The Game Awards 2022 nominees announced – Voting Now Open

The Game Awards 2022 nominations are here and – in tune with recent success following its launch – God of War Ragnarök dominates across multiple categories. 

The Game Awards is set to take place on December 8 this year with releases throughout the past year of gaming being celebrated. The event will play host to numerous games industry individuals and see winners of 31 categories take to the stage in the event’s second live event since the pandemic and this year the public is invited too. 

One of the night’s potential big winners looks to be the recently released and highly anticipated God of War Ragnarök, developed by Santa Monica Studio. The title is nominated a massive eight times across various categories, one of which being the big game of the year award.

FromSoftware’s Elden Ring is also up for nomination in seven categories and Guerrilla Games, Horizon Forbidden West is nominated six times across the 31 categories, these titles are all up for the big game of the year award, accompanied by A Plague Tale Requiem, Stray and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. 

A new category is making its debut this year, dubbed as the best adaptation which highlights some of the best video game adaptations to TV and movies. This category features the popular Netflix shows Arcane which is based upon League of Legends and the recently released Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, movies make an appearance too with Uncharted being up for nomination. The addition of the new category is a logical step considering the huge amount of transmedia content the gaming industry is currently providing. 

And the categories and nominees are…

Game of the year: Recognising a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields. 

• A Plague Tale: Requiem 
• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarök 
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Stray
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 

Best Game Direction: Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarök 
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Immortality
• Stray

Best Narrative: For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game. 

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Immortality

Best Art Direction: For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarök 
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Scorn
• Stray

Best Score/Music: For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

• 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: Recognising the best in-game audio and sound design 

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 
• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarök 
• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Forbidden West 

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

• Ashly Birch – 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: For a thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message. 

• A Memoir Blue
• As Dusk Falls
• Citizen Sleeper
• Endling: Extinction is Forever
• Hindsight
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

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

• Apex Legends 
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14 Online
• Fortnite
• Genshin Impact 

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

• Cult of the Lamb
• Neon White
• Sifu
• Stray
• TUNIC

Best Debut Indie Game: For the best debut game created by a new independent studio. 

• Neon White
• NORCO
• Stray
• TUNIC
• Vampire Survivors

Best Mobile Game: For the best game playable on a mobile device.

• Apex Legends Mobile
• Diablo Immortal 
• Genshin Impact
• Marvel Snap
• Tower of Fantasy

Best Community Support: Recognising a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates/patches.

• Apex Legends 
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14 Online
• Fortnite
• No Man’s Sky

Best VR/AR Game: For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

• After the Fall
• Among Us VR
• BONELAB
• Moss: Book II
• Red Matter 2 

Innovation In Accessibility: Recognising 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
• God of War Ragnarök 
• Returnal 
• Return to Monkey Island 
• The Last of Us Part 1
• The Quarry

Best Action Game: For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat. 

• Bayonetta 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
• Neon White
• Sifu
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge 

Best Action/Adventure Game: For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving. 

• A Plague Tale Requiem
• God of War Ragnarök 
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Stray
• TUNIC

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

• Elden Ring
• Live a Live
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus
• Triangle Strategy
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 

Best Fighting Game: For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat. 

• DNF Duel
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
• The King of Fighters 15
• MultiVersus
• Sifu

Best Family Game: For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land 
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Nintendo Switch Sports
• Splatoon 3 

Best Sports/Racing Game: For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

• F1 22
• FIFA 23
• NBA 2K23
• Gran Turismo 7
• OlliOlli World 

Best SIM/Strategy Game: Best game focused on real time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform. 

• Dune: Spice Wars
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Total War: WARHAMMER 3
• Two Point Campus
• Victoria 3 

Best Multiplayer Game: 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 2
• Multiversus 
• Overwatch 2
• Splatoon 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

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 Esports Athlete: The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021, irrespective of game. 

• 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 Coach: The Esports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021. 

• 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: Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience. 

• EVO 2022
• 2022 League of Legends World Championship
• PGL Major Antwerp 2022
• The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational 
• VALORANT Champions 2022

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. 

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 
• DOTA 2
• League of Legends
• Rocket League
• VALORANT

Best Esports Team: Recognizing a specific esports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021. 

• DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
• FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• LA Thieves (Call of Duty) 
• LOUD (Valorant)

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

• Final Fantasy 16
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Resident Evil 4
• Starfield
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Best Adaptation: Celebrating game-inspired projects across entertainment including TV, movies, comics, and more. 

• Arcane: League of Legends
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
• The Cuphead Show!
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 
• Uncharted

Last year’s game of the year award was granted to It Takes Two, developed by Hazelight Studios. This year — despite being a slow one for game releases due to the pandemic — still has an impressive line-up of video games featured throughout each category and competition is sure to be fierce. Regardless of the winners, shows like this are an excellent way to showcase the immense talent within the industry.

The public can vote now for who they wish to be crowned the winner of each category over on The Game Awards site.