In 2020 European Game fair,Cyberpunk 2077 was announced as a big winner with the overall Best of Gamescom as well as for best PlayStation game, best PC game, best roleplaying titles and the Most Wanted consumer prize voted on by regular gamers.
The dystopian title, in which players take on the role of a mercenary called an edgerunner, a cyberpunk figure who jacks into a Matrix-esque version of the “deep net,” has been at the top of gamers’ wish lists at least since last year’s E3 conference when designers revealed that Keanu Reeves who play the character of Johnny Silverhands, a legendary edgerunner whose character lives inside the player’s mind.
In June, Netflix has also announced it had ordered a 10-episode anime series based on the game, which Trigger Studio will produce and Hiroyuki Imaishi is attached to direct. The series is set to debut in 2022. Cyberpunk 2077 the game is set for release Nov. 19.
CD Projekt Red also won over the online gaming community, which was forced to stay home and experience Gamescom virtually this year. The trade fair, Europe’s largest, which ran Aug. 27-30, was online-only due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fans gave Cyberpunk 2077 the Best of Gamescom Award as the number one title on offer.
Other winners, announced Sunday, included best family game for KeyWe, a cute puzzler from Stonewheat & Sons involving a pair of Kiwi birds who work at a post office; historical turn-based title Humankind from SEGA and Amplitude Studios, which won best strategy game; and 2K’s shooter Borderlands 3, which took the award for best ongoing game.
Gamescom organizers said more than two million viewers in more than 180 countries caught the market’s opening ceremonies, broadcast online, on Aug. 27. Gamescom recorded some 300 million views for challenges on social media platform TikTok using the Gamescom hashtag.
To compare, some 370,000 attended in person in Cologne, Germany for Gamescom 2019. If the pandemic permits it, organizers plan to restart the physical trade fair in August 2021.
