Esports Award Winners at The Game Awards 2023
The winners of the esports categories at The Game Awards 2023 have been announced and there are no surprises here.
Best Esports Athlete
- Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends)
- Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (CS:GO)
- Max “Demon1″ Mazanov (Valorant)
- Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez (Call of Duty)
- Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk (League of Legends)
- Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen (Apex Legends)
Seeing Faker win Esports Athlete of the Year is not too big of a shock. Not only is the Killable Demon King an iconic veteran of the esports scene who is often considered the best gamer alive, but he also had a major comeback this year.
This summer, Faker suffered a pretty serious injury that left him unable to play. But Faker returned to play along with the rest of the T1 roster and helped the squad take home the League of Legends World Championship title for the fourth time.
Best Esports Team
- Evil Geniuses (Valorant)
- Fnatic (Valorant)
- Gaimin Gladiators (Dota 2)
- JD Gaming (League of Legends)
- Team Vitality (Counter-Strike)
JD Gaming was given the honor of being crowned the Best Esports Team of the Year. The talented Chinese team had an astounding showing at World, coming in second only to T1. Before that, they dominated in the LPL Summer Playoffs and at MSI 2023. The top team is looking to only get even more dominant next season.
Best Esports Coach
- Christine “potter” Chi (Evil Geniuses - Valorant)
- Danny “zonic” Sorensen (Team Falcons - Counter-Strike)
- Jordan “Gunba” Graham (Florida Mayhem - Overwatch)
- Remy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (Team Vitality - Counter-Strike)
- Yoon “Homme” Sung-young (JD Gaming - League of Legends)
potter is the coach for Evil Geniuses’ VALORANT team, which recently won VALORANT Champions 2023. She has also been a player herself — she was formally a Counter-Strike pro. Since then, potter has been a coach, analyst, and commentator. Her heavy involvement in the VALORANT scene has made her have quite the insight and her skills as a coach really shined this year.
Best Esports Event
- 2023 League of Legends World Championship
- Blast.tv Paris Major 2023
- EVO 2023
- The International Dota 2 Championships 2023
- VALORANT Champions 2023
It’s no surprise to see the League of Legends World Championship as the winner of this esports category. The peak was more than 6.4 million viewers, making it another successful year for the popular esports event. Riot has helped continue to make Worlds one of the most anticipated esports events year after year.
Best Esports Game
- Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
- Dota 2 (Valve)
- League of Legends (Riot Games)
- PUBG Mobile (LightSpeed Studios/Tencent Games)
- Valorant (Riot Games)
VALORANT unsurprisingly took the title of Best Esports Game. This is another not-so-big shock since VALORANT has continued to be a popular game in the FPS community and beyond thanks to ongoing balance and content updates. The game has remained very competitive after all this time, with developers focused on creating experiences for top gamers.
