The Game Awards 2017 nominees announced

The weather is cold, the furnace is running and their is a hint of a Joyful music in the air. Yep… Smells like Video Game Award Season.

The 2017 Game Awards is set to broadcast on Thursday December 7th and the nominees have been announced with 102 games and gaming personalities nominated this year. Nintendo picked up the most nominations with an impressive 23 nominations, while Sony (15) and Activision (7) following closely behind.

Picking the prestiegous Game of the Year will probably be the most difficult it has been in a long while with Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, Persona 5 and Horizon: Zero Dawn all fighting to prove they (rightfully) the best games of the year. Four games were able to pick up Six Nominations including Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Horizon and Destiny 2.

The winners will be announced during the livestream of The Game Awards on December 7th, which will be picked 51 global media outlets including GameSpot, Polygon and Giant Bomb. Fans can vote on several categories such as Best ESports Team and Most Anticipated Game by typing “Game Awards Vote” in Google or by going to The Game Awards site directly http://thegameawards.com/awards/.

So without further ado, here is the nominees for the night:

Game of the Year

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Persona 5 (Atlus)
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corp.)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda)

Best Narrative

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Tameem Antoniades, Elizabeth Ashman-Rowe / Ninja Theory)
Horizon Zero Dawn (John Gonzalez / Ninja Theory)
Nier: Automata (Yoko Taro, Hana Kikuchi, Yoshiho Akabane / Platinum Games)
What Remains of Edith Finch (Ian Dallas / Giant Sparrow)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Jen Matthies, Tommy Tordsson Bjork / MachineGames)

Best Art Direction

Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Persona 5 (Atlus)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Score / Music

Cuphead (Kristofer Maddigan)
Destiny 2 (Mike Salvatori, Skye Lewin, C Paul Johnson)
NieR: Automata (Keiichi Okabe, Keigo Hoashi)
Persona 5 (Shoji Meguro)
Super Mario Odyssey (Naoto Kubo, Shiho Fujii, Koji Kondo)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata)

Best Audio Design

Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Performance

Ashly Burch, Horizon: Zero Dawn (As Aloy)
Brian Bloom, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (as BJ Blazkowicz)
Claudia Black, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (as Chloe Frazer)
Laura Bailey, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (as Nadine Ross)
Melina Juergens, Hellblade (as Senua)

Games for Impact

Bury Me, My Love (The Pixel Hunt / Figs / ARTE / Playdius)
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm (Deck Nine / Square Enix)
Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
Please Knock on My Door (Levall Games AB)
What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Ongoing Game

Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar Games)
Overwatch (Blizzard)
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG. Corp)
Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Warframe (Digital Extremes)

Best Independent Game

Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
Pyre (Supergiant Games)
What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Mobile Game

Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Sylvain Tegroeg)
Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)
Old Man’s Journey (Broken Rules)
Super Mario Run (Nintendo)

Best Handheld Game

Ever Oasis (Grezzo / Nintendo)
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam / Nintendo)
Monster Hunter Stories (Marvelous / Capcom / Nintendo)
Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World (Good-Feel / Nintendo)

Best VR/AR Game

Farpoint (Impulse Gear / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Lone Echo (Ready at Dawn / Oculus Studios)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Red Storm Entertainment / Ubisoft)
Superhot VR (Superhot Team)

Best Action Game

Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Nioh (Team Ninja / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Prey (Arkane Studios / Bethesda)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda)

Best Action/Adventure Game

Assassin’s Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Role-Playing Game

Divinity: Original Sin II (Larian Studios)
Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix Business Division 2 / Square Enix)
NieR: Automata (Platinum Games / Square Enix)
Persona 5 (Atlus)
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Ubisoft San Francisco / Ubisoft)

Best Fighting Game

Arms (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Injustice 2 (NetherRealm Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Ent)
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (Capcom)
Nidhogg 2 (Messhof Games)
Tekken 7 (Bandai Namco Studios / Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Best Family Game

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris + Milan / Ubisoft)
Sonic Mania (PagodaWest Games, Headcannon / Sega)
Splatoon 2 (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game

Halo Wars 2 (Creative Assembly, 343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris + Milan / Ubisoft)
Total War: Warhammer II (Creative Assembly / Sega)
Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games)
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (Firaxis Games / 2K)

Best Sports/Racing Game

FIFA 18 (EA Vancouver / EA)
Forza Motorsport 7 (Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Gran Turismo Sport (Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
NBA 2K18 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PES Productions / Konami)
Project Cars 2 (Slightly Mad Studios / Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Best Multiplayer

Call of Duty: WWII (Sledgehammer Games / Activision)
Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corp.)
Splatoon 2 (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Most Anticipated Game

God of War (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Monster Hunter World (Capcom)
Red Dead Redemption II (Rockstar Games)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Trending Gamer

Andrea Rene (What’s Good Games)
Clint Lexa (“Halfcoordinated”)
Guy Beahm (“Dr. Disrespect”)
Mike Grzesiek (“Shroud”)
Steven Spohn (AbleGamers)

Best eSports Game

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
Dota 2 (Valve)
League of Legends (Riot)
Overwatch (Blizzard)
Rocket League (Psyonix)

Best eSports Player

Lee Sang-hyeok “Faker” (SK Telecom 1, League of Legends)
Marcelo “coldzera” David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: GO)
Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac (FaZe Clan, Counter-Strike: GO)
Je-hong “ryujehong” Ryu (Seoul Dynasty, Overwatch)
Kuro “KuroK”” Salehi Takhasomi (Team Liquid, Dota 2)

Best eSports Team

Cloud 9
FaZe Clan
Lunatic-Hai
SK Telecom T1
Team Liquid

Student Game Award

Falling Sky (Jonathan Nielssen, Nikolay Savoy, Mohsen Shah / National Film & TV School)
From Light (Alejandro Grossman, Steven Li, Sherveen Uduwana / USC)
Hollowed (Erin Marek, Jerrick Flores, Charley Choucard / University of Central Florida)
Impulsion (Hugo Verger, Remi Bertrand, Maxime Lupinski / IIM)
Level Squared (Kip Brennan, Stephen Scoglio, Dane Perry Svendsen / Swinburne University)
Meaning (Hariz Yet / DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore)

Best Debut Indie Game

Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
Golf Story (Sidebar Games)
Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)
Mr. Shifty (Team Shifty)
Slime Rancher (Monomi Park)

Chinese Fan Game Award

Honor of Kings《王者荣耀》 (Timi Studio Group)
ICEY《艾希》(FantaBlade Network)
Gumballs & Dungeons《不思议迷宫》(QcPlay Limited)
jx3 HD《剑网3》重制版 (Kingsoft Corporation)
Monument Valley 2《纪念碑谷2》(ustwo games)

Like every Game Awards show before it, the broadcast will also feature game announcements and new trailers, as well as musical performances, the biggest is the new Game Awards Orchestra, a group of “some of the world’s most talented orchestral and rock musicians.” You can also expect a sale on the nominated games on PSN, Xbox Live and other digital platforms in early December.

Last year, Blizzard’s Overwatch took home Game of the Year and the show brought in 8.5 million viewers through livestreams via Twitch, Youtube and various other platforms.

What are your winners out of the nominees? Is there a game missing up there? Let us know how you feel about the nominations and The Game Awards in general in the comments below.