection includes WWII-shooter 1943 – The Battle of Midway – as a free download, with additional packs that can be purchased containing more games, including classics like BIONIC COMMANDO, STRIDER and SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO.

A new trailer for Monster Hunter Rise from Capcom was also shown off during The Game Awards. The new trailer for the action-filled game, which launches for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021, revealed new monsters and a new location, as well as an announcement that a free downloadable demo for the game will hit Nintendo Switch in January 2021. More details about the demo will be announced in the future.

“We hope the numerous fans who watched The Game Awards were excited about the reveal that legendary character Sephiroth is joining the cast of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” said Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We are very happy to be a part of another great TGAs, and thrilled to show fans a small preview of what’s to come for Nintendo Switch in 2021.”

During The Game Awards, Animal Crossing: New Horizons took home the award for Best Family Game. Several games from Nintendo’s development and publishing partners that are available to play on Nintendo Switch also won awards, including Hades for Best Action Game and Best Indie Game and Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate for Best Fighting Game.

Nintendo also announced this morning that players can save up to 33% off the digital versions of select Nintendo Switch games, including Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which won Best Strategy Game and Player’s Voice Award at The Game Awards 2019; Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which was nominated in a number of categories at this year’s show, including Best Art Direction and Best Action/Adventure; CARRION, which was nominated for Best Indie and Best Debut Game; and Raji: An Ancient Epic, which was also nominated for Best Debut Game this year. Fans can head to Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch for a full list of discounted games or visit https://nintendo.com/deals.

And here are the trailers for all the Nintendo related titles which were either revealed or featured during the event...

Also, in case you hadn't watched The Game Awards 2020 yet or if you just wanted to catch a few of those announcements for yourself, you can catch up with it in the video below...

Not an amazing showing for Nintendo in terms of awards, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate arguably stole a lot of the show with Sephiroth being announced, plus it was good to see so many people in the industry being recognised, so congratulations from all of us here at N-Europe to all of the winners.

Did you watch any of The Game Awards? Were there any moments which you enjoyed? Or was there just too much padding and advertisements for it to be worth watching?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or join in with the discussion on our forum.