The Game Awards 2024 Nominations Spark Debate

The Game Awards 2024 nominations are here, and as expected, we are not too shocked at most of the noms, but there are some interesting choices for some categories. Today was a good day for two PlayStation exclusives, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Astro Bot. Both games will enter the night leading in nominations with seven each. This year’s edition of the video game’s biggest night will mark the 10th anniversary of the annual award show hosted by Geoff Keighley, who hosted a live stream announcing the categories and games in them.

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This year’s show will feature 29 categories, including the highly coveted Game of The Year category. The games vying for the honor of being recognized as GOTY are Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Here is the full list of nominations:

Game of the Year

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Game Direction

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Narrative

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)
• Metaphor: ReFantanzio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)

Best Art Direction

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)

Best Score and Music

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)
• Stellar Blade (Shift Up/SIE)

Best Audio Design

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)

Best Performance

• Briana White, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Hannah Telle, Life is Strange: Double Exposure
• Humberly González, Star Wars Outlaws
• Luke Roberts, Silent Hill 2
• Melina Juergens, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Innovation in Accessibility

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard/Xbox)
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare/EA)
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
• Star Wars Outlaws (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Games for Impact

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios/Skybound Games)
• Indika (Odd Meter/11 Bit Studios)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Tales of Kenzera: Zau (Surgent Studios/EA)

Best Ongoing Game

• Destiny 2 (Bungie/SIE)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard/Xbox)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)

Best Community Support

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Independent Game

• Animal Well (Shared Memory/Bigmode)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Best Debut Indie Game

• Animal Well (Shared Memory/Bigmode)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse)
• Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios/Kepler Interactive)
• The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures/Devolver)

Best Mobile Game

• AFK Journey (FARLIGHT/Lilith Games)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (Creatures Inc/TPCI)
• Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)
• Zenless Zone Zero (miHoYo)

Best VR/AR Game

• Arizona Sunshine Remake (Vertigo Games)
• Asgard’s Wrath 2 (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
• Batman: Arkham Shadow (Camouflaj/Oculus Studios)
• Metal: Hellsinger VR (Lab 42/The Outsiders/Funcom)
• Metro Awakening (Vertigo Games)

Best Action Game 

• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• Stellar Blade (Shift Up/SIE)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)
• Star Wars Outlaws (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best RPG

• Dragon’s Dogma 2 (Capcom)
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Fighting Game

• Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Arc System Works/Cygames)
• Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (Capcom)
• MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
• Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco)

Best Family Game

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Princess Peach: Showtime! (Good-Feel/Nintendo)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo Cube/Nintendo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo/Nintendo)
• The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures/Devolver)

Best Sim/Strategy Game

Best Sports/Racing Game

• F1 24 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
• EA Sports FC 25 (EA Vancouver/EA Romania/EA Sports)  
• NBA 2K25 (Visual Concepts/2K)
• Top Spin 2K25 (Hangar 13/2K)
• WWE 2K24 (Visual Concepts/2K)

Best Multiplayer Game

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrow Game Studios/SIE)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo Cube/Nintendo)
• Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

Best Adaptation

• Arcane (Riot/Fortiche/Netflix) 
• Fallout (Bethesda/Kilter Films/Amazon MGM Studios)
• Knuckles (Sega/Paramount)
• Like a Dragon: Yakuza (Sega/Amazon MGM Studios)
• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (Crystal Dynamics/Legendary/Netflix)

Most Anticipated Game

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/SIE)
• Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar Games)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Retro Studios/Nintendo)
• Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom)

Content Creator of the Year

• CaseOh
• IlloJuan 
• Techno Gamerz
• TypicalGamer
• Usada Pekora

Best Esports Game

• Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
• DOTA 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Moonton)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

• 33 – Neta Shapira
• Aleksib – Aleksi Virolainen
• Chovy – Jeong Ji-hoon
• Faker – Lee Sang-hyeok
• ZyWoO – Mathieu Herbaut
• ZmjjKk – Zheng Yongkang

Best Esports Team

• Bilibili Gaming (League of Legends)
• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• NAVI (Counter-Strike)
• T1 (League of Legends)
• Team Liquid (DOTA 2)

With nominations now revealed, let the discourse begin. The biggest WTF is that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was nominated for Game of the Year because it’s DLC and not a full game. There are also people (including this gamer) BIG MAD about Helldivers II and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown not earning a Game of the Year nomination. The Game Awards will be held Dec. 12 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and stream live on the show’s YouTube channel. You can see more reactions to the nominations in the gallery below.

1. Lol, yup

2. Bold prediction?

3. Facts

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