The Game Awards 2020 Highlights
(Image credit: The Game Awards)
The Game Awards has released the full list of nominees for their 2020 awards. The winners are chosen by an independent jury approved by the company. Winners will be selected live on December 10th over 45 streaming platforms including YouTube (in 4k), Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook Live. The 30 categories of awards are wide ranging, including ones for content creators and esports. This article will focus on standout games that have the most nominations, as well as the two most competitive categories: the nominees for Game of the Year and Best VR/AR.
Founded in 2014 by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards and has grown from an audience of 1.9 mil in its first year all the way up to 49 million viewers last year. It has an impressive and wide ranging Advisory Board made up of industry leaders in gaming and technology. Members include the CEO of AMD Dr. Lisa Su, the president of Activision Rob Kostich, Tencent’s Steven Ma, Hideo Kojima, and more. The board helps select 95 leading media members and influencers who pick nominees in each category. The final vote is a mix of the 95 judges and fan voting, with 90% weighted towards the judges and the fans get the final 10%. Voting is easy, just go to The Game Awards Nominee Page, sign in with your choice of Twitter, Facebook, or Google accounts and then vote for your favorites in any or all categories you like.
This year’s competition has some serious standouts who have been nominated in more categories than the entire field. The Last of Us Part II looks to be the heavy weight in this fight with 10 nominations including Best Narrative and Innovation in Accessibility, a brand new category for this year. Also, both main actors received nominations for their performance: Ashley Johnson for Ellie, and Laura Bailey for Abby. Ghost of Tsushima is not far behind with 7 nominations including Best Music nomination and actor Daisuke Tsuji for his performance as Jin Sakai. Other standouts worth mentioning are Final Fantasy VII Remake with 5 nominations, and Doom Eternal with 4 of its own.
The most coveted award is always Game of the Year of any category. This year’s nominees are Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With this diverse set of games, it will be interesting to see what is more important to the voters: story or gameplay. Normally seeing a remake on a Game of The Year list would be an issue but Final Fantasy VII Remake is a brand new game with an already great storyline.
VR games are a focus of The Load Screen and there were some great entries this year. Nominees for Best VR/AR are Dreams, Half-Life: Alyx, Marvel’s Iron Man VR, Star Wars: Squadrons, and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. The competition was amped up this year with AAA studios putting out full VR games like both EA’s Star Wars: Squadrons and Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx. Dreams is a surprise on the list since VR was an addon to the game and it is hard to define in any one category.
The live event will be held on December 10th which is the same date as the release of Cyberpunk 2077. The Game Awards has grown far since 2014 and its advisory board of industry leaders is proof of that. There is tough competition in every category this year, so will it be possible for Ellie or Abby to even have a chance at winning for Best Performance with both actors nominated? See the full list of nominees and vote for yourself on The Game Awards Nominee Page.
