By Blake Chapman Geoff Keighley announced the nominees for The Game Awards 2020 on Nov. 18 in preparation for the live program next month. Here are some of the frontrunners, nominees for the biggest awards, and prominent storylines. Best Performance
- Laura Bailey - Abby (The Last of Us Part 2)
- Ashley Johnson - Ellie (The Last of Us Part 2)
- Nadji Jeter - Miles Morales (Marvel’s Spider-man: Miles Morales)
- Logan Cunningham - Hades (Hades)
- Daisuke Tsuji - Jin Sakai (Ghost of Tsushima)
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- The Last of Us Part 2
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Ori and The Will of the Wisps
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- The Last of Us Part 2
- Final Fantasy VII Remake - Square Enix
- Ghost of Tsushima - Sucker Punch/Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Hades - Supergiant Games
- Half-Life: Alyx - Valve
- The Last of Us Part 2 - Naught Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Nintendo
- Doom: Eternal - id Software/Bethesda
- Final Fantasy VII Remake - Square Enix
- Hades - Supergiant Games
- Ghost of Tsushima - Sucker Punch/Sony Interactive Entertainment
- The Last of Us Part 2 - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment
- The Last of Us Part 2 (10 Nominations)
- Hades (8 Nominations)
- Ghost of Tsushima (7 Nominations)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (6 Nominations)
- While Nintendo has been the most dominant contender in the “Best Family Game” category each year–all nominees in 2019 were Switch exclusives–this year the Japanese publisher and developer has some tough competition. “Crash Bandicoot 4” from Toys for Bob and Activision, “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” from Mediatonic and Devolver Digital, and “Minecraft Dungeons” from Mojang and Xbox Game Studios are all also up for the award.
- Titles traditionally shoe-horned into the “Best Mobile Game” category are having a breakout year thanks to extensive community support. “Among Us” from Innersloth–which saw a major surge in its player base two years after release thanks to viewership on Twitch–also got nominated for “Best Multiplayer.” The free-to-play mobile game “Genshin Impact” was also nominated for “Best Role Playing” after racking up 23 million downloads in its first week and $245 million in player spending thanks to gatcha-style monetization.
- Snubs are a major point of any awards season, and this year was no different for The Game Awards. “Jedi: Fallen Order” released the day of the submission deadline in 2019 and was only nominated for one award–“Best Action/Adventure”–for the 2020 show. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” which took the world by storm earlier this year thanks to a release date that coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, was only nominated for three awards.
- “Innovation in Accessibility” is a new award for this year’s program that recognizes software with exemplary features and content meant for disabled gamers; “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” “Grounded,” and “Hyperdot” have all been nominated.
- Possibly the most controversial nomination was the “Doom Eternal” soundtrack composed by Mick Gordon for “Best Score and Music.” Gordon and developer id Software had a major falling out in May 2020 when executive producer Marty Stratton posted a statement to the Doom subreddit addressing speculation about the soundtrack’s release and the struggles that both parties went through during development, resulting in an “unsustainable pattern of project uncertainty and risk.”
- PlayStation is the only publisher with a double-digit number of nominations at 22. That is almost three times more than rival console manufacturer Xbox and over four times as many as Nintendo.
