Winning anything at The Game Awards is a big deal for developers, actors, and everyone else involved in bringing a game to life. However, for the developers behind 2018's Celeste, the award was delivered in a very strange and roundabout fashion that has left behind an unsolved mystery.
Those who watched The Game Awards back in 2018 will likely remember that Celeste took home the Best Independent Game award. It was quite the accomplishment for its developers, and one they seemed happy to accept during the show. However, the award never actually reached them following the acceptance speech on-stage.
This is where the story takes a detour and gets a bit strange. YouTuber PrestigeIsKey enjoys The Game Awards, and considered getting a replica to display, leading to them searching for one on eBay. Instead, what they found was a legitimate trophy from The Game Awards. Not much information was available regarding the award, with the listing simply noting that it was from a liquidation source and offering no further information. PrestigeIsKey took a chance, put down $375 to buy it, and soon received the award in question.
PrestigeIsKey shared an unboxing of the award, explaining the story behind it and acknowledging that it was marked as being the Best Independent Game award from 2018, awarded to Celeste. He got in touch with the game's developers, inquiring if they had received their award. Surprisingly, the answer was no; after the acceptance speech, presumably the award was handed back to officials so that it could be properly shipped to the developers following the show. Except the award never actually made it there, and somehow ended up with a bunch of other liquidated assets on eBay.
Celeste's developers were happy to receive their award, finally, and have promised PrestigeIsKey to not only reimburse him for the expense of the award, but to also send along a signed copy of Celeste. However, it remains a mystery as to what exactly happened that resulted in the award being lost for all this time. Thankfully, the seller who acquired it realized that it had some value, and a good-natured gamer ended up purchasing it. Otherwise, it's entirely possible that this award could have been lost for good, and while the prestige of being granted Best Indie Game of 2018 would always be a mark of honor for the devs, now they can enjoy the award that was meant to have arrived ages ago.