Game Awards 2022 Nominations: ‘God of War Ragnarök,’ ‘Elden Ring’ and ‘Horizon Forbidden West’ Dominate

Katcy Stephan
·6 min read

The nominations for the Game Awards 2022, which celebrate the most cutting-edge voices of the year in gaming, have been announced.

“God of War Ragnarök” leads the pack with a whopping ten nominations, including Game of the Year and Best Game Direction. Variety praised the highly anticipated game in a recent review, calling it “a 10 out of 10, checking every box with a combination of pulse-pounding action, humor and character development that will stay with players long after they’ve completed the campaign.”

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“Ragnarök” is followed by “Elden Ring” and “Horizon Forbidden West,” which each racked up seven nods, including for Game of the Year. Sony Interactive Entertainment is the most nominated publisher with 20 nominations across its games, followed by Annapurna Interactive and Nintendo with 11 nominations each.

Fans can submit their votes through Dec. 7 via authenticated online voting on The Game Awards website and the official Discord server for The Game Awards using the official TGA Voting Bot.

The Game Awards will stream for free on Dec. 8 across more than 40 digital video networks including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Live and TikTok Live.

See the full list of nominees below:

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, PRESENTED BY DISCORD
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

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