18th Annual GDC Award Nominees Announced

Published: January 8, 2018 10:35 PM /

By:


gdc awards 2018 logo

The GDC 2018 Awards are coming up and the nominees for the best in the game industry over the last year are in. Expected titles like Horizon Zero Dawn and Zelda: Breath of the Wild could possibly take home multiple awards from the ceremony on Wednesday, March 21st but many games from indie to AAA are represented. Read on to see if your favorite games of 2017 are up for any GDC awards.

This year marks the 18th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, a peer-based video game event in which members of the industry from around the world nominate titles published in 2017 and celebrate achievements in their field. The 2018 awards are being held at the San Fransisco Mascone Center on March 21st at 6:30 pm. All GDC 2018 pass-holders are welcome to attend. The ceremonies will be hosted by Robin Hunicke, a professor of at UC Santa Cruz and the co-founder of game studio Funomena ( Luna, Wattam).

Awards will be given for various categories including many “Best of” awards such as Best AR/VR Game, Best Mobile Game and Best Narrative as well as Game of the Year and an Innovation Award. Honorable Mentions will be acknowledged along with the winning titles providing opportunities for many game creators. There will also be special award categories for Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement that have not yet been announced. An Audience Award Category will be open for online voting in late January. More information on the 18th annual Game Developers Choice Awards can be found here.

Here's a complete list of the award categories and the nominees:

Best Audio

Honorable Mentions: Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Star Wars: Battlefront II (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom), Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision), Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

cuphead dont deal with the devil
Cuphead is up for Best Audio, Best Visual Art, and some honorable mentions.

Best Debut

  • Team Cherry (Hollow Knight)
  • Sidebar Games (Golf Story)
  • StudioMDHR (Cuphead)
  • Infinite Fall (Night in the Woods)
  • Jason Roberts / Buried Signal (Gorogoa)
Honorable Mentions: Game Grumps (Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator), Terrible Toybox (Thimbleweed Park), Team Salvato (Doki Doki Literature Club!), Lizardcube(Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap)

horizon zero dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn is nominated for many awards.

Best Design

Honorable Mentions: Cuphead (StudioMDHR), Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive), What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios), Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy), Prey (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

reigns her majesty
Could Reigns: Her Majesty be Best Mobile Game of the year?

Best Mobile Game

  • Reigns: Her Majesty (Nerial / Devolver Digital)
  • Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg)
  • Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)
  • Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive)
  • Bury Me, My Love (The Pixel Hunt / Figs / ARTE France / Playdius)
Honorable Mentions: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems and Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Old Man's Journey (Broken Rules), Flipflop Solitaire (Zach Gage), Gnog (KO_OP / Double Fine Productions)

Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
What isn't Zelda nominated for?

Innovation Award

Honorable Mentions: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory), Cuphead (StudioMDHR), Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix), Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Tacoma (Fullbright), Pyre (Supergiant Games)

hellblade
Best Narrative, Best Audio, Best Tech-a gem of 2017.

Best Narrative

Honorable Mentions: Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix), Tacoma (Fullbright), Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios), Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Assassin's Creed Origins
Best Tech?

Best Technology

Honorable Mentions: Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda Softworks), Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)

persona 5
Persona 5's unique art style may win it the GDC visual art award.

Best Visual Art

Honorable Mentions: Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive), Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Assassin's Creed Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft), Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision), Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory), Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Superhot VR Header
Superhot's still hot.

Best VR/AR Game

Honorable Mentions: Farpoint (Impulse Gear / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (Owlchemy Labs / Adult Swim Games), Luna (Funomena), Robo Recall (Epic Games), Gnog (KO_OP/ Double Fine Productions), Doom VFR (id Software / Bethesda Softworks)

playerunknown's battlegrounds bans windmill
Possible GOTY

Game Of The Year

Honorable Mentions: Cuphead (StudioMDHR), What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive), Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus), Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory), Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive), Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Alexandra Joy Taberski
| Past Author

Alexandria is a former Staff Writer at TechRaptor, who specializes in coverage of mobile games, RPGs, and JRPGs primarily, and has an unfortunate aversion… More about Alexandria