The Game Awards 2022: Elden Ring Wins Game of the Year, All Winners of the Award Show

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The Game Awards 2022: Elden Ring Wins Game of the Year, All Winners of the Award Show

Winners of the biggest industry award show in gaming have been decided.


The Game Awards is an annual awards ceremony honoring achievements in the video game industry, started in 2014 by game journalist Geoff Keighley. And as always, Keighley was once again the host of the night. The Game Awards are not only here to recognize and reward the creative and technical excellence in the gaming industry, but it also gives creators and publishers another medium where they can introduce their products and give fans some exclusive looks into upcoming titles.

The show included a musical performance from the popular singer Hozier, as well as celebrity hosts like Academy Award winner Al Pacino, Jessica Henwick, Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson from the movie Knives Out: Glass Onion.

Many highly anticipated games were also featured on the night such as Steet Fighter 6 and World Premieres for Final Fantasy XVI and Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Another exciting trailer was for the new Hellboy game, Web of Wyrd, which will feature actor Lance Reddick as the titular character.

If you weren’t able to watch the event or missed out on any of the awards, here is the recap of the whole night.

Game of the Year

Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Elden Ring

Best Game Direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Elden Ring

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: God of War Ragnarök

Best Art Direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

2022 Nominees

  • Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
  • God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (Guerilla Games/SIE)
  • Scorn (EBB Sofware/Kepler Interactive)
  • Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Winner: Elden Ring

Best Score and Music

For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

2022 Nominees

  • A Plague Tale: Requiem (Olivier Deriviere, Composer)
  • Elden Ring (Tsukasa Saitoh, Composer)
  • God of War Ragnarök (Bear McCreary, Composer)
  • Metal: Hellsinger (Two Feathers, Composer)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Yasunori Mitsuda, Composer)

Winner: God of War Ragnarök (Bear McCreary)

Best Audio Design

Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: God of War Ragnarök

Best Performance

Awarded to an individual for voiceover acting, motion and/or performance capture.

2022 Nominees

  • Horizon Forbidden West (Ashly Burch)
  • A Plague Tale: Requiem (Charlotte McBurney)
  • God of War Ragnarök (Christopher Judge)
  • Immortality (Manon Gage)
  • God of War Ragnarök (Sunny Suljic)

Winner: Christopher Judge

Games for Impact

Awarded to thought-provoking games with pro-social meanings or messages.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: As Dusk Falls

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Final Fantasy XIV

Best Independent Game

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Stray

Best Mobile Game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

2022 Nominees

  • Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed Studios)
  • Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/Netease)
  • Genshin Impact (Hoyoverse)
  • Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)
  • Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)

Winner: Marvel Snap

Best Community Support

Awarded to a game with outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Final Fantasy XIV

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognizing software and/or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: God of War Ragnarök

Best VR/AR

For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Moss: Book II

Best Action Game

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Bayonetta 3

Best Action/Adventure Game

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: God of War Ragnarök

Best RPG

For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Elden Ring

Best Fighting Game

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

2022 Nominees

  • DNF Duel (Arc System Works/Eighting/Neople/Nexon)
  • Jojo’S Bizarre Advanture: All Star Battler (Cyberconnect 2 Co. LTD/Bandai Namco)
  • The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion)
  • Multiversus (Player First Games/WB Games)
  • SIFU (Sloclap)

Winner: Multiversus

Best Family Game

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

2022 Nominees

  • 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)

Winner: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Best Sim/Strategy Game

Best game focused on real-time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

Best Sports/Racing Game

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Gran Turismo 7

Best Multiplayer Game

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre or platform.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Splatoon 3

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has made an important and positive impact on the community in 2022.

2022 Nominees

  • Karl Jacobs
  • Ludwig
  • Nibellion
  • Nobru
  • QTCinderella

Winner: Ludwig

Best Debut Indie

For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Stray

Best Adaptation

Recognizing outstanding creative work that faithfully and authentically adapts a video game to another entertainment medium.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: Arcane: League of Legends

Most Anticipated Game

Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

2022 Nominees

  • Final Fantasy XVI (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)

Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Best Esports Game

For the game that has delivered the best overall esports experience to players (inclusive of tournaments, community support and content updates), irrespective of genre or platform.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: VALORANT

Best Esports Athlete

The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2022, irrespective of game.

2022 Nominees

  • Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LoL)
  • Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LoL)
  • Finn “karrigan” Andersen (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
  • Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
  • Jacob “yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, VALORANT)

Winner: Jacob “yay” Whiteaker

Best Esports Team

Recognizing a specific esports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2022.

2022 Nominees

  • Darkzero Esports (Apex Legends)
  • FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
  • Gen.G (League of Legends)
  • LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
  • LOUD (VALORANT)

Winner: LOUD

Best Esports Coach

The esports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2022.

2022 Nominees

  • Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
  • Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD; VALORANT)
  • Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
  • Robert “Robban” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
  • Go “Score” Dong-nin (Gen.G, LoL)

Winner: Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi

Best Esports Event

Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience.

2022 Nominees

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

Winner: 2022 League of Legends World Championship

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The Game Awards 2022: Elden Ring Wins Game of the Year, All Winners of the Award Show
Rohat Dicle Kılınç
Rohat is a writer mainly focused on the League of Legends esports scene, and an LCS hopeful.