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| (Image Source: Gaming Amigos/Gayming Magazine) |
The winners of the Gayming Awards 2025 have been announced with Dragon Age: The Veilguard taking home Best LGBTQ+ Character for Rook and the coveted Game of the Year. An amazingly diverse roster of winners was celebrated at the ceremony that is available to watch on-demand now exclusively on World of Wonder’s WOW Presents Plus. Returning hosts DEERE and MiladyConfetti hosted a show full of surprises, laughs and impactful speeches as the winners all demonstrated why they were chosen by the judges and the public to represent the best of LGBTQ+ gaming and the games industry last year. The hosts were also joined by star of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 2 and RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars 3, Morgan McMichaels, who gave a lesson in reading to help everyone develop new and shady ways to read their fellow gamers in chat.
Alongside the broadcast show on WOW Presents Plus, over 200 industry notables, celebrities and gaming influencers joined the nominees at The Abbey in West Hollywood to celebrate the premiere of the Gayming Awards with a glittering red carpet reception and watch party. Drinks were provided by Gay Water and the night finished off with an exclusive performance by queer music star Zee Machine. In total, there were 12 categories honoring a selection of video games, TV shows, organizations, eSports names, and content creators, all of whom championed diversity and inclusivity globally throughout 2024. Additionally, Rebecca Heineman picked up the Gayming Icon Award in recognition of their contribution to the LGBTQ community within game development and eSports. Plus, Gayming Magazine also inducted four more streamers into its Rising Star Class. The streamers were chosen by the Gayming Ambassadors to join this prestigious class because they have all "made incredible strides in their streaming career over the last year and have made significant contributions to the LGBTQ+ world within the gaming space". Gayming Magazine and Gayming Awards Founder Robin Gray said, “Every year I’m honored to uplift and celebrate creators, games makers and industry workers through our Awards. This year’s winners represent a wonderfully diverse group of people, all of whom are working to make our industry better in their own way. Whether that’s creating games with storylines and characters that represent us, creating communities and holding space for LGBTQ+ people to be themselves, or by changing the industry piece by piece to be more inclusive. Now more than ever we need to be supporting each other, championing each other, and defending each other. Our partnership with World of Wonder this year has helped us do this in a bigger and bolder way, and I couldn’t be more grateful and proud.”
The Gayming Awards 2025 was raising money for the new Gayming Foundation which has been founded to advance the work of Gayming Magazine and the Gayming Awards even further with a mission to uplift and empower LGBTQ+ games workers and fans to affect change, celebrate inclusivity, and drive forward representation in games. Viewers were encouraged to give to support the Foundation’s work, and more info can be found at www.gaymingfoundation.org. Here is the full list of winners from the Gayming Awards 2025:
Game Of The Year Award – Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare/EA
Gayming Magazine Readers’ Award (sponsored by RuPaul’s Drag Race Match Queen) – The Last Of Us Part II: Remastered, Naughty Dog/PlayStation
Gayming Icon Award – Rebecca Heineman
LGBTQ+ Voice Actor Of The Year Award – Erika Ishii
Industry Diversity Award – Code Coven
Community Impact Award (sponsored by Fireshine Games) – Stream For A Cause
Best LGBTQ+ Character Award – Rook, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare/EA
Best LGBTQ+ Indie Game Award – Kitsune Tails, Kitsune Games/MidBoss
LGBTQ+ Content Creator Of The Year Award – PearlTeese
LGBTQ+ Streamer Rising Star Class Of 2025 (sponsored by Elgato) – BoyeFran, Bvssykatdoll, Mynxie666, WillJinkies
LGBTQ+ Contribution To eSports Award (sponsored by the Federation Of Gay Games) – Bailey McCann
LGBTQ+ Geek Entertainment of the Year Award – Arcane: Season 2, Netflix
Fans can also catch up on various happenings at the Gayming Awards 2025 with clips on Gayming Magazine’s social media accounts. At a time where anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) sentiment is rising amongst part of the corporate world due to political pressure, the sponsors of the Gayming Awards 2025 stand out as bucking that trend and staying loyal to their LGBTQ+ consumers as they recognize the spending power LGBTQ+ people hold. The Gayming Awards 2025 is sponsored by Anima Interactive, Elgato, Federation Of Gay Games, Fireshine Games, Gay Water, MyNerdLife, RuPaul’s Drag Race Match Queen, Scopely, Sugoi Mart, The Abbey & W Hollywood.
