Game Developers Choice Award Nominations Announced, Rocket League Up For Game Of The Year

With the Game Developers Conference (GDC) coming up in March, the group responsible for its annual awards has announced this year’s nominations. Metal Gear Solid V and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lead the pack with four nods each.

The Game of the Year field is filled with all the AAA games you might imagine. There is one dark horse, though.

Psyonix’s unlikely cars-meet-soccer game Rocket League rounds out the field with a decidedly different ethos. It goes up against Fallout 4, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Metal Gear Solid V, and Bloodborne.

Nominations are welcome from any professional game developer that is a member of the International Choice Awards Network (ICAN). Final votes are handled by the advisory committee, the full list of which can be found on the GDCA website. 

http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/advisory.html

Here is the full list of categories and nominees:

Game of the Year

• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Rocket League (Psyonix)
• Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix) 

Innovation Award

• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
• The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
• Honorable Mentions: Rocket League (Psyonix), Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games) Cibele (Star Maid Games), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)

Best Debut

• Studio Wildcard (ARK: Survival Evolved)
• Toby Fox (Undertale)
• Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
• Moppin (Downwell)
• Steel Crate Games (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes)
• Honorable Mentions: Asteroid Base (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime), Question (The Magic Circle) Thomas Happ (Axiom Verge), Dinosaur Polo Club (Mini Metro), MidBoss (Read Only Memories)

Best Design

• Rocket League (Psyonix)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/ Bethesda Softworks)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
• Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

• Lara Croft: GO (Square Enix Montréal / Square Enix)
• Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• AlphaBear (Spry Fox)
• Honorable Mentions: Prune (Joel McDonald), The Room Three (Fireproof Games), Subterfuge (Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis), Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets / BANDAI NAMCO), Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage), SteamWorld Heist (Image and Form), You Must Build a Boat (EightyEight Games)

Best Visual Art

• Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo) 
• Honorable Mentions: Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami), Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn / Sony Computer Entertainment), Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks) 

Best Narrative

• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• The Beginner's Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
• Honorable Mentions: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Soma (Frictional Games)

Best Audio

• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
• Honorable Mentions: Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), SOMA (Frictional Games), Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Best Technology

• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios / Square Enix)
• Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)

The awards ceremony will take place on March 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The event will be hosted by Funomena co-founder Robin Hunicke.