Man, 2015 had a lot of great videogames released.  We got the new installment of Battlefront, the new Assassin’s Creed, and the new Fallout.  As always, we look forward to reading the list of nominations for Game Of The Year from the Game Developer’s Convention.

Polygon reminds us that the only criterion for a game’s eligibility in the Game Developers Choice Awards is that it had to have been released publicly in the calendar year 2015; upgrades and expansions do not count. Nominees and winners of the Game Developers Choice Awards are chosen by the International Choice Awards Network, an invitation-only group that consists of professional game developers.

The 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards will be hosted by Robin Hunicke (EA Games: Boom Blox, The Sims 2) who is the co-founder of indie studio Funomena and a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The actual awards show is happening during the 2016 GDC in San Francisco; it will run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. PT on March 16, alongside the 18th annual Independent Games Festival Awards. The event will be livestreamed on Twitch.

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The nominations list this year:

GAME OF THE YEAR
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Rocket League (Psyonix)

Honorable Mentions:
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)

INNOVATION AWARD
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions:
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
Cibele (Star Maid Games)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)

BEST DEBUT
Studio Wildcard (Ark: Survival Evolved)
Toby Fox (Undertale)
Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
Moppin (Downwell)
Steel Crate Games (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes)

Honorable Mentions:
Asteroid Base (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime)
Question (The Magic Circle)
Thomas Happ (Axiom Verge)
Dinosaur Polo Club (Mini Metro)
MidBoss (Read Only Memories)

BEST DESIGN
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions:
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

BEST HANDHELD/MOBILE GAME
Lara Croft: Go (Square Enix Montréal / Square Enix)
Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
AlphaBear (Spry Fox)

Honorable Mentions:
Prune (Joel McDonald)
The Room Three (Fireproof Games)
Subterfuge (Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis)
Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets / BANDAI NAMCO)
Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage)
SteamWorld Heist (Image and Form)
You Must Build a Boat (EightyEight Games)

BEST VISUAL ART
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions:
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

BEST NARRATIVE
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
Undertale (Toby Fox)
The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions:
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Cibele (Star Maid Games)
Soma (Frictional Games)

BEST AUDIO
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Honorable Mentions:
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
SOMA (Frictional Games)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

BEST TECHNOLOGY
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / CD Projekt)
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios / Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions:
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)

Did your favorite title of 2015 make it?  Let us know in the comments!

ABOUT >> Mary Anne Butler
  • ACCOUNT NAME >> Mab
  • BIO >> Mary Anne Butler (Mab) is a reporter and photographer from San Francisco California. She is a lifelong geek, huge music nerd, occasionally cosplays at conventions, does Renaissance Faires, and in general lives the life of a True Believer. She may be short, but she makes up for it with a loud voice.
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