The biggest news at The Game Awards was Epic’s launch of their store

The Game Awards 2018 had all the awkwardness, pomp, and marketing one would expect of a video game industry celebration. Between Christoph Waltz going to bat for keyboard and mouse, and Joel McHale not embarrassing everyone, there were premieres for lots of new games. Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds put a thumb in Bethesda’s eye. Ubisoft is actually continuing the story from Far Cry 5 with Far Cry: New Dawn. There was a hint of the next Dragon Age product. BioWare finally showed off some of the story bits from Anthem. The Stanley Parable is coming to consoles with new meta gameplay. Supergiant announced Hades. Avalanche and id’s Rage 2 now has a release window and a map filled with Ubi-stuff. It was all fine.

Buried in the middle of the show was Ashen. Now available on the Epic Games Store. The same being true of Hades and Hello Neighbor: Hide & Seek. Announced as coming first to the Epic Games Store were Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, Journey, Maneater, and Satisfactory. Epic will also be giving away Subnautica for free starting on December 14th. In short, Epic let everyone know they mean business with their store.

As a bonus, Red Dead Redemption II did not win game of the year.