PUBG claims Game of the Year in the 2018 Steam Awards

The nominees for the 2018 Steam Awards were announced in December, just ahead of the start of the most recent Steam Winter Sale. Now the results are in, and you'll never guess who won!

(It was PUBG.)

I said when the categories were announced that they were "more grounded" than in previous years, when we had to grapple with categories like "Mom's Spaghetti" and "Soul of Vitruvius." At the time, that clarity struck me as a plus overall, but in hindsight I realize that it's just kind of boring. "Winner of the 'Whoooaaaaaaa, Dude! 2.0' Award" isn't something that's likely going to boost sales if you splash it across the back of a box, but at least it gets your attention.

The 2018 winners are more conventional, but they still represent some great games and studios. The video below, which was reposted from Steam by GamersPrey, has some cool "thank you" clips from developers, and the full list of winners is just a little further down.

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Most Fun With a Machine: Rocket League (Euro Truck Simulator 2, Nier: Automata, Factorio, Space Engineers)
Best Alternate History: Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Wolfenstein 2, Hearts of Iron 4, Civilization 6, Fallout 4)
Better With Friends: Rainbow Six Siege (Payday 2, Dead By Daylight, CS:GO, Overcooked! 2)
Best Environment: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Subnautica, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Far Cry 5, Dark Souls 3)
Best Developer: CD Projekt Red (Ubisoft, Bethesda, Rockstar, Digital Extremes, Square Enix, Capcom, Paradox Interactive, Bandai Namco, Klei)
Labor of Love: Grand Theft Auto 5 (No Man's Sky, Path of Exile, Dota 2, Stardew Valley)
VR Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (VR Chat, Beat Saber, Fallout 4 VR, Superhot VR)
Game of the Year: Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (Monster Hunter: World, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Hitman 2, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey)

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.