The Game Awards, the video game industry’s biggest celebration, has revealed this year’s nominees, which include a wide variety of titles that cover all corners of gaming across PC, console, mobile, VR/AR, esports and content creators/streamers. The nominees will be honored at The Game Awards on Thursday, December 6 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET.
Leading the pack with 8 nominations each, Sony Santa Monica’s God of War and Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 are both nominated for Game of the Year, alongside four other titles: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft, 4 nominations); the independent Celeste from Matt Makes Games (4 nominations); Marvel’s Spider-Man (7 nominations); and Monster Hunter: World from Capcom (3 nominations).
Other notable multi-nominees include Epic Games’ Fortnite (4 nominations, including Best Ongoing Game, Best Esports Game, Best Mobile and Best Multiplayer), and a trio of games with 3 nominations each: TreyArch’s Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Destiny 2: Forsaken from Bungie, and Detroit: Become Human from Quantic Dream. Nominated content creators and streamers include Ninja, Pokimane, Dr. Lupo, Myth and Willyrex. Nominees were selected by a global panel of 68 leading media outlets across enthusiast and mainstream media.
Reaching over 18 million viewers in 2017 and hailed as “the Oscars of the gaming world” by the New York Times, The Game Awards will bring together game industry creators, esports champions, digital influencers and Hollywood names for a night of awards, exclusive game world premieres, new game announcements and musical performances, including The Game Awards Orchestra. The Game Awards is available to watch for free across almost every major mobile, desktop and console devices used to play video games.
Fans can help choose the winners in all categories via online voting across several digital and social platforms, including on TheGameAwards.com. Certain award categories can also be voted on directly via Facebook Messenger and Twitter Direct Message. Fans can talk to Amazon Alexa to vote for specific categories, and also use their voice to vote via The Game Awards action, which works with the Google Assistant.
In an industry-first, gamers will be able to help select the winners in all categories of The Game Awards by voting for their favorites in the official The Game Awards Discord server (discord.gg/thegameawards). The server, which is open for fans to join now, will be the place to get show info before, during and after the awards. Voting will officially open in-server on November 13 and run to December 5.
The Game Awards 2018 Nominees:
GAME OF THE YEAR
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
BEST ONGOING GAME
Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Overwatch (Blizzard)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
BEST GAME DIRECTION
A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
BEST NARRATIVE
Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
BEST ART DIRECTION
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)
BEST SCORE/MUSIC PRESENTED BY SPOTIFY
Celeste (Lena Raine)
God of War (Bear McCreary)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)
Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)
BEST AUDIO DESIGN PRESENTED BY DOLBY
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
BEST PERFORMANCE
Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man
GAMES FOR IMPACT
11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)
BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
Into the Breach (Subset Games)
Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
BEST MOBILE
Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)
BEST VR/AR Game
ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)
Beat Saber (Beat Games)
Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
Moss (Polyarc Games)
Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)
BEST ACTION GAME
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Mega Man 11 (Capcom)
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)
BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)
BEST FIGHTING
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)
BEST FAMILY GAME
Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)
Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)
BEST STRATEGY GAME
BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
Into the Breach (Subset Games)
The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)
BEST SPORTS/RACING
FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)
BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
Sea of Thieves (Rare / Microsoft Studios)
BEST STUDENT GAME
Combat 2018 (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences – Norway)
Dash Quasar (UC Santa Cruz)
JERA (Digipen Bilbao, Spain)
LIFF (ISTART Digital – France)
RE: Charge (MIT)
BEST DEBUT INDIE GAME
Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
Moss (Polyarc Games)
The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
Yoku’s Island Express (Villa Gorilla)
ESPORTS AWARDS
BEST ESPORTS GAME
CSGO
DOTA2
Fortnite
League of Legends
Overwatch
BEST ESPORTS PLAYER PRESENTED BY OMEN BY HP
Dominique “SonicFox” McLean (Echo Fox)
Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi
Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao (Royal Never Give Up)
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere)
Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang (New York Excelsior)
BEST ESPORTS TEAM
Astralis (CSGO)
Cloud9 (LOL)
Fnatic (LOL)
London Spitfire (OWL)
OG (DOTA2)
BEST ESPORTS COACH
Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu (Cloud9)
Cristian “ppasarel” Bănăseanu (OG)
Danny “zonic” Sørensen (Astralis)
Dylan Falco (Fnatic)
Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi (Team Vitality)
Janko “YNk” Paunovic (MiBR)
BEST ESPORTS EVENT
ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018
EVO 2018
League of Legends World Championship
Overwatch League Grand Finals
The International 2018
BEST ESPORTS HOST
Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
Alex “Machine” Richardson
AndersBlume
Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
Paul “RedEye” Chaloner
BEST ESPORTS MOMENT
C9 Comeback Win In Triple OT vs FAZE (ELEAGUE)
KT vs IG Base Race (LOL Worlds)
G2 Beating RNG (LOL Worlds)
OG’s Massive Upset of LGD (DOTA 2 Finals)
SonicFox Side Switch Against Go1 in DBZ (EVO)
COMMUNITY AWARD
CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR
Dr. Lupo
Myth
Ninja
Pokimane
Willyrex
Tickets to attend The Game Awards are now on sale for purchase via AXS.com, including a special VIP package with a pre-show reception.
