The winners of the highest awards at Japan Game Awards 2020 were announced on the final day of Tokyo Game Show 2020 Online on September 27, 2020. Ten games were given the Awards for Excellency, with one title among them winning the highest Grand Award.
The Japanese public voted for any games that were released in Japan from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. From 1036 voted titles, the Japan Game Awards nomination committee did a further screening and ended up with 10 games that would be given the Award for Excellency.
Here’s the list of the 10 games that won the Award for Excellency in Japan Game Awards 2020, along with the respective title’s release date in Japan:
- Ring Fit Adventure, released by Nintendo on October 18, 2019
- Persona 5 Royal, released by Atlus on October 31, 2019
- Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, released by The Pokemon Company on November 15, 2019
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, released by Atlus on November 28, 2019
- Death Stranding, released by Sony Interactive Entertainment on November 8, 2019
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses, released by Nintendo on July 26, 2019
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, released by Capcom on September 6, 2019
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon, released by SEGA on January 16, 2020
- Nioh 2, released by Koei Tecmo Games on March 12, 2020
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons, released by Nintendo on March 20, 2020
Of course, the presentation does not end there. The Japan Game Awards also has an even higher award with the Grand Award, which is given to one of the aforementioned Award for Excellency winners. The Grand Award was ultimately won by Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
You can watch the presentation video for the Awards for Excellency and the Grand Award; the video also comes with live English interpretation.
[tnm_video layout=”mnmd-post-media-wide”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeO8pc8QlFE[/tnm_video]
Previously on September 26, 2020, the development team for Animal Crossing: New Horizons also won the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry Award. Pokemon Sword and Shield won two awards with the Global Award for Japanese Product and the Best Sales Award; the latter for achieving the highest sales amount within the 2020 award nomination period. The previous Grand Award winner in Japan Game Awards 2019 was Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
The Grand Award winner of Japan Game Awards 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is immediately available on the Nintendo Switch worldwide. It will receive a Halloween-themed Fall update on September 30, 2020.
