Daily Briefing: Friday 10th December

It Takes Two takes home Game of the Year

The Game Awards were last night and Hazelight Studios' cooperative puzzle adventure deservedly took home the top prize, alongside two other awards in Best Multiplayer and Best Family Game. Studio head Josef Fares, who is known for his foul mouth and impeccable comedic timing, didn't disappoint with an emotional acceptance speech that effectively followed his 2017 "f*ck the Oscars" rant by dropping a few more F-Bombs for good measure. Never change, Josef, and don't let that copyright strike from Take-Two Interactive keep you down.

• In other actual awards news - The Game Awards do somewhat begrudgingly give out actual awards between appearances from Sting and trailers for the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie - Forza Horizon 5 was another big winner. Playground's speedy masterpiece took home three awards in Best Sports/Racing, Best Audio Design, and Innovation in Accessibility. Kena: Bridge of Spirits won Best Indie and Best Debut Indie, while Deathloop won Best Game Direction and Best Art Direction. Final Fantasy XIV won Best Ongoing (because of course it did), Elden Ring won Most Anticipated (because of course it did), and NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 won Best Score and Music (because of course it did).

Halo Infinite mission replayability is coming

Halo Infinite's campaign has been out in the wild for a few days now and things are generally going over pretty well. Critics appear to be having a bit of an issue with the game's opening segment in that it's fairly off-putting for any franchise newcomers, while veteran Halo fans are a little disappointed that Infinite is the first game in the series to not offer mission replayability via a mission select menu. The main issue is that any collectibles missed during a first playthrough can't be collected without a fresh save file.

• It's hardly a deal-breaker but it is an oddly sizeable departure for the series. 343 Industries have nevertheless confirmed that mission replayability is coming as part of a future update. In a new interview with Stevivor, 343 Industries' associate creative director Paul Crocker said mission replayability is "part of what is coming later. The main reason is because, being a more open game and a nonlinear game, it became incredibly challenging. It’s not that it doesn’t work, it’s just that it’s not finished." Fair enough.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is going free-to-play

One of the more surprising announcements to come out of last night's Game Awards was the news that the grandaddy of battle royale games PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will be going F2P on January 12th. Up until now, PUBG has been a $30 purchase, which dramatically set it aside from other F2P genre mainstays like Fortnite or Apex Legends. Though it remains fairly popular, PUBG's position as king of the genre has definitely waned in recent years, so perhaps removing that initial cost barrier to entry could do the game some good in the long run.

• As for the folks out there who have already paid money for PUBG, they're not being left behind as a number of the game's modes will be locked behind a $13 paywall. People will have to open their wallets to play the game's ranked and custom game modes, likely an attempt to reduce the number of players trying to skate around account bans by creating another free one. Existing owners will also get some of the now-industry-standard "founder's edition" style goodies.