The Game Awards released its nominations today for the best games of 2018 in advance of its December 6 show. Sony Santa Monica’s God of War and Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 led with eight nominations each.
Both games are nominated for Game of the Year, alongside four other titles: Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (four nominations), the indie title Celeste (four nominations) from Matt Makes Games, Marvel’s Spider-Man (seven nominations) from Insomniac, and Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World (four nominations).
It’s no surprise that God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 are on the list. It shows the power of long development cycles with huge teams. God of War took seven years to make, and Red Dead Redemption 2 took about eight years. Rockstar credited about 3,000 people for contributing to the game. Just a few weeks after release, Red Dead Redemption 2 has already shipped 17 million copies to retailers.
Above: Arthur Morgan strikes out on his own in a lot of missions in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Other multi-nominees include Epic Games’ Fortnite (four), Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (three), Bungie’s Destiny 2: Forsaken (three), and Detroit: Become Human (three) from Quantic Dream.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
In our recent interview, show host Geoff Keighley said the show has a budget in the millions of dollars, had 18 million viewers last year, and will be streamed live across 40 global video networks this year.
Nominated “content creators” include Ninja Pokimane, Dr. Lupo, Myth, and Willyrex. GamesBeat participated as one of the 68 nominating media outlets. We had a tough time deciding, but God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 stood out. For me, it will be hard choosing between those two in my personal favorites for the year. My colleagues loved titles like Dead Cells and Celeste.
Fans can be able to vote on all of the awards on Discord servers, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. Voting will run from now until December 5.
The show will take place at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The nominees are:
Game of the year
Above: Kratos tries to comfort his son in God of War.
- 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
Above: Josef Fares at 2017 The Game Awards.
- A Way Out (Hazelight Studios/EA)
- Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- 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
Above: 11-11 Memories Retold features two soldiers, a pigeon, and a cat.
- 11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart/Aardman Animations/Bandai Nacmo 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 virtual reality or augmented reality 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
Above: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode.
- 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
Above: Overcooked 2
- 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)
