As scheduled, Geoff Keighley finally presented the nominees for The Game Awards 2022 and the respective categories and there are some nominees that definitely got some attention and surprise included also.
Without further ado, the categories and 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
- 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 SIM/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
Immediately, the main surprise of many is that God Of War Ragnarok has gained 10 nomination on his debut year and the game that is less than two weeks released and practically, had some questioning the requirements for a game being nominated in the first place as God Of War Ragnarok could have not complied with the official reglementary minimum time release.
Which had let me think that probably Sony had Geoff Keighley try the game prematurely.
Stray and A Plague Tale: Requiem seems like a favorite in many category including Game Of The Year, which they are also competing with Elden Ring, God Of War Ragnarok and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (a surprising entrance and definitely Nintendo got to be happy about this one).
