GLAAD Media Awards 2019 Nominees Announced for Outstanding Video Game Award

In September 2018, GLAAD announced that its 2019 Media Awards would feature a video game-specific category for the first time. News of this category, the Outstanding Video Game award, has surfaced again, thanks to GLAAD’s revealing the category’s five nominees.

Each of the five nominees are featured in the list below:

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft)
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset (Bethesda Softworks)
• Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire (ArenaNet)
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Versus Evil)
• The Sims Mobile (Electronic Arts)

A blog post from the organization details why these five nominees were selected. AC Odyssey received a nod for allowing players to choose the sexuality of Alexios/Kassandra. That other characters in Odyssey also vary in orientation constitutes another reason for this particular selection. With regards to Odyssey’s DLC controversy, which Ubisoft will address in an upcoming patch, GLAAD released a separate statement.

The Summerset expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online received its nomination for a “heartfelt” quest that involves the player helping reunite a transgender woman with family. Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire’s nod is thanks to Living World Season 4 updates, which introduce LGBTQ characters and allow players to interact with a wide array of identities on scales both large and small.

In Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, which will launch on PlayStation 4 this year, players encounter a robust cast of characters, many of whom have LGBTQ identities. Finally, The Sims Mobile, akin to previous entries in the long-running franchise, allows players to explore relationships with any person of their choosing.

GLAAD will host its 30th Annual Media Awards on April 12, 2019.