All Of The 2018 Game Awards Nominees

The nominees have been announced for 2018’s The Game Awards. This year Sony Santa Monica’s God of War and Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 are the two front-runners, locked neck-and-neck at eight nominations each including Game of the Year. Other GOTY contenders include Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Celeste, Spider-Man, and Monster Hunter: World.

Fortnite snagged four nominations of its own including Best Ongoing Game, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Destiny 2: Forsaken, and Detroit: Become Human each got three nominations. Fans can vote for their favorites through the official site. The awards will air live on Thursday, December 6 at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT.

As always the award show will feature exclusive world premieres and musical performances. You can purchase tickets here, starting at $70. The show is once again being organized and hosted by gaming industry veteran Geoff Keighley. Keighley will also produce a limited podcast series in partnership with Spotify to take a closer look at the best game music of the year.

A total of 68 media partners, including GameSpot, are voting to decide the winners of the main categories. You can check out the full list of nominees below.

Game of the Year

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Best Ongoing Game

• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

Best Game Direction

• A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Best Narrative

• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Best Art Direction

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)

Best Score/Music

• Celeste (Lena Raine)
• God of War (Bear McCreary)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
• Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)
• Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)

Best Audio Design

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Best Performance

• Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
• Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
• Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
• Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man

Games for Impact

• 11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)

Best Independent Game

• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
• The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)

Best Mobile Game

• Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
• Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)

Best VR/AR Game

• ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
• Moss (Polyarc Games)
• Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)

Best Action Game

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
• Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
• Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Mega Man 11 (Capcom)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)

Best Role-Playing Game

• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)

Best Fighting Game

• BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)

Best Family Game

• Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
• Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)
• Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
• Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game

• BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
• Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
• Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)

Best Sports/Racing Game

• FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
• NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)

Best Multiplayer Game

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Sea of Thieves (Rare / Microsoft Studios)

Best Student Game

• Combat 2018 (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences – Norway)
• Dash Quasar (UC Santa Cruz)
• JERA (Digipen Bilbao, Spain)
• LIFF (ISTART Digital – France)
• RE: Charge (MIT)

Best Debut Indie Game

• Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Moss (Polyarc Games)
• The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
• Yoku’s Island Express (Villa Gorilla)

Best Esports Game

• CSGO
• DOTA2
• Fortnite
• League of Legends
• Overwatch

Best Esports Player

• Dominique “SonicFox” McLean (Echo Fox)
• Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi
• Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao (Royal Never Give Up)Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere)
• Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang (New York Excelsior)

Best Esports Team

• Astralis (CSGO)
• Cloud9 (LOL)
• Fnatic (LOL)
• London Spitfire (OWL)
• OG (DOTA2)

Best Esports Coach

• Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu (Cloud9)
• Cristian “ppasarel” Bănăseanu (OG)
• Danny “zonic” Sørensen (Astralis)
• Dylan Falco (Fnatic)
• Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi (Team Vitality)
• Janko “YNk” Paunovic (MiBR)

Best Esports Event

• ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018
• EVO 2018
• League of Legends World Championship
• Overwatch League Grand Finals
• The International 2018

Best Esports Host

• Alex “Goldenboy” MendezAlex “Machine” Richardson
• AndersBlumeEefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
• Paul “RedEye” Chaloner

Best Esports Moment

• C9 Comeback Win In Triple OT vs FAZE (ELEAGUE)KT vs IG Base Race (LOL Worlds)G2 Beating RNG (LOL Worlds)
• OG’s Massive Upset of LGD (DOTA 2 Finals)
• SonicFox Side Switch Against Go1 in DBZ (EVO)

Content Creator of the Year

• Dr. Lupo
• Myth
• Ninja
• Pokimane
• Willyrex