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Elden Ring wins game of the year at The Game Awards 2022

Here’s who else won big at The Game Awards

An armored warrior stands against a sunset in Elden Ring Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
Owen S. Good is a longtime veteran of video games writing, well known for his coverage of sports and racing games.

God of War Ragnar?k led The Game Awards 2022 with 10 nominations, followed by 贵谤辞尘厂辞蹿迟飞补谤别’蝉 Elden Ring which was up for seven at Thursday’s show — but it was Elden Ring that walked away with the game of the year award.

Santa Monica Studio’s sequel to 2018’s God of War walked away with an armful of awards on Thursday, including Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Score, Best Audio, and Best Performance for actor Christopher Judge — who also won the award of getting to meet Al Pacino.

The game-of-the-year nominees included PlayStation exclusives God of War Ragnar?k, Horizon Forbidden West, and Stray, alongside the Nintendo Switch-only Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and multiplatform launches Elden Ring and A Plague Tale: Requiem. All of the GOTY contenders were multiple nominees in other categories, too.

So, with that said, here are the nominees and winners — in bold — for The Game Awards 2022.

Game of the Year

  • A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Direction

  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
  • Immortality (Half Mermaid)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Narrative

  • A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
  • Immortality (Half Mermaid)

Best Art Direction

  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
  • Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Score and Music

  • Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem
  • Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring
  • Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnar?k
  • Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger
  • Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Audio

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward/Activision)
  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Best Performance (Actor)

  • Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West
  • Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem
  • Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnar?k
  • Manon Gage, Immortality
  • Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnar?k

Games for Impact award

  • A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive/Annapurna)
  • As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
  • Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)
  • Endling — Extinction is Forever (Herobeat Studios/HandyGames)
  • Hindsight (Team Hindsight/Annapurna)
  • I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)

Best Ongoing Game

  • Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
  • Destiny 2 (Bungie)
  • Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix)
  • Fortnite (Epic Games)
  • Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

Best Independent Game

  • Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital)
  • Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
  • Sifu (Sloclap)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
  • Tunic (TUNIC Team/Finji)

Best Debut Indie Game

  • Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive)
  • Norco (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
  • Tunic (TUNIC Team/Finji)
  • Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Community Support

  • Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
  • Destiny 2 (Bungie)
  • Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix)
  • Fortnite (Epic Games)
  • No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Mobile Game

  • Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum/Respawn/EA)
  • Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/NetEase)
  • Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)
  • Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)
  • Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)

Best Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Game

  • After the Fall (Vertigo Games)
  • Among Us VR (Schell Games/InnerSloth)
  • Bonelab (Stress Level Zero)
  • Moss: Book 2 (Polyarc)
  • Red Matter 2 (Vertical Robot)

Best Action Game

  • Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward/Activision)
  • Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
  • Sifu (Sloclap)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

Best Action/Adventure Game

  • A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
  • Tunic (TUNIC Team/Finji)

Best Role-Playing Game

  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • Live a Live (Square Enix/Nintendo)
  • 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Legends: Arceus (Game Freak/Nintendo/TPCI)
  • Triangle Strategy (Artdink/Square Enix)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Fighting Game

  • DNF Duel (Arc System Works/EIGHTING/NEOPLE/NEXON)
  • JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 Co. Ltd/Bandai Namco)
  • The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion)
  • MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
  • Sifu (Sloclap)

Best Family Game

  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory / Nintendo)
  • Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Traveller’s Tales/WB Games)
  • Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
  • Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
  • Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Best Sim/Strategy Game

  • Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games/Funcom)
  • Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
  • Total War: Warhammer 3 (Creative Assembly/Sega)
  • Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios/Sega)
  • Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox Interactive)

Best Sports or Racing Game

  • F1 22 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
  • FIFA 23 (EA Vancouver/Romania/EA Sports)
  • NBA 2K23 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
  • Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital/SIE)
  • OlliOlli World (Roll 7/Private Division)

Best Multiplayer Game

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward/Activision)
  • MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
  • Overwatch 2 (Blizzard)
  • Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

Most Anticipated Game of 2023

  • Final Fantasy 16 (Square Enix)
  • Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software/WB Games)
  • Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
  • Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Content Creator of the Year

  • Karl Jacobs
  • Ludwig
  • Nibellion
  • Nobru
  • QTCinderella

Best Adaptation

  • Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix)
  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger/CD Projekt, Netflix)
  • The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR/King Features Syndicate/Netflix)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group/Paramount Pictures)
  • Uncharted (PlayStation Productions/Sony Pictures)

Award for Innovation in Accessibility

  • As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
  • God of War Ragnar?k (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox/Devolver Digital)
  • The Last Of Us Part 1 (Naughty Dog/SIE)
  • The Quarry (Supermassive Games/2K)

Best Esports Game

  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
  • DOTA 2 (Valve)
  • League of Legends (Riot Games)
  • Rocket League (Psyonix)
  • Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

  • Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, League of Legends)
  • Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, League of Legends)
  • Finn “karrigan” Andersen ( (FaZe Clan - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)

Best Esports Team

  • DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
  • FaZe Clan (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • Gen.G (League of Legends)
  • LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
  • LOUD (Valorant)

Best Esports Coach

  • Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (Loud, Valorant)
  • Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, Valorant)
  • Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstr?m (FaZe Clan, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
  • Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, League of Legends)

Best Esports Event

  • EVO 2022
  • 2022 League of Legends World Championship
  • PGL Major Antwerp 2022
  • The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational

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