The Game Awards 2022 Nominees Announced

Abdul Saad

During a live stream earlier today, the nominations for The Game Awards 2022 were announced. The nominees included several games from multiple developers and publishers and included categories for indie games, mobile games, action games, Esport creators, and many more. Sony Interactive Entertainment was the publisher with the most nominations with 20 nominations, followed by Annapurna Interactive and Nintendo with 11 nominations each, Bandai Namco with eight nominations and Riot Games with six nominations. Users can now vote for their favorite nominees in each category until December 7 via the official website and the official The Game Awards Voting Bot on Discord. The Game Awards 2022 will air live on December 8 across several streaming platforms for free.

The full list of nominees and categories can be seen below:

Game of the Year

Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft ?Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
IMMORTALITY (Half Mermaid)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
IMMORTALITY (Half Mermaid)

Best Art Direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Scorn (Ebb Software / Kepler Interactive)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Score and Music

For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Olivier Deriviere, Composer)
Elden Ring (Tsukasa Saitoh, Composer)
God of War Ragnarok (Bear McCreary, Composer)
Metal: Hellsinger (Two Feathers, Composer)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Yasunori Mitsuda, Composer)

Best Audio Design

Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward / Activision)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Performance

Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.

Ashly Burch (Horizon Forbidden West)
Charlotte McBurney (A Plague Tale: Requiem)
Christopher Judge (God of War Ragnarok)
Manon Gage (IMMORTALITY)
Sunny Suljic (God of War Ragnarok)

Games for Impact

For a thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message.

A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
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 Interactive)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games / Finji)

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

Best Indie

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital)
Neon White (Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive)
Sifu (Sloclap)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team / Finji)

Best Mobile Game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed Studios / Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Diablo Immortal (Blizzard / NetEase Games)
Genshin Impact (HoYovese)
MARVEL SNAP (Second Dinner Studios / Nuverse)
Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio / Perfect World / Level Infinite)

Best Community Support

Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates / patches.

Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognizing software and / or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

As Dusk Falls (Interior/Night / Xbox Game Studios)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox / Devolver Digital)
The Last Of Us Part I (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
The Quarry (Supermassive Games / 2K)

Best Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality

For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

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

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

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

For the best action / adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team / Finji)

Best Role-Playing

For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
LIVE A LIVE (historia / Square Enix)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak / Nintendo / The Pokemon Company)
Triangle Strategy (Artdink / Square Enix)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft / Nintendo)

Best Fighting

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

DNF Duel (Arc System Works / Eighting / Neople / Nexon)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
The King of Fighters XV (SNK)
MultiVersus (Player First Games / Warner Bros. Games)
Sifu (Sloclap)

Best Family

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

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 Simulation / Strategy

Best game focused on real time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games / Funcom)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan / Ubisoft Paris / Ubisoft)
Total War: Warhammer III (Creative Assembly / SEGA)
Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios / SEGAA)
Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio / Paradox Interactive)

Best Sports / Racing

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and 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 / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
OlliOlli World (Roll7 / Private Division)

Best Multiplayer

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre or platform.

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)

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has made an important and positive impact on the community in 2021.

Karl Jacobs
Ludwig
Nibellion
Nobru
QTCinderella

Best Debut Indie

For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.

Neon White (Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive)
NORCO (Geography of Robots / Raw Fury)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team / Finji)
Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Adaptation

Recognizing outstanding creative work that faithfully and authentically adapts a video game to another entertainment medium.

Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche / Riot Games / Netflix)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger / CD Projekt RED / Netflix)
The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR / King Features Syndicate / Netflix)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group / Paramount Pictures)
Uncharted (PlayStation Productions / Sony Pictures)

Most Anticipated

Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

Final Fantasy XVI (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software / Warner Bros. Games)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best eSports Game

For the game that has delivered the best overall esports experience to players (inclusive of tournaments, community support and content updates), irrespective of genre or platform.