The Game Awards 2022: How to watch and what to expect – IGN

A runtime has yet to be confirmed for The Game Awards 2022, but you can expect it to last a while. The Game Awards 2021 lasted around 3 hours, so we expect this year’s show to be much the same. IGN will also host a live post-show for you to tune into after the event.

What to expect from The Game Awards in 2022

The first thing you can expect from The Game Awards this year is the awards themselves. There are 31 categories with 5 nominees per category and there are strong contenders for Game of the Year in 2022. The two favorites in the Game of the Year category this year are Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarok – all two of which IGN gave a 10 out of 10. Both of these games are nominated in different categories and will most likely win a few.

In addition to the awards themselves, The Game Awards have historically featured big reveals about upcoming games. We’ve had a look at Elden Ring and Sonic Frontiers over the years, so we expect to potentially see more new reveals at the 2022 show. Game Awards since 2019, there will probably also be quite a few great guests to talk in depth about future games.

Finally, you can expect musical guests and performances featuring music in video games. The Game Awards is a celebration of gaming in its own right, so we’ll likely have a few surprises this year as well.

The 2022 Game Awards nominees

Game of the Year

Recognize a game that offers the absolute best experience in all creative and technical areas.

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• elderberry ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Forbidden Horizon West
• Wander
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best game direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

• elderberry ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Forbidden Horizon West
• Immortality
• Wander

Best Story

For exceptional storytelling and narrative development in a game.

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• elderberry ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Forbidden Horizon West
• Immortality

Best Art Direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in art design and animation.

• elderberry ring
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Horizon: West forbidden
• Contempt
• Wander

Best Score/Music

For outstanding music, including licensed sheet music, original song and/or soundtrack.

• Olivier Derivière – A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Tsukasa Saitoh – Elden Ring
• Bear McCreary – God of War: Ragnarok
• Two Feathers – Metal Hellsinger
• Yasunori Mitsuda

Best Audio Design

Recognize the best audio and sound design in the game.

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• elderberry ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Gran Turismo 7
• Forbidden Horizon West

Better performance

Assigned to a person for voice acting, motion and/or performance capture.

• Ashly Birch – Horizon: Forbidden West
• Charlotte McBurney – A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Christopher Judge – God of War: Ragnarok
• Manon Gage – Immortality
• Sunny Suljic – God of War: Ragnarok

Impact Games

For stimulating play with a pro-social meaning or message.

• A memory blue
• As dusk falls
• sleeper citizen
• Endling – Extinction is Eternal
• Hindsight
• I was an exocolonist teenager

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14 online
• Fortnite
• Genshin Impact

Best Indie Game

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside of the traditional publishing system.

• Worship of the Lamb
• neon white
• Sifu
• Wander
• TUNIC

Best First Indie Game

For the best first game created by a new independent studio.

• neon white
• NORCO
• Wander
• TUNIC
• vampire survivors

Best mobile game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

• Apex Legends Mobile
• Diablo Immortal
• Genshin Impact
• marvel snap
• Tower of Fantasy

Better community support

Recognize a game for its outstanding community support, transparency, and responsiveness, including social media activity and game updates/patches.

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14 online
• Fortnite
• No Man’s Sky

Best VR/AR game

For the best gaming experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, whatever the platform.

• After the fall
• Among us VR
• BONELAB
• Moss: Book II
• Red Matter 2

Innovation in accessibility

Recognize software and/or hardware that advances the medium by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

• As dusk falls
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Return
• Back to Monkey Island
• The last of us part 1
• The career

Best action game

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

• Bayonet 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• neon white
• Sifu
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Best Action/Adventure Game

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat, traversal and puzzle solving.

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• God of War Ragnarok
• Forbidden Horizon West
• Wander
• TUNIC

Best RPG

For the best game crafted with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

• elderberry ring
• live alive
• Pokemon Legends: Arceus
• Triangle strategy
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3

best fighting game

For the best game designed primarily around one-on-one combat.

• DNF Dueling
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
• The king of fighters 15
• MultiVersus
• Sifu

Best family game

For the best game suitable for family play, regardless of genre or platform.

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Nintendo Switch Sports
• Splaton 3

Best sports/racing game

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

• F1 22
• FIFA 23
• NBA 2K23
• Gran Turismo 7
• OlliOlli World

Best SIM/Strategy Game

Best game focused on real-time or turn-based simulation or strategy game regardless of platform.

• Dune: The Spice Wars
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Total War: WARHAMMER 3
• Two-point campus
• Victoria 3

Best multiplayer game

For exceptional online multiplayer gameplay and design, including cooperative and massively multiplayer experiences, regardless of game genre or platform.

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• Multiverse
• Monitor 2
• Splaton 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who made a big, positive impact on the community in 2021.

• Karl Jacobs
• Louis
• nibellion
• count up
• QTCinderella

Best Esports Athlete

The esports athlete deemed most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021, regardless of game.

• Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)
• Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL)
• Finn “Karrigan” Andersen ((FaZe Clan – CS:GO)
• Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Born to Win, CS:GO)
• Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)

best esports trainer

Esports coach deemed most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Born to Win, CS:GO)
• Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (STRONG, VALORANT)
• Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
• Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
• Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

Best esports event

Recognize an event (over one or more days) that provided an exceptional experience for attendees and broadcast audiences.

• EVO 2022
• 2022 League of Legends World Championship
• PGL Major Antwerp 2022
• The 2022 mid-season invitation
• 2022 VALORANT Champions

Best esports game

For the game that provided the best overall esports experience for players (including tournaments, community support, and content updates), regardless of genre or platform.

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• DOTA 2
• League of Legends
• rocket league
• ENHANCE

Best esports team

Recognize a specific esports team (not the entire organization) deemed most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
• FaZeClan (CS:GO)
• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
• LOUD (Valorant)

Most anticipated game

Recognize an advertised game that has demonstrably illustrated the potential to advance the game medium.

• Final Fantasy 16
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Resident Evil 4
• star field
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Best adaptation

Celebrating gaming-inspired projects across all areas of entertainment, including TV, movies, comics, and more.

• Arcane: League of Legends
• Cyberpunk: Edge Runners
• The Cuphead Show!
• sonic the hedgehog 2
• Unexplored

Looking for IGN’s favorite games? Take a look at our most popular games of 2022 and our list of the best video games of all time.