Gayming Magazine's annual awards for celebrating queerness in videogames are back for their fourth year. The nominees have been announced and Baldur's Gate 3 is in the lead, being up for five potential awards: Game of the Year, the Gayming Magazine Readers Award, the Authentic Representation Award, Best LGBTQ Character (two nominations, one for Dame Aylin and one for Shadowheart), and Larian is also in the running for the Industry Diversity Award.
Thirsty Suitors, which we called 2023's second-best RPG about people who are too horny for their own good, has also done well. It's been nominated for Game of the Year, Best LGBTQ Indie Game, the Authentic Representation Award, and Best LGBTQ Character for its protagonist, Jala. Tchia, our pick for best open world game of 2023, has another four nominations, while Final Fantasy 16 is up for three awards.
The Gayming Awards show will be held in Los Angeles this year, and will be broadcast on Gayming Magazine's Twitch and TikTok channels at 2pm ET on April 7. "Our move to a virtual show set in LA not only ensures that the Awards can be made with higher production standards," said Gayming Awards creator Robin Gray, "but we can also increase its accessibility and reach by broadcasting at a more globally convenient time along with offering captioned streams and our new Spanish language co-stream. These changes are hugely exciting, and I’m thrilled to be celebrating LGBTQ excellence in gaming with a bigger and more diverse audience." The full list of nominees is below.
Game of the Year
- Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studios
- Final Fantasy 16 – Square Enix
- Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo
- Thirsty Suitors – Outerloop Games / Annapurna Interactive
- Spider-Man 2 – Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical – Summerfall Studios / Humble Games
Gayming Magazine Readers Award – sponsored by Devolver Digital
- Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studios
- Final Fantasy 16 – Square Enix
- Goodbye Volcano High – KO_OP
- Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo
- Tchia – Awaceb / Kepler Interactive
- This Bed We Made – Lowbirth Games
Best LGBTQ Indie Game – powered by TikTok
- Coral Island – Stairway Games / Humble Games
- In Stars and Time – insertdisc5
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical – Summerfall Studios / Humble Games
- Tchia – Awaceb / Kelper Interactive
- Thirsty Suitors – Outerloop Games / Annapurna Interactive
- This Bed We Made – Lowbirth Games
LGBTQ Streamer of the Year
- Apothicdecay
- Eevoh
- Elix
- EspeSymone
- Halfmoonjoe
- MysticKittenn
- Sheilur
- SpringSims
Authentic Representation Award
- Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studios
- Coral Island – Stairway Games / Humble Games
- The Sims 4 – Maxis / EA Games
- The Expanse: A Telltale Series – Telltale Games / Deck Nine
- Thirsty Suitors – Outerloop Games / Annapurna Interactive
- This Bed We Made – Lowbirth Games
Best LGBTQ Character
- Aloy – Horizon Forbidden West
- Dame Aylin – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Dion Lesage – Final Fantasy XVI
- Jala – Thirsty Suitors
- Shadowheart – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Tchia – Tchia
Industry Diversity Award
- Humble Games
- Larian Studios
- Latinx In Gaming
- Qweerty Gamers
- Roll7
- Women In Games International
Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports Award
- Bailey McCann
- Bethany “Indyburgh” Pyles
- Cora Kennedy
- Emma “Emzii” Rose
- Slaypex & Kylie Gabor
- Team Overture
LGBTQ Geek Entertainment Moment of the Year Award
- Doctor Who: The Star Beast – Bad Wolf & BBC Studios
- Harley Quinn – DC Studios & Warner Brothers Animation
- Nimona – Netflix & Annapurna Pictures
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off – Netflix
- The Last of Us: Long, Long Time: HBO
- The Legend of Vox Machina: Season 2 – Amazon Studios & Critical Role
