The Game Awards 2021

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League of Legends Wins “Best Esports Game” Award at The Game Awards 2021

Abhimannu Das
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Highlights
Riot Games won Best Esports Event and Best Esports Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021.
CS:GO's Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev finally earned the esports player of the year after a phenomenal 2021 season.
Na'Vi edged past the likes of DWG and Sentinels to become best esports team of the year.

Riot Games had yet another eventful year at The Game Awards 2021 with the publisher winning two of the biggest awards of the night. In addition to recognizing the best works of the gaming industry, there were multiple categories dedicated to esports. League of Legends and CS:GO were the biggest winners of this year thanks to the success of the League of Legends esports circuit and Na’Vi’s unbelievable run in CS:GO this year.

Best Esports Game - League of Legends

Love it or hate it, League of Legends is going nowhere. Even after a decade since its release, League of Legends continues to be one of the biggest esports titles in the world. From the regional LCK, LCS, and LEC events to the grand world championships, Riot Games lives by its winning formula for the successful esports title.

Best Esports Event - League of Legends Worlds 2021

League of Legends’ world championship might not have the crazy prize pool as Dota’s The International or the hilarious banter that the fighting games community is known for, but it continues to be the grandest event each year. Riot Games won the award for the experience it offered to its participants and for the broadcast to its global audience.

Best Esports Coach - Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun (League of Legends)

kkOma has been an instrumental figure behind the success of Damwon Gaming KIA’s (DWG) dream run in 2021. DWG won Worlds 2020 and were unstoppable in the LCK this year with multiple first-place finishes. Even though the team fell short this year and came second, its performance over the last year has been impressive, to say the least.

Best Esports Player - Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (CS:GO)

It finally happened. After years of waiting, s1mple finally received the best esports player award. S1mple helped Na’Vi achieve first place in almost all major events it participated in. From ESL Pro League to BLAST Premier, PGL Major Stockholm to Intel Grand Slam, s1mple was unstoppable in every event he was a part of and deserves this award.

Best Esports Team - Natus Vincere (CS:GO)

It was meant to be. After a dream run throughout 2021, Na’Vi deserved to grab this year’s “best esports team” award. DWG KIA would have contested the award had it won Worlds 2021 but after missing out on this year’s world championship, it was clear that Na’Vi would take home the best esports team award.

In the non-esports categories, It Takes Two won "Game of The Year", Final Fantasy XIV Online won "Best Ongoing Game of the Year", Genshin Impact won "Mobile Game of The Year" while content creator Clayton “Dream” Huff took home the "Content Creator of the Year" award.

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Abhimannu is a PC esports writer at AFK Gaming. With over seven years of experience in esports journalism, he has worked on a myriad of games and their ecosystems including Valorant, Overwatch and Apex Legends.

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