The Game Awards 2020: Start time, how to watch, nominees and what to expect

Often described as the Oscars for video games, The Game Awards has become one of the biggest events on the industry’s calendar. 

While there’s awards to be dished out, most people tune in for major announcements - with last year’s show offering the first look at Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. 

So what should you look out for at this year’s bash? Here’s a rundown of everything you need to know about The Game Awards 2020. 

• Read more: Top 25 PS4 games you need to play

When is The Game Awards 2020? 

Hosted by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards will begin on Thursday 10th December at varying times depending on your region. 

It will start with a 30 minute pre-show before the main event, which starts at the below times. 

• UK - 11.30pm GMT
• Europe - 12.30am CET
• US East Coast - 6.30pm ET
• US West Coast - 3.30pm PT

How can I watch The Game Awards 2020?

Due to COVID-19, this year’s event will be streamed from three locations around the world, including London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. 

The show will be streamed live on The Game Awards official YouTube channel below. 

What announcements and special guests will there be?

Award presenters will include Spider-Man star Tom Holland, Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot, Brie Larson, Troy Baker, Reggie Fils-Aime, The Muppets' Swedish Chef, with more set to be announced. 

There will also be a performance from Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, while the London Philharmonic Orchestra will also perform tracks from the biggest games of the year. 

Will we get a look at the Uncharted movie? (Picture: The Game Awards)

In terms of announcements, Microsoft is reportedly set to unveil some news - although it won’t be connected to Halo Infinite which was delayed into next year. 

BioWare’s Dragon Age 4 is set to be showcased in some capacity, while another Fortnite crossover is also expected to debut. 

The Game Awards 2020 nominations

You can check out the full list of nominations below. 

Game of the Year

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
• DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
• Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
• Hades (Supergiant Games)
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Game Direction

• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
• Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
• Hades (Supergiant Games)
• Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Narrative

• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (George Kamitani)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Kazushige Nojima, Motomu Toriyama, Hiroki Iwaki, Sachie Hirano)
• Ghost of Tsushima (Ian Ryan, Liz Albl, Patrick Downs, Jordan Lemos)
• Hades (Greg Kasavin)
• The Last of Us Part II (Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross)

Best Art Direction

• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
• Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
• Hades (Supergiant Games)
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Score and Music

• DOOM Eternal (Mick Gordon)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Nobuo Uematsu, Masahi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki)
• Hades (Darren Korb)
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker)
• The Last of Us Part II (Gustavo Santaolala, Mac Quale)

Best Audio Design

• DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
• Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
• Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
• Resident Evil 3 (Capcom)
• The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Performance

• Ashley Johnson as Ellie, The Last of Us Part II
• Laura Bailey as Abby, The Last of Us Part II
• Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima
• Logan Cunningham as Hades, Hades
• Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Games for Impact

• If Found… (DREAMFEEL/Annapurna Interactive)
• Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive)
• Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)
• Tell Me Why (Dontnod Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
• Through the Darkest of Times (Paintbucket Games)

Best Ongoing

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Call of Duty Warzone (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Indie

• Carrion (Phobia Game Studio)
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
• Hades (Supergiant Games)
• Spelunky 2 (Mossmouth)
• Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)

Best Mobile, Presented by LG WING, Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon

• Among Us (InnerSloth)
• Call of Duty Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
• Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
• Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)
• Pokémon Café Mix (Genius Sonority)

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Innovation in Accessibility

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
• Grounded (Obsidian/Xbox Game Studios)
• HyperDot (Tribe Games)
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)
• Watch Dogs Legion (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)

Best VR/AR

• Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE)
• Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
• MARVEL’s Iron Man VR (Camoflaj/SIE)
• STAR WARS: Squadrons (Motive Studios/EA)
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)

Best Action

• DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)
• Hades (Supergiant Games)
• Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
• Nioh 2 (Team Ninja)
• Streets of Rage 4 (DotEmu)

Best Action/Adventure

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
• Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)
• MARVEL’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/SIE)
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Respawn/EA)
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Role Playing

• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
• Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
• Persona 5 Royal (Atlus, P Studios)
• Wasteland 3 (inXile Entertainment/Koch)
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)

Best Fighting

• Granblue Fantasy: Versus (Arc System Works/Cygames)
• Mortal Kombat 11/Ultimate (NetherRealm Studios/WB Games)
• Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (Dimps/Capcom)
• One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai-Namco)
• UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe: Late[cl-r] (French Bread/Arc System Works)

Best Family

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (Toys for Bob/Activision)
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
• Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Velan Studios/Nintendo)
• Minecraft Dungeons (Mojang/Double Eleven/Xbox Game Studios)
• Paper Mario: The Origami King (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

Best Sim/Strategy

• Crusader Kings III (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox)
• Desperados III (Mimimi Games/THQN)
• Gears Tactics (Splash Damage/The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo/Xbox Game Studios)
• XCOM: Chimera Squad (Firaxis/2K)

Best Sports/Racing

• Dirt 5 (Codemasters Cheshire/Codemasters)
• F1 2020 (Codemasters Birmingham /Codemasters)
• FIFA 21 (EA Vancouver/EA Sports)
• NBA 2K21 (Visual Concepts/2K)
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (Vicarious Visions/Activision)

Best Multiplayer

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
• Among Us (InnerSloth)
• Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Debut Game

• Carrion (Phobia Game Studio/Devolver)
• Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry/Playstack)
• Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Heads Games)
• Röki (Polygon Treehouse/CI Games)
• Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)

Content Creator of the Year, Presented by Adobe

• Alanah Pearce
• NickMercs
• TimtheTatman
• Jay Ann Lopez
• Valkyrae

Best Esports Game

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

• Ian “Crimsix” Porter / Call of Duty
• Heo “Showmaker” Su / League of Legends
• Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu / League of Legends
• Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro / Call of Duty
• Matthieu “ZywOo” Herbaut / CS:GO

Best Esports Team

• DAMWON Gaming / League of Legends
• Dallas Empire / Call of Duty
• San Francisco Shock / Overwatch League
• G2 Esports / League of Legends
• Team Secret / DOTA2

Best Esports Event

• BLAST Premier: Spring E2020 European Finals (CS:GO)
• Call of Duty League Championship 2020
• IEM Katowice 2020 (CS:GO)
• League of Legends World Championship 2020
• Overwatch League Grand Finals 2020

Best Esports Host

• Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
• Alex “Machine” Richardson
• Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
• James “Dash” Patterson
• Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden