Organizers have revealed the nominees for the 18th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry’s top games and developers.

Winners in all fourteen categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony, taking place on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2018 Game Developers Conference (GDC) and held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival Awards (IGF).

GDCA will be presided by returning host and industry veteran, Robin Hunicke, a professor of game design at UC Santa Cruz and the co-founder of the independent San Francisco game studio, Funomena. The ceremonies are available to attend for all GDC 2018 pass-holders.

Leading the pack are Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn from Guerrilla Games with a total of six nominations each, including Game of the Year. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the massively reimagined open-world RPG, also received nominations for Best Audio, Design, Innovation, Technology, and Visual Art. The compelling sci-fi adventure, Horizon Zero Dawn, was additionally nominated for Best Audio, Design, Narrative, Technology and Visual Art.

Other titles receiving multiple nominations include Nier: Automata developed by PlatinumGames, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developed by PUBG Corporation and Cuphead from StudioMDHR, with three nods apiece. The stylish, post-apocalyptic Nier: Automata was nominated for Best Audio, Best Design and Game of the Year. Multiplayer battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was nominated for Best Design, Innovation Award and Game of the Year. The charmingly retro old-school shooter, Cuphead, received nominations for Best Audio, Best Debut (for StudioMDHR) and Visual Art.

The Game of The Year nominees are rounded out by Super Mario Odyssey from Nintendo. The triumphant celebration of the past and bold new direction for the beloved Mario franchise was nominated for Best Design and Game of the Year.

Industry professionals from around the world nominate for the awards, free of charge. Any video game that was released and made publicly available during the 2017 calendar year, irrespective of platform or delivery medium, is eligible for nomination for the 2018 Game Developers Choice Awards. Both nominees and winners are selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.

The complete list of nominees, including honorable mentions, for the 18th annual Game Developers Choice Awards is as follows:

BEST AUDIO

Cuphead (StudioMDHR)

Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions: Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Star Wars: Battlefront II (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom), Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision), Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

BEST DEBUT

Team Cherry (Hollow Knight)

Sidebar Games (Golf Story)

StudioMDHR (Cuphead)

Infinite Fall (Night in the Woods)

Jason Roberts / Buried Signal (Gorogoa)

Honorable Mentions: Game Grumps (Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator), Terrible Toybox (Thimbleweed Park), Team Salvato (Doki Doki Literature Club!), Lizardcube (Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap)

BEST DESIGN

Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions: Cuphead (StudioMDHR), Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive), What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios), Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy), Prey (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

BEST MOBILE GAME

Reigns: Her Majesty (Nerial / Devolver Digital)

Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg)

Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)

Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive)

Bury Me, My Love (The Pixel Hunt / Figs / ARTE France / Playdius)

Honorable Mentions: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems and Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Old Man's Journey (Broken Rules), Flipflop Solitaire (Zach Gage), Gnog (KO_OP / Double Fine Productions)

INNOVATION AWARD

Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)

Everything (David OReilly / Double Fine Productions)

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)

Honorable Mentions: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory), Cuphead (StudioMDHR), Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix), Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Tacoma (Fullbright), Pyre (Supergiant Games)

BEST NARRATIVE

Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)

What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda Softworks)

Honorable Mentions: Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix), Tacoma (Fullbright), Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios), Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)

Assassin's Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda Softworks), Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)

BEST VISUAL ART

Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus)

Cuphead (StudioMDHR)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

Honorable Mentions: Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive), Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Assassin's Creed Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft), Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision), Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory), Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

BEST VR/AR GAME

Superhot VR (SUPERHOT Team)

Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Red Storm Entertainment / Ubisoft)

Lone Echo (Ready at Dawn / Oculus Studios)

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Honorable Mentions: Farpoint (Impulse Gear / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (Owlchemy Labs / Adult Swim Games), Luna (Funomena), Robo Recall (Epic Games), Gnog (KO_OP/ Double Fine Productions), Doom VFR (id Software / Bethesda Softworks)

GAME OF THE YEAR

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)

Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Cuphead (StudioMDHR), What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive), Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus), Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory), Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

The Game Developers Choice Awards also recognize three individuals for the annual Special Awards categories: Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement. The recipients of the special awards will be announced in the near future. The Audience Award category, which will be open to all Choice Award finalists, will open for online voting in late January.

For further details about the 18th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, check out the GDCA website. For more information on GDC 2018, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.



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