All The Game Awards 2023 Nominees Announced, Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 Lead the Way

Starfield is personally my game of the year, but with so many great games this year across all platforms, some were always going to get left out.

Out of the nominated games of the year, I'd have to give it to Tears of the Kingdom. Easily one of the best open worlds to explore plus the changes from BotW help refresh the gameplay and make it even more fun.

Pizza Tower snubbed but yeah, bizarrely haven’t played any of the GOTY noms. From an outsider standpoint, BG3 and Tears of the Kingdom are the most technically impressive in terms of forwarding the industry.

RE4 is my GOTY, but I think BG3 will get it.

FF16 up with Baldur’s Gate for best RPG but not best action game? It has to be the best combat system since Bayonetta and GOW2018

Street Fighter 6 getting fighting game for sure!

Ocotopath Traveler 2 simply never existed.

I still haven't played it, but I know (nice, sane) people who swear it's pretty much the best game they played this year. Just seems to have been completely forgotten, despite the rave reviews.

Game of the Generation only managed an RPG nom then… 16x the snubs 🤣

@Nei You're either an RPG or an action game, apparently. Someone should invent a new genre called action RPGs where it's an RPG... but with action. If you can imagine such a thing.

Starfield was nearly totally snubbed lol. Won't get any actual awards, since there's not a ghost of a chance BG3 doesn't win best RPG (and I'm of a mind that it'll probably win the big award as well, along with a slew of others).

@colonelkilgore FFXVI and Starfield were both hyped as being massive exclusives and neither of them got GOTY noms. It happens. Didn’t really enjoy either of them.

I know they've spent a lot of time updating but how is Cyberpunk an 'Ongoing' game?

No FF16 nomination . Not sure how RE4 gets when its not really a reimagining. Atleast Starfield didnt get added, game was buns

@ShogunRok yeah OT 2 is the best traditional RPG I played this year. You will love it.

I know right? LOL FF16 is literally made by DMC key staff lol…

They should include best remake/remaster as a category from now on.

wish I could've voted for FFXVI for action game

@nessisonett i hear you but FFXVI was never declared game of the generation in the build up to its release. Hyped yes but not 16x the hype that Starfield had.

As a side note, I personally loved Final Fantasy XVI and would have it as my game of the year… it probably helps that it’s the only 2023 game that I’ve actually played though 😉

@colonelkilgore Unfortunately there isn't a "Most loading screens" category. Perhaps you should tweet (X?) Geoff and see if there can be a surprise late admission.

Funny seeing the outrage on social media and other gaming sites over Starfields exclusion. Yet what did they expect it's a bang average game with an 83 metacritic rating and 7.0 user score.

There has been many many better games release this year and not just those 6 that actually did get nominated, games like FF16, Hogwarts Legacy, Dead Space Remake, Hi Fi Rush, Metroid Prime Remastered, SF6, Sea of Stars and Pikmin 4.

Fact is Starfield didn't deserve a nomination hence why it didn't get one, no conspiracy going on 🙃

Remakes shouldn't be nominated. RE4 already won tons of GOTY awards when it came out

@colonelkilgore It does feel like you need to maybe just take a step back. Starfield was a game. It came out. People played it, some enjoyed it more than others. Honestly, elements of it are very impressive and should be commended but I couldn’t gel with the overall gameplay loop. You just sort of come off as stoking console wars where there aren’t any. If anything, Nintendo have blown Sony and Microsoft out the water considering they have two first-party games here.

@CaptD yeah I blame the categories themselves, in addition to Most Loading Screens, it would’ve also cleaned up in the Most Sandwiches and Most Potatoes categories had Geoff actually gotten his priorities right 🤣

Personally SF6 is my goty this year but of course it didn't get nominated since it's a fighting game. I've only played Zelda and Spider-Man on that list and while they are both great I don't think I'd give it to either one.

Also a little sad to see RE4 up there for goty considering it's a remake. I'm sure it's a great remake but it should have gone to something else that was actually a new game.

Oh well still looking forward to the show.

@nessisonett stoking the console wars… maybe. Egg on the face of gamers who make absolutely ridiculous predictions… definitely!

Imagine not having FFXVI music for the goty orchestra that plays...

Big missed opportunity

@UltimateOtaku91 Hogwarts Legacy not getting even one nomination is a crime.

I predicted it, but it's sad to see the state of the industry where such a fantastic game doesn't get recognize because of ideological issues within most of the gaming outlets.

@Olmaz Yeah we all know exactly why Hogwarts Legacy didn't get nominated. The Game Awards didn't want the hassle and attention it would draw in.

Not quite enough Final Fantasy XVI nominations for me there, but I look forward to this years TGA’s all the same. 2023 has been the best year in at least a decade, so it should be a good one, that’s for sure!

Ff16 should be in best action game not best rpg
As it’s rpg elements are terrible and shallow BUT it clearly targets towards more action/adventure which it does well.

Hogwarts completely shut out. Not even room in the RPG category. That’s rough.

Voted for Alan Wake 2 in all categories it was nominated for. Phenomenal game.

@BearsEatBeets an expansion for cyberpunk got released this year, and it is incredibly amazing! It had my vote at least .

Imo spider men was as disappointing as Starfield. It's too light and goofy. The Batman games were better.

@DonkeyFantasy Money will decide. Given to Geoff. Then Geoff ‘decides’.

In all seriousness, 90% jury, 10% fans. Jury consists of 30 journalist representatives, and those are chosen by representatives of Nintendo, Sony, Xbox and AMD.

There needs to be a separate category for Survival Horror. Don't see why Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4 are considered action-adventure.

Survival horror should also include the Dead Space Remake. There's just as many horror games as there are action-adventure nowadays.

@Triumph741 ok champ

Well done to all the nominee's! It was a great year for gaming, wherever you decided to play.

@GymratAmarillo :}

So MK1 won best MP in joystick or whatever award but not even nominated here (for mp). Starfield was put into right place. If it were not for biggest exclusives for xbox in many years, it wouldn’t even be that hyped. Hogwarts and ff16 snub were a surprise though but this year is especially competitive.

Baldurs takes everything. sea of stars indie of the year, pikmin sim of the year and i wasn't expecting spider-man to win anything but kinda crazy they put revenant for action game instead lol.

I'm actually very disappointed that best performance didn't nominate the combined actors or Alan Wake, both voice and body. I was already imagining them accepting the award because they did that well. It would have been unique for both of them to win it, too. It's an amazing performance throughout from both of them, way better than Saga or even across games than Idris Elba in CP2077 Phantom Liberty.

BG3 will win but Alan Wake 2 deserves to IMO. Such an incredible game with by far the most originality and big swings on the technical side of things that were knocked out of the park.

@Triumph741 Having played Arkham City and then Knight after Spiderman 2, gotta say I agree.

Edit. Spiderman deserves best direction for them setpieces though.

@awp69
I feel the same way. BG3 will win, but for me it's Alan Wake 2 all the way this year. I am totally blown away, such a masterpiece!

Baldur's Gate 3 is what traditional FF fans wished FF16 was.

I'd have liked Final Fantasy XVI to get a GOTY nod, but overall not surprised with the nominess. BG3 or maybe TotK will take it, but my vote is for Alan Wake II.

@Acedia23 Same. The 13 year wait was absolutely worth it. That musical scene....

@zhoont I think the reason is that Melanie Liburd did the voice and mo-cap for Saga Anderson, whereas Alan is mo-capped by Ilkka Villi, but voiced by Matthew Poretta. And while they are excellent, Liburd did both, so not surprised she would get the full nod. I'm more surprised that Nadji Jeter didn't get a nod for Miles Morales or Ralph Ineson for Cid in FFXVI (though Ben Starr absolutely deserves it).

@DLB3 Um, you don't see why Resident Evil 4 is action/adventure? OG RE4 is the game that kick-started RE's fascination with all-out action. The remake is more of that. Alan Wake II I can understand, but RE4 is a straight action game.

@TheArt I've been playing FF since the SNES days and I am completely fine with the direction they took for FFXVI.

Best Soundtrack without Octopath???? Best Art direction without Octopath? Best RPG without Octopath? Best game without Octopath?

@ShogunRok Recency biased played a BIG factor in this list. Literally half the GOTY noms are less than a month old.

@dr-gorgo Octopath Traveler 2 had such a phenomenal soundtrack i cant fathome what happened here. Perhaps they literally forgot the game came out this year.

I want to make damn sure somehow Street Fighter 6 wins both best fighting game and best multiplayer game lol. The game of the year nominations are what I expected basically.

I see a clean sweep for Baldur's Gate 3.

@Nei FF16 had the best combat system since Bayo? You're joking right? FF16 is boring as f**k and has sod all depth.

@Olmaz Hogwarts is a good but its not GOTY worthy.

Well I genuinely didn't think Alan Wake 2 would get nominated for GOTY let alone 7 other categories. I guess I just gotta sit back and accept the fact that I'm in the minority on Alan Wake 2. As much as it pains me to

@DennisReynolds Maybe not for the GOTY award (even if I personally would put it there) but it should have been a nominee at least for Best Art Design, Best Music and Best Action/Adventure, for sure.

@theSpectre Well yeah you could be fine with it that's fine, but clearly it's not really the right direction if it's not getting a lot of nominations for a game that was highly anticipated.

@Tchunga its superb though ,why are you suprised

@Mephisto2869 Just based solely off my own personal experience with the game

Cool to see Dredge get some nods

C'mon Geoff, we know it's Baldur's Gate versus Zelda this year.

FFXVI not being nominated for GOTY is insane.

FFXVI is the most fun gaming experience I've had this year and my personal GOTY. I wasn't in good health when the game came out. When I played it, those epic boss fights gave me such a rush of adrenaline that it made me forget, at least for a few minutes, all the discomfort I was experiencing. I will forever be thankful for that. No other game has done that, not even Spider-man 2. It will be a crime if it doesn't at least take home Best Music.

@DennisReynolds No I am not joking, Ryota Suzuki (Devil May Cry) was the director of combat and he thinks it is his best work yet. As do plenty of reviewers. So yeah my opinion is not really out there…I didn’t even love FF16 but the combat IS insanely good once you get a couple of Eikons. The scale of boss fights is just insane. It is really, really similar to Bayo in many ways, don’t let the first ciotole of hours fool you

I’m sorry but Alan Wake 2 for best Action/Adventure? Someone please correct me if this belongs

@TheArt It's got more nominations than Starfield.

OT2 should be nominated as the best RPG and best music.
Look at the nominated Sea of Stars. There is nothing in that one could be comparable to OT2.

Cool list. its going to be interesting to see all those games.and how it will go down at the game awards.word up son

I was thinking recently how Starfield didn’t really seem to make a splash in the industry. I’ve never played it but it seems odd for a game from Bethesda to not garner much acclaim. Also, nice to see narrative games being nominated. I love a good movie/game.

@Nei Well he's clearly doing PR if think his combat in FF16 beats DMC. Bayo has one of the best combat systems in all of gaming, the amount you can do with it is insane while FF16 is basically spamming square most of the time against enemies and bosses that think they're in MMO's. Yeah critics liked it but that passion wasn't shared with gamers where the reception is more mixed, its easily one of the most divisive entries and sales clearly suffered for that. Also FF7R's combat sh*ts over FF16's combat in every way and even that isn't up there with DMC and Bayo.

@DennisReynolds I disagree but hey, that’s alright! What strikes me about your impression is that really the combat couldn’t be more different than a MMO, it’s really an action adventure game in the vain of GOW and DMC 😅 if you are spamming square you must be wearing the assist rings and that is like playing Bayo with the automatic combo accessory. It really mirrors that kind of game. Arcade mode also scores you after every encounter. The side quest implementation is the only element of the game I would kinda see being similar to a MMO.

Larian posted this on twitter: "Xbox fans, and fans of physical media, watch this space for a formal announcement. It's going to be a busy week 👀"

https://twitter.com/larianstudios/status/1724125970968248732

Looks like Baldur's Gate 3 is likely getting a physical version.

@somnambulance Sony had 2 last year.

@Nei What i mean MMO is enemies and bosses have really grindy healthbars what go down very slowly, if combat encounters were quicker i might have been more forgiving. As for the assist stuff nah never used it, most of the game was spamming square with a special attack thrown in every now and then.

Alan Wake 2 - absolute masterpiece for me.

@Craigybear91 it's so similar to RE4 in terms of gameplay. So yes. If that belongs, this does for sure.

Winners should either be Alan Wake 2 or Baldur Gate 3,both are excellent games,and they bring something new to each of their genres while excelling at it.

I am happy at the FF 16 snob.
It had poor party members,poor side quest,poor rpg implementation,forgettable and boring characters both in personality and visual design, the combat was fun but shallow considering the potential, and the game storywise has to much reliance on cutscenes. From my complaints , you can definitely see how much I had to force myself to contusion the story 17 hours in.

I hope this shows the devs at Sqaure Enix, that FF16 shouldn't be the blue print for the next installation,and should build more on what Final Fantasy 7 remake and its sequel does well.

That being said,the boss battle,politics and lore of FF 16 was very good,so they could also take notes from that.

A game with a public score of 7 never stand a chance in nomination and that a fact

@theSpectre Sony are actually the most successful publisher's ever at the game awards and they've been nominated for game of the year, 9 years in row. Every year since 2015.

I’m content with this list — a list that’s full of great games, with some notably off. I think it’s been one of, if not the greatest year for video games. My personal pick is Alan Wake 2. It has an incredible narrative and is genre defining, and introduces a new protagonist that is very memorable. With that said, I have no doubt Baldur’s Gate 3 will win the ultimate prize, and that’s perfectly okay too. My only gripe with the game is that I feel it becomes disjointed in its 3rd act, and falls apart quite a bit. Regardless of what game wins, I think as gamers we have all won this year.

Just one nomination for AC6 feels unfair. This is a great year anyway.

Idris was decent enough in phantom Liberty but once again I thought that Cherami Leigh nailed it as fem V. She put on a whole voice as if she was on death's door. Either that or she had a cold when recording.

Sea of Stars not even being nominated for GOTY is a crime

Is Best Adaptation a new category? I never have seen that before.

Guess I haven't played many new games in the last year because I only have played two games on this nomination list. I haven't been excited for many of the new releases and many are because it takes too long to complete the main story.

@SillyBoyJudas I think best adaptation was there last year with cyberpunk edgerunners and Arcane etc but I'm not sure what won though.

@MrMagic If you include the VGAs before that, they've had a game nominated every year since 2008 (minus 2014)
2008: LittleBigPlanet
2009: Uncharted 2 (won)
2010: God of War III
2011: Uncharted 3
2012: Journey
2013: The Last of Us
2015: Bloodborne
2016: Uncharted 4
2017: Horizon Zero Dawn
2018: God of War (won), Marvel's Spider-Man
2019: Death Stranding
2020: The Last of Us Part II (won), Ghost of Tsushima
2021: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
2022: Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok
2023: Marvel's Spider-Man 2

GTA 6 not being nominated for Most Anticipated Game? 😅

Bill Clinton are you watching? 👀

Obviously BG3, BG3 etc, etc, but Alan Wake 2 could be winning a lot of those awards. And a sad trombone for Xbox. In an alternate universe Starfield continued to be developed for both platforms, and turned out better/more long term exciting, rather than gamepass and forgotten within months 😥

I just don't understand how games that release a month before this award show can even be nominated. Add a cut off Geoff.

Saw someone stream spiderman 2, it doesn't look very good like visually, although I think it was set to performance mode.

Tears of the Kingdom will get my nod for GOTY. Hi FI Rush will get my vote in any category it's nominated in.
Haven't played Spiderman 2 or BG3 yet and likely won't this year so can't judge. But given I've played Spiderman 1 and the sequal seems to be more of the same, I probably wouldn't have given it my number 1 spot.
And BG3 isn't usually my type of game. Do intend to try it at some point though.

@Freddy_Vegas It's game of the YEAR. So why shouldn't it be eligable? And there is a cut off already. Any game that release from now on get pushed to next years awards.

@lightningbolt79 lol and the trolling on a PlayStation fan site goes to...

@EquiinoxGII my pick too. I don't expect it to win but happy with the 8 noms recognizing this work of art. Hopefully that motivates more players to try it.

@Olmaz yeah it's a bummer. I can understand not being nominated for GOTY or best direction, but RPG, music and performances deserved some love. I thought folks were over their hate-on for JK but clearly I was wrong.

@SteveJameson Never underestimate the length of virtue signaling these outlets will go to be on the "good side".
It's a shame really, Hogwarts Legacy has been some of the best fun I had this year with a 2023 game, and I say that as someone who is not really into the franchise (I just saw some of the first movies, I'm not even sure how many).

@Rmg0731 RE4 is pretty much an entirely new game from the ground up. only thing that is there from the original is most of the story beats.
If anything Mario is the one who shouldnt be there, Zelda is clearly the go to nintendo GOTY.
either way, Alan Wake 2 is my game of the year but FF16 definitelly should have been there.

With the exception of Starfailed, which I'm surprised even got nominated for anything other than most boring game of the year, all those are quality titles but it's a little sad to not see The Invincible get a mention anywhere.

@Olmaz Controversy aside, it's not even really that fantastic of a game. There are a bunch of technical issues, weird facial animations, stiff interactions, scripted behaviours, generic open world fare, clunky combat, needless filler, repetitive mandatory tasks, bizarre design decisions, mediocre story, and so on.

I have no doubt that the controversy played some part in it not being present, but it's equally as likely that there was a prevailing opinion that it didn't really raise the bar. Which it didn't.