The Game Awards 2015 - Nominees and Predictions

This has been an great year for gaming, filled to the brim with fantastic titles that spanned various genres and earned the acclaim of critics and gamers alike. I can't tell you how great it is to able to say that, especially considering how barren 2014 was. Now that we're reaching the end of 2015, awards season has begun its slow crawl towards us. Last year's aptly named Game Awards returns again this December, and the list of nominees has recently been released. While I enjoyed last year's show, I hope that the 2015 version moves closer to a more traditional awards show format, forgoing the out-of-place interviews and announcement of awards off camera. Regardless, it's nice to see gaming starting to get the recognition it deserves.

Here is the list of this year's nominees, as well as who I think should win (highlighted in yellow):

Game of the Year

Bloodborne 

Fallout 4 

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 

Super Mario Maker 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Developer of the Year

Bethesda Game Studios

CD Projekt Red

FromSoftware

Kojima Productions

Nintendo

Best Independent Game 

Axiom Verge

Her Story

Ori and the Blind Forest

Rocket League

Undertale

Best Mobile/Handheld Game 

Downwell

Fallout Shelter

Lara Croft GO

Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate

Pac-Man 256

Best Narrative 

Her Story

Life Is Strange

Tales From The Borderlands

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 

Until Dawn

Best Art Direction 

Batman: Arkham Knight

Bloodborne

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Ori and the Blind Forest

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 

Best Score/Soundtrack 

Fallout 4

Halo 5: Guardians

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Ori and the Blind Forest

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Best Performance 

Ashly Burch as Chloe Price (Life is Strange)

Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft (Rise of the Tomb Raider)

Doug Cockle as Geralt (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)

Mark Hamill as The Joker (Batman: Arkham Knight)

Viva Seifert (Her Story)

Games for Change Award 

Cibele (Nina Freeman)

Her Story (Sam Barlow)

Life Is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment / Square Enix)

Sunset (Tale of Tales)

Undertale (tobyfox)

Best Shooter 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Destiny: The Taken King

Halo 5: Guardians

Splatoon

Star Wars Battlefront

Best Action/Adventure Game 

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate  

Batman: Arkham Knight

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain  

Ori and the Blind Forest

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Best Role Playing Game 

Bloodborne

Fallout 4

Pillars of Eternity

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Undertale

Best Fighting Game 

Guilty Gear Xrd –SIGN– 

Mortal Kombat X

Rise of Incarnates

Rising Thunder

Best Family Game 

Disney Infinity 3.0

LEGO Dimensions

Skylanders: SuperChargers

Splatoon  

Super Mario Maker

Best Sports/Racing Game 

FIFA 16

Forza Motorsport 6

NBA 2K16  

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016

Rocket League

Best Multiplayer 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Destiny: The Taken King

Halo 5: Guardians

Rocket League

Splatoon

Most Anticipated Game 

Horizon Zero Dawn

No Man’s Sky

Quantum Break

The Last Guardian

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End  

eSports Player of the Year (I have no idea who any of these people are, so I don't care.)

Kenny “KennyS” Schrub

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok

Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer 

Peter “ppd” Dager

Syed Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan

eSports Team of the Year (Again, I have no idea. Give it to all of them.)

Evil Geniuses

Fnatic

Optic Gaming

SK Telecom T1

Team SoloMid

eSports Game of the Year 

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Dota 2

Hearthstone

League of Legends (I hate this game but I'm sure it'll win)

Trending Gamer 

Total Biscuit

Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles

Greg Miller

Markiplier

PewDiePie

Best Fan Creation 

GTA V – Targets (Hoodoo Operator)

Real GTA (Corridor Digital)

Portal Stories: Mel (Prism Studios)

Super Mario Maker e-Reader Levels (Baddboy78 / theycallmeshaky)

Twitch Plays Dark Souls (Twitch Community)