Earlier this week, The Game Awards, the Academy Awards for gamers, as I like to call it, announced its 2022 round of nominees. God of War Ragnarök leads with the most nominations at 10 in categories such as Innovation in Accessibility, Best Performance, and yes, Game of the Year. Featuring the best games from some of the best studios and creative minds across the industry, this year’s class of nominees includes 108 games, individuals, teams, and events across genres and platforms.

This year’s class of Game of the Year nominees include A Plague Tale: Requiem from Asobo Studio, Elden Ring from FromSoftware, the previously mentioned God of War Ragnarök from Sony Santa Monica, Horizon Forbidden West from Guerrilla Games, Stray from BlueTwelve Studio, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 from Monolith Soft.

New this year is the inclusion of the Best Adaptation category, which was created to celebrate the adaptations based on games we love. The first class of nominees includes 3 Netflix series - Arcane from Fortiche, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners from Studio Trigger, and The Cuphead Show! From Studio MDHR - and two theatrical films, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from Paramount Pictures and Uncharted from Sony Pictures.

Of the nominated publishers, Sony Interactive Entertainment is the most nominated publisher this year with 20 nominations from its eclectic PlayStation Studios, followed closely by Annapurna Interactive and Nintendo of America with 11 nominations each, Bandai Namco Entertainment with 8, and Riot Games with six nominations. These nominees were selected by a jury spanning the globe, including over 100 media publications and influencer outlets.

The Game Awards from last year set a record with 85 million live streams. The awards ceremony will be streamed to Instagram Live and YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Steam, Facebook, TikTok Live, and many more digital video platforms to mark its ninth anniversary.

Speaking of new things, this year, The Game Awards has a Discord server featuring games, exclusive events like AMAs with game developers interviewed by Geoff Keighley, and the ability to vote for this year’s nominees in the following weeks to The Game Awards 2022.

Additionally, there will be a watch party for the show on December 8th, where members can react to the winners in real-time.

Starting now through December 7th at 6 pm Pacific Time, fans can choose the winners using www.thegameawards.com and the official Discord server for The Game Awards using the official TGA Voting Bot. For Chinese residents, fans can vote for their favorites on Bilibili.

The Game Awards 2022 airs live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, December 8th, 2022, with all the things fans love - awards, new game announcements, and musical performances by The Game Awards Orchestra, conducted by Lorne Balfe. If you want to attend in person, you can purchase tickets on axs.com.

If you can’t attend in Los Angeles, The Game Awards: The IMAX Live Experience will be an option in select IMAX movie theaters located in the United States and Canada. Attendees can expect exclusive sneak peeks, surprises, and a giant screen to experience The Game Awards. Tickets for The Game Awards: The IMAX Live experience are on sale now at imax.com.

The Game Awards is executive produced by Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim. LeRoy Bennett is the creative director, and Richard Preuss is the director.

Stay tuned as details on additional musical performances, presenters, and world premieres will be announced in the coming weeks.

Without further ado, here are The Game Awards 2022 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)

TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)

Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Community Support, Presented by Discord

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 Simulation/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

Until next time!

Thanks to Thomas Stoneham-Judge from Movies For Reel, Shane Conto, Joseph Davis, David Walters, Ambula Bula, Matthew Simpson, Thom Blackburn, and Beatrice AKA Shakesqueer, for supporting Austin B Media on Patreon!