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The Game Awards 2018 nominees announced, voting open now

The Game Awards are less than a month away and Geoff Keighley announced the nominees during a live stream today.

Asif Khan

November 13, 2018 11:00 AM

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Get excited, gamers. The 2018 Game Awards are set to air on December 6 and Geoff Keighley just announced the nominees. God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 lead the pack with eight nominations each, while indie darling Celeste scored four nominations. Please take a look at all the nominees below.

The Game Awards 2018 Nominees

The full list of nominees can be found below, with winners set to be announced live at The Game Awards on December 6.

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 PRESENTED BY SPOTIFY

• 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 PRESENTED BY DOLBY

• 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

• 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)

ESPORTS AWARDS

BEST ESPORTS GAME

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

BEST ESPORTS PLAYER PRESENTED BY OMEN BY HP

• 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" Mendez
• Alex “Machine” Richardson
• AndersBlume
• Eefje “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)

COMMUNITY AWARD

CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR

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

That's all of the nominees for The Game Awards 2018. Tune in to Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, Mixer, Stream TV, Caffeine.TV and YouTube to watch this years festivities on December 6. Voting is now open. 

Fans can help choose the winners in all categories via online voting across several digital and social platforms, including on TheGameAwards.com. Certain award categories can also be voted on directly via Facebook Messenger and Twitter Direct Message. Fans can talk to Amazon Alexa to vote for specific categories, and also use their voice to vote via The Game Awards action, which works with the Google Assistant.

In an industry-first, gamers will be able to help select the winners in all categories of The Game Awards by voting for their favorites in the official The Game Awards Discord server (discord.gg/thegameawards). The server, which is open for fans to join now, will be the place to get show info before, during and after the awards. Voting will officially open in-server on November 13 and run to December 5.

What games did you think got hosed? Should MegaMoose64 have been nominated for Esports Player of the Year? Let us know in the comments section and tune in December 6 to see who wins The Game Awards in 2018.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.