The Game Awards 2022 Nominations See God of War: Ragnarok Lead With 10 Award Nods – IGN

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

• Fire Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Immortality
• Stray

Best story

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

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

Best Art Direction

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

• Fire Ring
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Horizon: Forbidden West
• Contempt
• Stray

Best score/music

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

• Olivier Deriviere – A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Tsukasa Saitoh – Ring of Fire
• Bear McCreary – God of War: Ragnarok
• Two Feathers – Metal Hellsinger
• Yasunori Mitsuda

Best Sound Design

Recognizes the best audio and sound design in the game.

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• Fire Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Forbidden West

Best performance

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

• Ashly Birch – 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
• When dusk falls
• Citizen Sleeper
• Endling – Extinction is Forever
• Hindsight
• I was a teenage exocolonist

Best ongoing game

Awarded 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 Indie Debut Game

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

• Neon white
• NORCO
• Stray
• TUNIC
• Vampire Survivor

Best mobile game

For the best game that can be played on a mobile device.

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

Best Community Support

Recognizes a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, including social media and game updates/patches.

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

Best VR/AR game

For the best gaming experience that can be played in virtual or augmented reality, regardless of platform.

• After the fall
• Among Us VR
• BONE LAB
• Moss: Book II
• Red matter 2

Innovation in accessibility

To recognize software and/or hardware that drives the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games play and be enjoyed by an even wider audience.

• When dusk falls
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Return
• 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, combine combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

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

Best RPG

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

• Fire Ring
• Live a life
• 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 suitable for family gaming, regardless of genre or platform.

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

Best sports/racing game

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing games.

• 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 game, regardless 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, regardless of game genre or platform.

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• Multiverse
• Overwatch 2
• Splatoon 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Content creator of the year

For a streamer or content creator who has had an important and positive impact on society in 2021.

• Karl Jacobs
• Ludwig
• Nibelion
• Nobru
• QTCinderella

Best esports athlete

The eSports athlete was judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021, regardless 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

Esports coaches were rated the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
• Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (HIGH, VALORANT)
• Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
• Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
• Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

Best eSports event

To recognize an event (over one or more days) that provided a top class experience for attendees and the broadcast audience.

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

Best esports game

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

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

Best esports team

By recognizing a specific eSports team (not the entire organization), it was judged 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 Games

Recognizes an unannounced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to drive the gaming medium forward.

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

Best customization

We celebrate game-inspired projects in entertainment including TV, movies, series and more.

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

The public can now vote for the nominees they think are most deserving of each award on The Game Awards website, with the awards ceremony on December 8.

Last year’s awards saw It Takes Two take Game of the Year, while Deathloop won Best Game Direction, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy won Best Narrative, and Final Fantasy 14 Online won Best Ongoing Game.

The Game Awards are also a big source of video game announcements, new trailers and so on, with the 2021 ceremony hosting the unveiling of Star Wars: Eclipse, Alan Wake 2, Wonder Women and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He will talk about The Witcher all day.