Every year, Geoff Keighley hosts The Game Awards, pulling nominations from dozens of media outlets around the world and putting on a show where awards are given out and new games are revealed.
We've rounded up everything you need to know about The Game Awards 2022, whether you're interested in the nominees, want to vote, or just need to know when the awards are being held. Now that the awards are over, we've covered all the notable announcements at The Game Awards 2022.
What is The Game Awards 2022?
The Game Awards is an awards and entertainment show put together by Geoff Keighley, who also hosts Opening Night Live at Gamescom and Summer Game Fest. The Game Awards was first held in December 2014, and has been an annual event since then, with The Game Awards 2021 setting records with more views than ever before.
The awards pull from dozens of different media outlets, as detailed in the voting jury, pulling in nominations for the best games of the year. There are different categories such as Best Action/Adventure, Best Sports/Racing, Best Direction, and of course, Game of the Year. While outlets comprise the nominations, the final vote for the winners is split, with 90% of the vote coming from the jury and the remaining 10% being fan voted.
The Game Awards 2022: Nominees
Multiple categories return this year, alongside a new category that recognizes movie and TV adaptions of gaming properties. This year, God of War Ragnarök leads with ten nominations, while PlayStation Studios (Sony Interactive Entertainment) led for publishers with a combined 20 nominations. Here's the full list of nominees for The Game Awards 2022. Elden Ring won Game of the Year, and we've bolded all of the winners:
Game of the Year
- A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment
- Elden Ring – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment - Winner
- God of War Ragnarök – 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
- Elden Ring – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment - Winner
- God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Immortality – Sam Barlow / Half Mermaid Productions
- Stray - BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive
Best Narrative
- A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment
- Elden Ring – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment
- God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Immortality – Sam Barlow / Half Mermaid Productions
Best Art Direction
- Elden Ring – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment - Winner
- God of War Ragnarök – 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
- A Plague Tale: Requiem – Olivier Deriviere
- Elden Ring – Tsukasa Saitoh
- God of War Ragnarök – Bear McCreary - Winner
- Metal: Hellsinger – Two Feathers
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – Yasunori Mitsuda
Best Audio Design
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II – Infinity Ward / Activision
- Elden Ring – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment
- God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment - Winner
- Gran Turismo 7 – Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Best Performance
- Ashly Burch as Aloy – Horizon Forbidden West
- Manon Gage as Marissa Marcel – Immortality
- Christopher Judge as Kratos – God of War Ragnarök - Winner
- Charlotte McBurney as Amicia de Rune – A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Sunny Suljic as Atreus – God of War Ragnarök
Games for Impact
- A Memoir Blue – Cloisters Interactive / Annapurna Interactive
- As Dusk Falls – Interior Night / Xbox Game Studios - Winner
- Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age / Fellow Traveller
- Endling: Extinction is Forever – Herobeat Studios / HandyGames
- Hindsight – Joel McDonald / Annapurna Interactive
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist – Northway Games / Finji
Best Ongoing Game
- Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts
- Destiny 2: The Witch Queen – Bungie
- Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix - Winner
- Fortnite – Epic Games
- Genshin Impact – miHoYo
Best Independent Game
- Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster / Devolver Digital
- Neon White – Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive
- Sifu – Sloclap
- Stray – BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive - Winner
- Tunic – Andrew Shouldice, Finji
Best Mobile Game
- Apex Legends Mobile – Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts
- Diablo Immortal – NetEase / Blizzard Entertainment
- Genshin Impact – miHoYo
- Marvel Snap – Second Dinner / Nuverse - Winner
- Tower of Fantasy – Hotta Studio / Level Infinite
Best Community Support
- Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts
- Destiny 2: The Witch Queen – Bungie
- Final Fantasy XIV – Square Enix - Winner
- Fortnite – Epic Games
- No Man's Sky – Hello Games
Best AR/VR Game
- After the Fall – Vertigo Games
- Among Us VR – Innersloth
- Bonelab – Stress Level Zero
- Moss: Book II – Polyarc - Winner
- Red Matter 2 – Vertical Robot
Innovation in Accessibility
- As Dusk Falls – Interior Night / Xbox Game Studios
- God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment - Winner
- Return to Monkey Island – Terrible Toybox, Lucasfilm Games / Devolver Digital
- The Last of Us Part I – Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- The Quarry – Supermassive Games / 2K
Best Action Game
- Bayonetta 3 – PlatinumGames / Nintendo - Winner
- 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 Game
- A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo Studio / Focus Entertainment
- God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment - Winner
- Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Stray – BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive
- Tunic – Andrew Shouldice, Finji
Best Role Playing Game
- Elden Ring – FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Entertainment - Winner
- Live a Live – Square Enix / Nintendo
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus – Game Freak / The Pokémon Company, Nintendo
- Triangle Strategy – Artdink / Square Enix
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – Monolith Soft / Nintendo
Best Fighting Game
- DNF Duel – Arc System Works, Eighting, Neople / Nexon
- MultiVersus – Player First Games / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment - Winner
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R – CyberConnect2 / Bandai Namco Entertainment
- The King of Fighters XV – SNK
- Sifu – Sloclap
Best Family Game
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land – HAL Laboratory / Nintendo - Winner
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – Traveller's Tales / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Ubisoft
- Nintendo Switch Sports – Nintendo
- Splatoon 3 – Nintendo
Best Sports/Racing Game
- F1 22 – Codemasters / EA Sports
- FIFA 23 – EA Sports
- NBA 2K23 – Visual Concepts / 2K Sports
- Gran Turismo 7 – Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment - Winner
- OlliOlli World – Roll7 / Private Division
Best Sim/Strategy Game
- Dune: Spice Wars – Shiro Games / Funcom
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Ubisoft - Winner
- Total War: Warhammer III – Creative Assembly / Sega
- Two Point Campus – Two Point Studios / Sega
- Victoria 3 – Paradox Development Studio / Paradox Interactive
Best Multiplayer Game
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II – Infinity Ward / Activision
- MultiVersus – Player First Games / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Overwatch 2 – Blizzard Entertainment
- Splatoon 3 – Nintendo - Winner
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge – Tribute Games / Dotemu
Best Debut Indie Game
- Neon White – Angel Matrix / Annapurna Interactive
- Norco – Geography of Robots / Raw Fury
- Stray – BlueTwelve Studio / Annapurna Interactive - Winner
- Tunic – Andrew Shouldice, Finji
- Vampire Survivors – Luca Galante
Most Anticipated Game
- Final Fantasy XVI – Square Enix
- Hogwarts Legacy – Avalanche Software / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Resident Evil 4 – Capcom
- Starfield – Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo - Winner
Best Adaption
- Arcane (animated series) – Netflix
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (animated series) – Netflix
- The Cuphead Show! (animated series) – Netflix
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film) – Paramount Pictures
- Uncharted (film) – Sony Pictures
Best Esports Game
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Valve
- Dota 2 – Valve
- League of Legends – Riot Games
- Rocket League – Psyonix
- Valorant – Riot Games - Winner
Best Esports Athlete
- Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon
- Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok
- Finn "karrigan" Andersen
- Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev
- Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker - Winner
Best Esports Team
- DarkZero Esports
- FaZe Clan
- Gen.G
- Los Angeles Thieves
- LOUD - Winner
Best Esports Coach
- Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi
- Matheus "bzkA" Tarasconi - Winner
- Erik "d00mbr0s" Sandgren
- Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström
- Go "Score" Dong-bin
Best Esports Event
- Evo 2022
- 2022 League of Legends World Championship - Winner
- PGL Major Antwerp 2022
- 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
- 2022 Valorant Champions
Content Creator of the Year
- Karl Jacobs
- Ludwig Ahgren - Winner
- Nibellion
- Nobru
- QTCinderella
The Game Awards 2022: How to vote
If you want to vote and contribute to the outcome of The Game Awards, you can do so. You'll need to go to the official website and make an account, or sign in to an existing account if you've voted in prior years.
The Game Awards 2022: What is being shown?
The Game Awards always features a variety of surprises and big reveals, with new games and trailers for already-announced titles being shown. In the past couple of years, Microsoft in particular has had a large presence at The Game Awards, revealing the Xbox Series X and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 in 2019, announcing Perfect Dark in 2020, and showing the first gameplay from Hellblade 2 in 2021.
Right now, we don't know everything confirmed to be present at the awards, but we'll be updating this as news comes out.
So far, it's confirmed that we'll be seeing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a game being developed by Respawn Entertainment as a sequel to the 2019 game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
How to watch The Game Awards 2022
The Game Awards 2022 are being held on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT. There, players will a show filled with game reveals, updates on existing titles, and award presentations for the various categories. You can watch through the following options:
