Taking place on Wednesday, March 4 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2015 Game Developers Conference, and alongside the Indepent Games Festival Awards, the 15th annual Game Developers Choice Awards have had all the nominees revealed across a variety of categories.
With nominees and winners chosen by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry, here’s the full list of nominees, complete with honorable mentions:
Game of the Year
- Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Honorable Mentions
- Titanfall (Respawn/Electronic Arts)
- Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
- Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Sora Ltd. and BANDAI NAMCO/Nintendo)
Innovation Award
- Bounden (Game Oven)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
- Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Honorable Mentions
- Crypt of the Necrodancer (Brace Yourself Games)
- Extrasolar (Lazy 8 Studios)
- Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments)
- Elegy For A Dead World (Dejobaan Games)
- 80 Days (Inkle Studios)
Best Debut
- Yacht Club Games (Shovel Knight)
- Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall)
- The Astronauts (The Vanishing of Ethan Carter)
- Stoic Studio (The Banner Saga)
- Upper One Games (Never Alone)
Honorable Mentions
- Dynamighty (CounterSpy)
- Hinterland Games (The Long Dark)
- 1337 & Senri (Leo’s Fortune)
- MachineGames (Wolfenstein: The New Order)
- Hipster Whale (Crossy Road)
Best Design
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo EAD Tokyo and 1-Up Studio/Nintendo)
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)
Honorable Mentions
- Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo EAD Tokyo/Nintendo)
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Monument Valley (Ustwo)
- Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Best Handheld/Mobile Game
- Threes! (Sirvo)
- Super Smash Bros. 3DS (Sora Ltd. and BANDAI NAMCO/Nintendo)
- Hearthstone (Blizzard)
- 80 Days (Inkle Studios)
- Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Honorable Mentions
- Bounden (Game Oven)
- Bravely Default (Silicon Studio and Square Enix/Nintendo and Square Enix)
- Desert Golfing (Blinkbat Games)
- Velocity 2X (FuturLab)
- Fantasy Life (Level-5/Nintendo)
Best Visual Art
- Monument Valley (Ustwo)
- Hohokum (Honeyslug and Sony Santa Monica/Sony)
- Child of Light (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Honorable Mentions
- Never Alone (Upper One Games/E-Line Media)
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
- Transistor (Supergiant Games)
- Broken Age: Act 1 (Double Fine Productions)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Best Narrative
- 80 Days (Inkle Studios)
- This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
- Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3 (Cardboard Computer)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
Honorable Mentions
- Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
- Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
- Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 1 (Gearbox Software/Telltale Games)
- D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die (Access Games/Microsoft)
- Hatoful Boyfriend (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)
Best Audio
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- Hohokum (Honeyslug/Sony)
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Transistor (Supergiant Games)
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
Honorable Mentions
- Child of Light (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die (Access Games/Microsoft)
- Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
- Crypt of the Necrodancer (Brace Yourself Games)
Best Technology
- Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
- Wolfenstein: The New Order (MachineGames/Bethesda)
- Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments)
- Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Honorable Mentions
- Assassin’s Creed Unity (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- The Last of Us: Remastered (Naughty Dog/Sony)
- Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac Games/Microsoft)
- Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
- inFamous Second Son (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony)
Three Special Awards – the Pioneer, Ambassador, and Lifetime Achievement awards – will be announced in the near future. The Audience Award for the Choice Awards will be open for online voting in February.
You can check out our Game of the Year 2014 winners over here, with the user-voted PS Blog winners over here.
Who do you think should win for Best Design?
