The Game Awards 2022 is one of the largest live-streamed events of the year and it is considered to be the Oscars of the gaming world.

The event returns live on Thursday, December 8 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The show brings together game creators, esports athletes, digital influencers, fans, along with stars from the entertainment industry

The Game Awards 2022 – Competitive Esports

Last year, on the competitive gaming side, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev won the “Best Esports Athlete” award ahead of some highly decorated athletes. League of Legends won the “Best Esports Game” award and Natus Vincere won the “Best Esports Team” award.

New Category – Best Adaptation

New for 2022, The Game Awards will introduce Best Adaptation, a category to recognize creative work that authentically adapts video game intellectual property to other popular media, including but not limited to theatrical movies, streaming shows, podcasts, novels, and comic books.

Celebrity Presenters

Last year at The Game Awards, Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz world premiered the first trailer for the movie Sonic 2 from Paramount Pictures, and the first full trailer debuted for the Halo series from Paramount+. The year prior, The Matrix Resurrections’ Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss were the newest presenters for The Game Awards.

The Game Awards 2022 – Viewership

The Awards show recently announced the first details of its 9th annual show. The ceremony will stream for free worldwide across more than 40 different digital video platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok Live. Last year’s show delivered a record-setting 85 million global live streams, making The Game Awards one of the Internet’s largest Livestream events.

Related: The Game Awards 2022 Winners

Vote for the Game Awards 2022 on Discord!

This year, the event is teaming up with Discord for a multi-faceted partnership — including fan voting in all categories on The Game Awards Discord Server.

Discord is also presenting the Best Community Support award at TGA, which recognizes a team that continues to iterate and improve a game based on community feedback.

In the coming weeks look out for more content on the TGA Discord server including:

Watch TGA live on the server with Watch Together
AMA Stage Events ft. Special Guests including Geoff Keighley
More To Be Announced

Head to the server to lock in your favorites, and join the discussion about the show!

The Game Awards 2022 – Nominations

Nominations in all categories were recently released. Selections are made by a voting jury of over 100 leading media and influencer outlets across the globe. Here are the nominees:

The Game Awards - Keanu Reeves — Credit; The Game Awards

Best eSports Event

Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience.

Best eSports Game

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

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
VALORANT (Riot Games)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
DOTA 2 (Valve)
Rocket League (Psyonix)

Best eSports Athlete

The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2022, irrespective of Game.

Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, League of Legends)
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, League of Legends)
Finn “karrigan” Andersen ( (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, VALORANT)

Best eSports Team

Recognizing a specific eSports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2022.

DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
Gen.G (League of Legends)
LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
LOUD (VALORANT)

Best eSports Coach

The eSports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2022.

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, League of Legends)

Game of the Year

Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft / Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

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

Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
IMMORTALITY (Half Mermaid)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
IMMORTALITY (Half Mermaid)

Best Art Direction

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

Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Scorn (Ebb Software / Kepler Interactive)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Score and Music

For outstanding music, inclusive of the score, original song, and/or licensed soundtrack.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Olivier Deriviere, Composer)
Elden Ring (Tsukasa Saitoh, Composer)
God of War Ragnarok (Bear McCreary, Composer)
Metal: Hellsinger (Two Feathers, Composer)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Yasunori Mitsuda, Composer)

Best Audio Design

Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward / Activision)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Performance

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

Ashly Burch (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 (Cloisters Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)
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 Interactive)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games / Finji)

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

Best Indie

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital)
Neon White (Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive)
Sifu (Sloclap)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team / Finji)

Best Mobile Game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed Studios / Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Diablo Immortal (Blizzard / NetEase Games)
Genshin Impact (HoYovese)
MARVEL SNAP (Second Dinner Studios / Nuverse)
Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio / Perfect World / Level Infinite)

Best Community Support

Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates / patches.

Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognizing software and/or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology, and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

As Dusk Falls (Interior/Night / Xbox Game Studios)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox / Devolver Digital)
The Last Of Us Part I (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
The Quarry (Supermassive Games / 2K)

Best Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality

For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

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 Game

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games / Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward / Activision)
Neon White (Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive)
Sifu (Sloclap)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games / Dotemu)

Best Action / Adventure

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team / Finji)

Best Role-Playing

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

Elden Ring (FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
LIVE A LIVE (historia / Square Enix)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak / Nintendo / The Pokemon Company)
Triangle Strategy (Artdink / Square Enix)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft / Nintendo)

Best Fighting

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

DNF Duel (Arc System Works / Eighting / Neople / Nexon)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
The King of Fighters XV (SNK)
MultiVersus (Player First Games / Warner Bros. Games)
Sifu (Sloclap)

Best Family

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

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 Simulation / Strategy

The best game focused on real-time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games / Funcom)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan / Ubisoft Paris / Ubisoft)
Total War: Warhammer III (Creative Assembly / SEGA)
Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios / SEGAA)
Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio / Paradox Interactive)

Best Sports / Racing

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

F1 22 (Codemasters / EA Sports)
FIFA 23 (EA Vancouver / Romania / EA Sports)
NBA 2K23 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
OlliOlli World (Roll7 / Private Division)

Best Multiplayer

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre or platform.

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)

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has made an important and positive impact on the community in 2022.

Karl Jacobs
Ludwig
Nibellion
Nobru
QTCinderella

Best Debut Indie

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

Neon White (Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive)
NORCO (Geography of Robots / Raw Fury)
STRAY (BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team / Finji)
Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Adaptation

Recognizing outstanding creative work that faithfully and authentically adapts a video game to another entertainment medium.

Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche / Riot Games / Netflix)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger / CD Projekt RED / Netflix)
The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR / King Features Syndicate / Netflix)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group / Paramount Pictures)
Uncharted (PlayStation Productions / Sony Pictures)

Most Anticipated

Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

Final Fantasy XVI (Creative Business Unit III / Square Enix)
Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software / Warner Bros. Games)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

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