On 18th November 2024, the Game Awards 2024 Nominees were declared across several genres and categories, selecting six of them for the main stage. The list of games that made their way into the GOTY list includes Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
The Game Awards 2024 Nominees event is all set to take place on December 12, 2024, at the Peacock Theater, Los Angeles. If you can’t make it to the event, don’t be upset, as it will also be aired live across digital and social platforms globally including YouTube and Twitch. The event will be hosted by Geoff Keighley, a Canadian video game journalist and TV presenter.
Game Awards 2024 Nominees: Debates, Critics, and More
While the gaming nominees 2024 were unveiled, the nominated title Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, has become a hot topic of discussion on every social media platform. The gamers have been debating whether the Elden Ring game is worthy of a jackpot, along with other games such as Metaphor: ReFantazio, Black Myth Wukong, Balatro, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
“I do not like expansion/DLC being eligible for GOTY. The Elden Ring expansion is just that. You can’t play it without the base game. It is not its own game. Poor decision”, Cipher-IX writes on Reddit under The Game Awards 2024 – Nominations Thread. (Credits Reddit).
“It’s kind of interesting how the nominations work that almost makes it feel unfair to me. Like Balatro got nominated for game of the year and is the only indie game nominated. So, doesn’t that mean by default that balatro is going to win the best indie game of the year? Because then if Balatro doesn’t win the best indie game then should that indie game that wins be the game that got nominated for game of the year?? I’m sure this always happens but it feels weird to me”, PeepsRebellion, another gaming fan writes on Reddit under the same thread. (Credits Reddit)
The Game Awards team gave a befitting reply for controversial gaming clashes on social media: “The Game Awards aims to recognize the best creative and technical work each year, irrespective of the format of that content’s release. Expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all categories, if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination. Factors such as the newness of the content and its price/value should be taken into consideration.” (Ref: News | The Game Awards)
Category-Wise Game Awards 2024 Nominees
The Game Awards 2024 Nominees for Best Independent Game category includes Animal Well (Shared Memory/Bigmode), Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack), Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive), Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver), and UFO 50 (Mossmouth). Both Animal Well and Balatro made it to the Best Debut Indie Game Category Game Awards 2024 Nominees list this year followed by other games like Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse), The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures/Devolver), and Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios/Kepler Interactive).
Below is the list of all other category-wise Game Awards 2024 Nominees for the year 2024.
Best Game of the Year
- Astro Bot
- Balatro
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
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
- Age of Mythology: Retold (World’s Edge/Forgotten Empires/Xbox Game Studios)
- Frostpunk 2 (11 Bit Studios)
- Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Capcom)
- Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse)
- Unicorn Overlord (Vanillaware/Sega/Atlus)
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
- Counterstrike 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 (Counterstrike)
- T1 (League of Legends)
- Team Liquid (DOTA 2)
The ASTRO BOT game was nominated for Game of the Year (GOTY) followed by two other categories: Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Family Game. Balatro got nominated for the Best Debut Indie Game and Best Independent Game apart from the Game of the Year nomination. On the flip side, the gaming fans feel that the “Animal Well” game deserves the spot under the Game of the Year (GOTY) category instead of squeezing a DLC game like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. The critics also stated that adding the “Best Expansion” category would be a fair decision, which GOTY juries turned a blind eye this year.
