The Game Awards of 2015 aired on December 3rd, revealing multiple winners of awards such as Best Narrative, Most Anticipated Game, Developer of the Year, and of course, Game of the Year, which went to the critically-acclaimed title, “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” over nominees Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Playstation title Bloodborne, and Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker.

Many gamers saw the GOTY (Game of the Year) award as a competition between only Wild Hunt and the much-anticipated new Fallout installment, mainly because of Wild Hunt’s renowned story, atmosphere and scale, and Fallout’s large amount of excitement leading up to its release (it’s been 5 years since the last installment) and impressing game-world depth.

Wild Hunt received an average of around 9.5/10 for review, while Fallout 4 received an average of around 9/10. While the reviews for Fallout were relatively high, many fans of the Fallout series believe the new installment derives from the role-playing charm previous games were originally built on, labeling it as an adventure-shooter instead of an RPG (role-playing game) as previous installments were categorized. The only trending complaints about Wild Hunt were mainly about how the game’s graphic capacity was inferior compared to how it was advertised.

“I cannot argue – if people see changes, we cannot argue, but there are complex technical reasons behind it,” studio head Adam Badowski said.

The battle for Game of the Year has ended in a somewhat unexpected triumph of Wild Hunt, a relatively under-hyped game and developed by a lesser-known studio. While the majority of the internet predicted its win, casual gamers more familiar with Bethesda Studios’ famous franchise were notably surprised.