Image: The Game Awards
Arcane is up for Best Game Adaptation and Worlds 2022 has been nominated for Best Esports Event.
Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards returns for another go this December, awarding astounding achievements in the games industry across multiple categories. The event has just announced its 2022 nominees, and God of War: Ragnarok is currently in a strong lead with nominations in the Best Narrative, Best Performance and highly-coveted Game of the Year categories.
Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West follow God of War: Ragnarok with seven nominations each, while the indie cat game Stray comes in with six nominations. A Plague Tale: Requiem also managed to pick up a surprising amount of nominations, with five in total. On the publisher side of things, Riot Games has a number of nominations this year across categories like Best Esports Event, Best Esports Game and Best Adaptation - the last of which is surely going to Arcane unless Cyberpunk: Edgerunners manages to come out on top.
A lot of 2022’s biggest games were nominated in all the places you’d expect. God of War: Ragnarok and A Plague Tale: Requiem earned nominations for their jaw-dropping scores. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 got a surprising but well-deserved nod for Best RPG. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Arcane and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 were nominated for Best Adaptation.
There were also some strange nominee choices. Elden Ring was nominated for Best Narrative, which is funny considering how labyrinthine and purposefully aimless the game’s story is. Overwatch 2 was nominated for Best Multiplayer Game, seemingly as a result of it coming out this year rather than being any indication of its quality. Diablo Immortal was nominated for Best Mobile Game - here's an article on why I disagree with that. MSI 2022 and Worlds 2022 earned Best Esport Event nominations, but The International 2022 was snubbed for the first time in years. Despite having won Worlds 2022 with a compelling underdog story, DRX was snubbed from Best Esports Team in favour of Gen.G.
Pointless debates like these are part of the charm of The Game Awards, and on December 8 at 4.30pm PT/7.30pm ET, we’ll get to have them all over again when the winners are announced. The event will be livestreamed with Geoff Keighley playing host, handing out awards and showcasing new looks at upcoming games in 2023 and beyond. You can vote for your favourite nominees via the website here.
Here’s the full list of 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 14 (Square Enix)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)
Best Indie Game
- 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 Game
- Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive)
- Norco (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury)
- Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
- Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)
- Vampire Survivors (poncle)
Best Community Support, Presented By Discord
- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Destiny 2 (Bungie)
- Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Best Mobile Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Sim/Strategy Game
- Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games/Funcom)
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
- Total War: Warhammer 3 (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios/Sega)
- Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox Interactive)
Best Sports/Racing Game
- 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 Game
- 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 Game
- Final Fantasy 14 (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