The full list of nominees for the 2022 Game Awards is here and (as you might have predicted) both Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok scored big. Other big nominees included games like Horizon Forbidden West and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, while indie titles struggled to break through aside from Stray.
Hosted by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards is the video game industry’s version of the Oscars. This year’s show will take place in-person at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 8. Like previous years, it’ll live broadcast on various channels like YouTube and Twitch. The show is known for delivering world premiere reveals for upcoming games, as well as giving out a slew of awards in a variety of categories.
This year’s nominations come as no surprise. Elden Ring could be poised to sweep, as it picked up seven nominations. It even got a few puzzling nominations in categories like Best Narrative. It’ll face a tough foe in God of War Ragnarok, though, which picked up 10 nominations itself. That number is higher largely due to its two nominations in the Best Performance category. The two will duke it out in key categories like Best Action/Adventure Game and Game of the Year.
While those two games lead the nomination field, they aren’t the only games that scored big. The coveted Game of the Year category also includes A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. All four of those games scored nominations in other categories across the board as well.
There’s little diversity when it comes to the rest of the field, especially when it comes to independent games. The critically acclaimed Immortality snagged three nominations away from big budget games, but independent titles largely lost out to behemoths like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Gran Turismo 7.
Here is the full list of nominees for the 2022 Game Awards.
Game of the Year
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarök
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Game Direction
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarök
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
- Stray
Best Narrative
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarök
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
Best Art Direction
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarök
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Scorn
- Stray
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
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarök
- Gran Turismo 7
- Horizon Forbidden West
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
- As Dusk Falls
- Citizen Sleeper
- Endling: Extinction is Forever
- Hindsight
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Best Ongoing Game
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy XIV
- Fortnite
- Genshin Impact
Best Indie
- Cult of the Lamb
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Stray
- Tunic
Best Debut Indie
- Neon White
- Norco
- Stray
- Tunic
- Vampire Survivors
Best Community Support
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy XIV
- Fortnite
- No Man’s Sky
Best Mobile
- Apex Legends Mobile
- Diablo Immortal
- Genshin Impact
- Marvel Snap
- Tower of Fantasy
Best AR/VR
- After the Fall
- Among Us VR
- Bonelab
- Moss: Book II
- Red Matter 2
Best Action
- Bayonetta 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Best Action/Adventure
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- God of War Ragnarök
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- Tunic
Best Role Playing
- Elden Ring
- Live a Live
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Triangle Strategy
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Fighting
- DNF Duel
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
- The King of Fighters XV
- MultiVersus
- Sifu
Best Family
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Splatoon 3
Best Sim/Strategy
- Dune: Spice Wars
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
- Total War: WARHAMMER III
- Two Point Campus
- Victoria 3
Best Sports/Racing
- F1 22
- FIFA 23
- NBA 2K23
- Gran Turismo 7
- OlliOlli World
Best Multiplayer
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- MultiVersus
- Overwatch 2
- Splatoon 3
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Most Anticipated
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Resident Evil 4
- Starfield
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Content Creator of the Year
- Karl Jacobs
- Ludwig
- Nibellion
- Nobru
- QTCinderella
Best Adaptation
- Arcane: League of Legends
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
- The Cuphead Show!
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Uncharted
Innovation in Accessibility
- As Dusk Falls
- God of War Ragnarök
- Return to Monkey Island
- The Last Of Us Part I
- The Quarry
Best Esports Game
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- DOTA 2
- League of Legends
- Rocket League
- Valorant
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
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