The Game Awards 2019 nominees....looking a little soft 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)

Most Nominated Games:

With ten nominations:

- Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)

With eight nominations:

- Control (Remedy/505 Games)

Leading this year's crop of nominees is Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding, the action-adventure title starring Norman Reedus that debuted in November, with 10 nominations, including game of the year and best game direction. Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen also received nominations for best performance.

Other games leading the field include Remedy and 505 Games' Control, which racked up eight nominations, including game of the year and best direction, as well as a performance nod for star Courtney Hope, and Obsidian and Private Division's role-playing game The Outer Worlds, which received four noms, including best game and direction.

Awards presented on December 12th. Full nominee list:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/2019-game-awards-full-list-nominees-1255770 (easier to read list)

https://thegameawards.com/nominees

Here comes the Death Stranding hate tidal wave lol.

Geoff keighly will give it to death stranding to please kojima.

Cool. Pretty good selection of games for GotY in my opinion. I’ve only played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Resident Evil 2 Remake but I’d really like to play all those other games on that list as well. Right now RE2R gets my vote for GotY. I always enjoy watching The Game Awards show and definitely looking forward to watching this year’s as well.

The two most nominated games are actually kinda meh.

His sugar daddy. And guaranteed to show up special guest.

TUNE IN FOR ALL THE HOWTTEST GAMING GAMINGS RIGHT HERE, ONLY ON BLA BLA

If Death Stranding gets it this place is going to explode. The amount of fanboy jealous rage is going to be off the charts.

Should be a good time.

Whoa, horrible list. Outerworlds and Sekiro is it.

Fire Emblem 3 Houses is the best game that I have played this year. It's easily the worst of the series that I have played, but it's still a pretty good game in its own right.

I plan on playing through Astral Chain and Plague Tale before the end of the year and have pretty high hopes about both of those games, though.

Why is Smash Bros. Ultimate a GOTY contender? I thought that game came out in 2018 - at least I've been playing it since 2018.

I thought it came out in January. Was it December?

It came out in December 2018 after the end of eligibility for last year's awards.

@SolidGame_basic: They weren't as quick as the Death Stranding defence force though.....

@zmanbarzel: I guess. It was nominated for Gamespot's GOTY year last year so that's what's throwing me off. I didn't consider cutoff dates are different for different sources but that all makes sense.

With that said, I think Smash Bros. is that much stronger this year as a contender because the game has only grown that much stronger in a year's time and will continue to do so.

That list is just awful.

An ultimate edition of a Wii U game is the best they could come up with?

Flabbergasted.

@R4gn4r0k: Smash Ultimate being a port of the Wii U game has been a long-debunked myth and actually a fully fleshed sequel. Why are you gloating a dead myth?

If you instead play the games instead of talking shit on them, you'd know better.

Looks like Jeff's buddy is coming up big

Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition should have been nominated in the RPG category.

No Devil May Cry 5? Gtfo!

These awards aren't paid off at all.

He doesn't vote on the games.

Surprised to see Gears get shut out of GotY even though it deserves to be up there as much as the rest. Anyway, whatevs. It's all about that RE2 in the end.

2019 was kind of a shit year to be honest, a couple gems aside, pretty much everything good got pushed into 2020.

I feel a few games are missed here.

Like Astral Chain, and Star Wars Fallen Order

I doubt Remedy can afford to pay off The Game Awards. And wouldn't Microsoft be able to pay off The Game Awards and try to get Gears 5 in there?

2020 is going to be a big year that will make 2019 look quiet. I can feel it.

I'll even go so far as to say Half Life Alyx has a good chance to be a nominee.

@PurpleMan5000: @jaydan: Ultimate came late December 2018 and no way it could be nominated for GOTY in 2018. If a game that remains to be good for a long time but release late December can be nominated for GOTY contender.

@jaydan: you are right. I am wrong.

List is still awful.

I was about to post Games Awards nominees list but glad to see someone done it already, thanks :)

Now then, seeing Death Stranding GOTY contender was expected and not even shock it's up their and didn't expect Control (my favorite Remedy game yet) to be nominated due to low key marketing. I hope Control wins, it's a really enjoyable game coming from Remedy which happens to be my favorite developer.

@Star67: I have not played Astral chain yet but Fallen Order deserves to be on there as well.

I'm surprised gamers still try to take these seriously.

It's an advert. Dorito Pope has been desperate for this shit to be taken seriously.

I'd give it to Death Stranding from that list though I've yet to play Control.

I totally agree. The Games Awards nominee lists are very poor this year compare to last year's Game Awards. Jedi Fallen Order should have been up for GOTY. Same for Gears 5, it was the better MS game they have for 2019. Gears 5 got shafted!

We all know the Doritos Pope will bend over and give every possible award to Kojima.

I only played RE2 and Sekiro from that list so, RE 2 for me.

@davillain-: Great to hear you liked control, my friend!

Remedy are one of my favourite developers as well. And honestly Control seems like an all-stars cast with returning actors from all their previous games.

I'm also enjoying Jedi a ton. Which is why I'm completely indifferent to these GOTY awards: I just enjoy the games that I enjoy. No matter what the media thinks. If it scores a 10. If it scores a GOTY. Doesn't change my enjoyment.

VGA's are just there for some new announcement trailers anyway.

Based on what I've played , my personal rankings and thoughts

1. Death Stranding - I'm pencilling this one as my GOTY , just a bit more to go. I'm glad it's a nominee. I was hoping
2. Sekiro - I'm glad it's a nominee. I was hoping.
3. Resident Evil 2 - Didn't really care if it got nominated or not , but I expected it to and I I expect it to win.
4. Control - Didn't really care if it got nominated or not , but I liked it and hopefully this gives it some much needed attention.

I'm not interested in Smash Bros (lol) , and I might try The Outer Worlds after Star Wars , but I'm not a Fallout guy so I don't know for sure. I'm apprehensive.

Question for score whores

WHEN death stranding wins will it be the lowest scoring metacritic and user score ever? Or do scores only count when they are high

HAH

The outer worlds for me from that list

Psst. You don't have to pay with just money. But, for the record, Control is one of the few I'll agree is worth a few nominations. Not sure about GOTY, but perhaps best action game.

I say it's paid off because Disco Elysium is somehow not present, especially over Outer Worlds. That's just my opinion I suppose, but it was still clearly superior in storytelling, characters, gameplay and narrative over The Outerworlds. The only difference is the type of gameplay, which Outer Worlds was only decent at compared to the likes of Sekiro, Control, and RE2. Personally, out of all of those, I would replace Smash, because really? Smash for GOTY? No.

2019 is an improvement over 2018, which was a shit year. 2019 has been a great year for survival horror with RE2, and for action games with Sekiro, DMC5, and Astral Chain, as well as some solid RPGs like Disco Elysium and Fire Emblem.

Hopefully, either RE2 or Sekiro win GOTY. Wouldn't mind if Death Stranding wins though, just for the delicious tears. Shame that DMC5 got snubbed though.

Nobody gives a ****, everyone just tunes in for the game reveals and other clips

@whatafailure:

If this is all there is for GOY then Death Stranding winning is almost guaranteed. Yup, I'm calling it now. Death Stranding. Game of the Year. 90% chance.

I liked Gears 5 but it was very similar to Gears 4 despite the semi open world setting. I felt like I was playing DLC for Gears 4, just not really up there at all as GOTY material IMO. I preferred Outer Worlds overall.

2018 wasn't great but AC Odyssey blows away all the contenders this year, for me anyway. Bold: do I detect another Hellraiser fan? :) I am currently enjoying the sweet, sweet suffering of all the DS haters.

@blueinheaven: RE2 and Sekiro are better than all of the 2018 contenders, IMO. And I prefer Origins over Odyssey.

I've never watched Hellraiser. While I would prefer RE2 or Sekiro to take it, I think it would be hilarious if DS wins just to see all the tears. Shame that Pokemon Sword and Shield didn't nominated though. That would've been sweet too.

Imagine if Death Stranding didn't win Kojima will need all of his follows to get the chapstick ready as his sore arse is going to need some serious kissing lol.

You should check out Hellraiser it's a horror classic. I don't think DS will win anything it's too divisive and the 'judges' will probably play safe and go for something like RE2.

I liked Origins but hated the side quests which wasn't an issue for me in Odyssey. Different strokes and all that...

Death Stranding....LMAO.

Wait a sec! Who's in charge here!? Oh

lol

Most award shows probably gave it to SSBU because they were late to the party last year or hopefully, Sekiro. This year offerring been pretty meh overall but pretty great for niche japanese gamers.

Voting for Death Stranding cause that game for me is the best of the year. Very weird, unique experience.

Wouldn't surprise me. I understand some people love it, but if Death Stranding wins GOTY I'll be like:

Anyway, there are some strange omissions and equally strange inclusions in some of them... it's basically just a popularity contest - the fact that a game like Astral Chain isn't mentioned in the GOTY list but Control, Death Stranding & Outer Worlds are (which all scored lower overall on Metacritic), shows this.

But the category I'm most interested in is the Independent game category... I hope Katana Zero wins (or I'd also be happy if Untitled Goose Game wins). And would also love to see Astral Chain get some sort of recognition (especially since it's a new IP), maybe Best Action Game.

This is the right attitude to have. This show doesn't really serve a real purpose outside of that. I rather look at year end lists from individual sites. It's less boring.