The Game Awards 2019 Nominees Announced, 'Death Stranding' Leads The Pack

The Game Awards 2019 kicks off in just a few weeks' time. The Geoff Keighley hosted event celebrates its fifth anniversary on December 13th and, as usual, we can expect a raft of big new announcements, trailers, and awards as we look back on the best games of the year. Keighley previously teased that 2019's show will be "celebrating the act of creation" by turning the "stage over to a group of visionary teams selected to share their new projects with you".

In other words, it's gonna be a big show with plenty of new announcements to obsess over. I mean, last year we got news of a new Dragon Age, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, and Mortal Kombat 11. No doubt Keighley will want to top that.

Announcements and trailers are all well and good of course, but let's not lose sight of what The Game Awards are really about. Awards... for games. This year's nominees have just been announced across the usual range of 29 categories. Without further ado then, scroll on to see for yourself which games caught the world's collective eye this year.

Game of The Year

• Control (Remedy/505 Games)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai-Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
• The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Game Direction

• Control (Remedy/505 Games)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
• Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)

Best Narrative

• A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo/Focus Home)
• Control (Remedy/505)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Art Direction

• Control (Remedy/505)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best Score/Music

• Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
• Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)

Best Audio Design

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Control (Remedy/505)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)

Best Performance

• Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
• Courtney Hopeas Jesse Faden, Control
• Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
• Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
• Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
• Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding

Games for Impact

• Concrete Genie (Pixelopus/SIE)
• Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Kind Words (Popcannibal)
• Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
• Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/EA)

Best Ongoing Game

• Apex Legends (Respawn)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Indie

• Baba Is You (Hempuli)
• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• Katana ZERO (Askiisoft/Devoler)
• Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
• Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

Best Mobile Game

• Call of Duty: Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
• GRINDSTONE (Capybara Games)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
• Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
• What the Golf? (Tribland)

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best VR/AR Game

• Asgard's Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
• Blood & Truth (SIE London Studio/SIE)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• No Man's Sky (Hello Games)
• Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)

Best Action Game

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Astral Chain (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom/Capcom)
• Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
• Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
• Control (Remedy/505 Games)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)

Best RPG

• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
• The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Fighting Game

• Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo)
• Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
• Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm/WBIE)
• Samurai Showdown (SNK/Athlon)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)

Best Family Game

• Luigi's Mansion 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
• Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
• Yoshi's Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game

• Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox)
• Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Koei Tecmo/Nintendo)
• Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
• Tropico 6 (Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
• Wargroove (Chucklefish)

Best Sports/Racing Game

• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
• DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
• eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
• F1 2019 (Codemasters)
• FIFA 20 (EA Sports)

Best Multiplayer Game

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
• Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Fresh Indie Game Presented by Subway

• ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
• Nomada Studiof or Gris
• DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
• Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
• Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
• House House for Untitled Goose Game

Content Creator of the Year

• Courage - Jack Dunlop
• Dr. Lupo - Benjamin Lupo
• Ewok - Soleil Wheeler
• Grefg - David Martínez
• Shroud - Michael Grzesiek

Best Esports Game

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• DOTA2 (Valve)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)

Best Esports Player

• Kyle 'Bugha' Giersdorf (Immortals, Fortnite)
• Lee 'Faker' Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom, League of Legends)
• Luka 'Perkz' Perkovic (G2 Esports, League of Legends)
• Oleksandr 'S1mple' Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CSGO)
• Jay 'Sinatraa' Won (SF Shock, Overwatch)

Best Esports Team

• Astralis (CS:GO)
• G2 Esports (LOL)
• OG (DOTA2)
• San Francisco Shock (OWL)
• Team Liquid (CS:GO)

Best Esports Event

• 2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals
• EVO 2019
• Fortnite World Cup
• IEM Katowice 2019
• League of Legends World Championship 2019
• The International 2019

Best Esports Coach

• Eric 'adreN' Hoag (Team Liquid, CS:GO)
• Nu-ri 'Cain' Jang (Team Liquid, LOL)
• Fabian 'GrabbZ' Lohmann (G2 Esports, LOL)
• Kim 'Kkoma' Jeong-gyun (SK Telecom T1, LOL)
• Titouan 'Sockshka' Merloz (OG, DOTA2)
• Danny 'Zonic' Sørensen (Astralis, CSGO)

Best Esports Host

• Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere
• Alex "Machine" Richardson
• Paul "Redeye" Chaloner
• Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez
• Duan "Candice" Yu-Shuang

So there we have it. Who will win? Who will lose? Will Death Stranding take every award it's nominated for? We'll have to wait and see.