The Game Awards 2015 announces its full list of nominees today, covering all of the best video games, developers, players, and performers for this year.
With less than three weeks to go before show time, The Game Awards 2015 has published its list of nominees for the ceremony, and considering the contenders, it’s going to be an extremely entertaining night. Taking into account the success of the event last year, producer Geoff Keighly announced the show’s return several months ago.
For those unaware, just last week it was revealed that The Game Awards 2015’s official date was set for December 3, and it will be livestreamed on the Web via Twitch, YouTube, Steam, the PlayStation Network, Wii U, Xbox Live and Go90. Not only will the event revolve around the happenings of the video game industry this year, but it will also contain musical performances, as well as exclusive trailers for new and existing games.
A panel of judges from 32 different publications around the globe took part in selecting the nominees for The Game Awards 2015. In order to be considered and eligible for selection, titles needed to have had a commercial release date on or before November 24, 2015. Unfortunately, in setting such limitations, the highly anticipated releases of December for this year, such as the forthcoming Just Cause 3 and Rainbow Six Siege, will be excluded.
Perhaps the most sought-after trophy of the evening will be the Game of the Year award, and the category is chock full of fan favorites and critical darlings. Included in the running for the top title of 2015 are Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Super Mario Maker and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. As it happens, CD Projekt RED’s open-world RPG leads the nominations with placements in 7 separate categories. Nevertheless, trailing close behind is Hideo Kojima’s MGS 5 with 5 nods of recognition.
Leading the pack of publishers is Warner Bros. Interactive—the company that put out the wonderful Witcher 3 and top-notch Batman: Arkham Knight—with 11 nominations. Bearing that in mind, it’s possible for the company to sweep all of its categories, especially with so many stellar titles in its stable.
Interestingly enough, The Game Awards will also be celebrating the competitive realm of eSports, with categories dedicated to the best eSports team and player, respectively. Including the community in the awards show makes sense, especially with the phenomenon getting more attention in the mainstream and with international prize pools for events continuing to increase.
Of course, some fans may be wary of such affairs as The Game Awards 2015, for it’s extremely difficult to objectively claim which title or nominee is indeed the best without having subjectivity or bias take part in the selection process. At any rate, such concerns can be applied to practically any awards ceremony that judges artistry. Even so, check out the full list of nominees below to see how the competition stacks up:
GAME OF THE YEAR
Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4/Nintendo)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR
Bethesda Game Studios
CD Projekt Red
From Software
Kojima Productions
Nintendo
BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Undertale (tobyfox)
BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME
Downwell (Moppin/Devolver Digital)
Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios|Behaviour Interactive/Bethesda Softworks)
Lara Croft Go (Square Enix Montreal/Square Enix)
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Capcom)
Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
BEST NARRATIVE
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment/Square Enix)
Tales From the Borderlands (Telltale Games)
Until Dawn (Supermassive Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)
BEST ART DIRECTION
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK
Fallout 4 (Inon Zur/Bethesda Game Studios)
Halo 5: Guardians (Kazuma Jinnouchi/343 Industries)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Ludvig Forssell, Justin Burnett, Daniel James/Kojima Productions)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Gareth Coker/Moon Studios)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikolai Stroinski, Percival/CD Projekt Red)
BEST PERFORMANCE
Ashly Burch as Chloe Price (Life is Strange)
Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft (Rise of the Tomb Raider)
Doug Cockle as Geralt (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
Mark Hamill as The Joker (Batman: Arkham Knight)
Viva Seifert (Her Story)
GAMES FOR CHANGE
Cibele (Nina Freeman)
Sunset (Tale of Tales)
BEST SHOOTER
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
Destiny: The Taken King (Bungie/Activision)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo)
Star Wars Battlefront (EA DICE/Electronic Arts)
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Microsoft Studios)
BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME
Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian Entertainment/Paradox Interactive)
BEST FIGHTING GAME
Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- (Arc System Works/Aksys Games)
Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Rise of Incarnates (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Rising Thunder (Radiant Entertainment)
BEST FAMILY GAME
Disney Infinity 3.0 (Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive)
Lego Dimensions (TT Games/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Skylanders SuperChargers (Vicarious Visions|Beenox/Activision)
BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME
FIFA 16 (EA Canada/Electronic Arts)
Forza Motorsport 6 (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios)
NBA 2K16 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 (PES Productions/Konami)
BEST MULTIPLAYER
MOST ANTICIPATED GAME
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertaiment)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Quantum Break (Remedy Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)
The Last Guardian (GenDesign/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment)
ESPORTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kenny “KennyS” Schrub (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive/Team EnVyUs)
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends/SK Telecom T1)
Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive/Fnatic)
Peter “ppd” Dager (Dota 2/Evil Geniuses)
Syed Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan (Dota 2/Evil Geniuses)
ESPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Evil Geniuses
Fnatic
Optic Gaming
SK Telecom T1
Team SoloMid
ESPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
Dota 2 (Valve)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
TRENDING GAMER
Total Biscuit
Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles
Greg Miller
Markiplier
PewDiePie
BEST FAN CREATION
GTA 5 - Targets (Hoodoo Operator)
Real GTA (Corridor Digital)
Portal Stories: Mel (Prism Studios)
Super Mario Maker e-Reader Levels (Baddboy78 / theycallmeshaky)
Twitch Plays Dark Souls (Twitch Community)
Do you agree with The Game Awards’ nominees for 2015? Which game do you think will take home Game of the Year? Let us know in the comments below.
For the sake of clarity, The Game Awards 2015 is scheduled to air at 9:00 PM ET on Thursday, December 3, live from the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles, California.
Source: The Game Awards
