Giuseppe Nelva
Among the nominees, which have been decided by a jury composed of representatives of other 100 media outlets and influencers, we have 10 nominations from Sony’s God of War Ragnarok, 7 for Horizon Forbidden West, and 7 for Elden Ring. As a result, Sony also leads nominations as a publisher.
While fans are encouraged to vote for the awards starting now, the public vote only determines 10% of the results, while 90% is determined by the will of the aforementioned jury.
The show will air on Thursday, December 8, from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Without further ado, here are all the categories and their respective nominees.
Game of the Year
A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment) Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE) Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)
Best Game Direction
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE) Immortality (Half Mermaid) Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Best Narrative
A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment) Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE) Immortality (Half Mermaid)
Best Art Direction
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE) Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive) Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Best Score and Music
Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Audio Design
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision) Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Best Performance
Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök Manon Gage, Immortality Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnarök
Games for Impact
A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive/Annapurna) As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios) Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller) Endling – Extinction is Forever (Herobeat Studios/HandyGames) Hindsight (Team Hindsight/Annapurna) I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)
Best Ongoing Game
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA) Destiny 2 (Bungie) Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix) Fortnite (Epic Games) Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)
Best Indie
Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital) Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna) Sifu (Sloclap) Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna) Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)
Best Debut Indie
Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive) Norco (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury) Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna) Tunis (Tunic Team/Finji) Vampire Survivors (poncle)
Best Community Support
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA) Destiny 2 (Bungie) Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix) Fortnite (Epic Games) No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Best Mobile
Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum/Respawn/EA) Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/NetEase) Genshin Impact (HoYovese) Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse) Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)
Best VR/AR
After the Fall (Vertigo Games) Among Us VR (Schell Games/InnerSloth) BONELAB (Stress Level Zero) Moss: Book II (Polyarc) Red Matter 2 (Vertical Robot)
Best Action
Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision) Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna) Sifu (Sloclap) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)
Best Action/Adventure
A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE) Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna) TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)
Best Role Playing
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco) Live a Live (Square Enix/Nintendo) Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak/Nintendo/TPCI) Triangle Strategy (Artdink/Square Enix) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)
Best Fighting
DNF Duel (Arc System Works/Eighting/Neople/Nexon) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 Co. Ltd/Bandai Namco) The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion) MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games) Sifu (Sloclap)
Best Family
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory / Nintendo) LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Traveller’s Tales/WB Games) Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft) Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo) Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Best Strategy
Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games/Funcom) Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft) Total War: Warhammer III (Creative Assembly/Sega) Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios/Sega) Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox Interactive)
Best Sports/Racing
F1 22 (Codemasters/EA Sports) FIFA 23 (EA Vancouver/Romania/EA Sports) NBA 2K23 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports) Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital/SIE) OlliOlli World (Roll 7/Private Division)
Best Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision) MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games) Overwatch 2 (Blizzard) Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)
Most Anticipated
Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix) Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software/WB Games) Resident Evil 4 (Capcom) Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Content Creator of the Year
Karl Jacobs Ludwig Nibellion Nobru QTCinderella
Best Adaptation
Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix) Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger/CD Projekt, Netflix) The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR/King Features Syndicate/Netflix) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group/Paramount Pictures) Uncharted (PlayStation Productions/Sony Pictures)
Innovation in Accessibility
As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios) God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE) Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox/Devolver Digital) The Last Of Us Part I (Naughty Dog/SIE) The Quarry (Supermassive Games/2K)
Best Esports Game
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve) DOTA 2 (Valve) League of Legends (Riot Games) Rocket League (Psyonix) Valorant (Riot Games)
Best Esports Athlete
Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL) Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL) Finn “karrigan” Andersen ( (FaZe Clan – CS:GO) Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO) Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)
Best Esports Team
DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends) FaZe Clan (CS:GO) Gen.G (League of Legends) LA Thieves (Call of Duty) LOUD (Valorant)
Best Esports Coach
Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO) Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (Loud, Valorant) Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, Valorant) Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO) Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)
Best Esports Event
EVO 2022 2022 League of Legends World Championship PGL Major Antwerp 2022 The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational Valorant Champions 2022
The 2021 edition of The Game Awards saw the triumph of It Takes Two, while the 2020 edition was won by The Last of Us Part II. At the 2019 edition, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was named Game of the Year. God of War was honored as Game of the Year at the 2018 edition. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild brought home the win in 2017. Overwatch won in 2016. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt won in 2015, while Dragon Age: Inquisition was judged at the top in 2014.
