The Most Awkward Night In Gaming Has Announced Its Nominees

The Game Awards, a delightful annual event in which the games industry forces timid developers onto the stage to speak publicly for the first time since high school, has just announced its nominees. If you wish the Grammy Awards had fewer musical bops and more opportunities to watch men wearing T-shirts with blazers squirm, then boy are you in for a treat.

December is a great time of year for video game fans. Online games are doing seasonal events, relatives are asking what games they want for Christmas, and The Game Awards are bumbling in for another great night of awkwardness, forced jokes, and announcements of games that won’t be out for several years. Winning an award is an honour, of course, and it’s always exciting to watch a game you love get the accolades it deserves. But that isn’t why thousands of people around the world tune in for the livestream.

People tune in because, every single year, it is a complete disaster.

It’s an event at which a game developer can direct a hearty, uncensored “Fuck the Oscars” straight to camera. Where a grown man with no apparent combat training can dramatically wave a sword about onstage. And where presenters valiantly attempt to incorporate a man dressed as a giant shaving razor into the show like it’s no big deal.

Like a junior high school play, everyone is trying so hard that you can’t help but cheer for them, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a giant mess.

This year, the nominees for Game of the Year are nearly all titles you’d expect. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Monster Hunter: World and Red Dead Redemption 2 come from large studios with a substantial amount of time, money and personnel behind them, and were some of the biggest releases of the year. Several of them also popped up in other big categories such as Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction and Best Narrative.

However, small indie platformer Celeste from Matt Makes Games also made the cut. Seven people worked on Celeste in contrast to the hundreds that worked on its fellow nominees, and the Game of the Year nomination itself is already a big win for indie developers. Celeste also picked up nominations for Best Score/Music, Best Independent Game and Games for Impact.

Australian mobile game Florence by Mountains received nominations under Best Mobile Game, Best Debut Indie Game and Games for Impact. A five-person team headed by lead designer of Monument Valley Ken Wong, Mountains was founded in 2016, and Florence is their first game. It tells the story of a romance between a young woman and her first love, and has been known to make people cry on public transportation.

You can see a full list of the nominees at the Game Awards’ website, as well as vote for the winners once every 24 hours. The Game Awards will be streamed live on December 7 at 11:30am, if you want to check out the schadenfreude for yourself.