Death Stranding and Control lead The Game Awards 2019 nominations

The Game Awards is an annual Geoff Keighley-produced event during which the videogame industry and its many fans get together to watch trailers, snark about sponsorships, and yes, hand out a few trophies in various "best of" categories. 107 different games were nominated in those categories for the 2019 show, led by Death Stranding with eight, and Control with seven.

The nominations were picked by a jury of 80 "media and influencer outlets," PC Gamer included. After the nomination phase, winners are selected via a fan vote, which is open now. (Given Keighley's friendship with Hideo Kojima and cameo in Death Stranding, we can guess which game he's pulling for.)

Other big games this year include Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with five nominations, and Resident Evil 2 and The Outer Worlds, which drew four each. The "Best Performance" category features two nominations each from Control and Death Stranding, which is interesting (Gears 5 and The Outer Worlds round out the category, and for the record I'm all-in on Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling), but I'm a little confused by the "Fresh Indie Game Presented by Subway" award, which stands separate from the Best Independent Game category. 

The Game Awards website says that the Fresh by Subway category is for new indie studios that released their first game in 2019, but Outer Wilds studio Mobius 38 has two previous games to its credit—Beacon 38 and Terra Chrome—while Untitled Goose Game developer House House put out Push Me Pull You in 2016. DeadToast Entertainment also has nearly a dozen releases to its credit: Mostly web games, which might seem a little tenuous, but that's where My Friend Pedro got its start.

Voting for The Game Awards 2019 is live now. Here's the full list of nominees:

Game of the Year:

• Control (Remedy/505 Games)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai-Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
• The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Game Direction:

• Control (Remedy/505 Games)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
• Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)

Best Narrative:

• A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo/Focus Home)
• Control (Remedy/505)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Art Direction:

• Control (Remedy/505)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best Score/Music:

• Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
• Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)

Best Audio Design:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Control (Remedy/505)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)

Best Performance:

• Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
• Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden, Control
• Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
• Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
• Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
• Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding

Games for Impact:

• Concrete Genie (Pixelopus/SIE)
• Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Kind Words (Popcannibal)
• Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
• Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/EA)

Best Ongoing Game:

• Apex Legends (Respawn)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Independent Game:

• Baba Is You (Hempuli)
• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• Katana ZERO (Askiisoft/Devoler)
• Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
• Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

Best Mobile Game:

• Call of Duty: Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
• GRINDSTONE (Capybara Games)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
• Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
• What the Golf? (Tribland)

Best Community Support:

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best VR/AR Game:

• Asgard's Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
• Blood & Truth (SIE London Studio/SIE)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• No Man's Sky (Hello Games)
• Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)

Best Action Game:

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Astral Chain (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom/Capcom)
• Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
• Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)

Best Action/Adventure Game:

• Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
• Control (Remedy/505 Games)
• Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)

Best RPG:

• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
• The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

Best Fighting Game:

• Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo)
• Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
• Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm/WBIE)
• Samurai Showdown (SNK/Athlon)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)

Best Family Game:

• Luigi's Mansion 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
• Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
• Yoshi's Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game:

• Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox)
• Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Koei Tecmo/Nintendo)
• Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
• Tropico 6 (Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
• Wargroove (Chucklefish)

Best Sports/Racing Game:

• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
• DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
• eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
• F1 2019 (Codemasters)
• FIFA 20 (EA Sports)

Best Multiplayer Game:

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
• Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Fresh Indie Game Presented by Subway:

• ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
• Nomada Studio for Gris
• DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
• Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
• Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
• House House for Untitled Goose Game

Content Creator of the Year:

• Courage - Jack Dunlop
• Dr. Lupo - Benjamin Lupo
• Ewok - Soleil Wheeler
• Grefg - David Martínez
• Shroud - Michael Grzesiek

Best Esports Game:

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• DOTA2 (Valve)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)

Best Esports Player:

• Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf (Immortals, Fortnite)
• Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom, League of Legends)
• Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic (G2 Esports, League of Legends)
• Oleksandr ‘S1mple’ Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CSGO)
• Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won (SF Shock, Overwatch)

Best Esports Team:

• Astralis (CS:GO)
• G2 Esports (LOL)
• OG (DOTA2)
• San Francisco Shock (OWL)
• Team Liquid (CS:GO)

Best Esports Event:

• 2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals
• EVO 2019
• Fortnite World Cup
• IEM Katowice 2019
• League of Legends World Championship 2019
• The International 2019

Best Esports Coach:

• Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag (Team Liquid, CS:GO)
• Nu-ri ‘Cain’ Jang (Team Liquid, LOL)
• Fabian ‘GrabbZ’ Lohmann (G2 Esports, LOL)
• Kim ‘Kkoma’ Jeong-gyun (SK Telecom T1, LOL)
• Titouan ‘Sockshka’ Merloz (OG, DOTA2)
• Danny ‘Zonic’ Sørensen (Astralis, CSGO)

Best Esports Host:

• Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
• Alex “Machine” Richardson
• Paul “Redeye” Chaloner
• Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
• Duan "Candice" Yu-Shuang

The Game Awards ceremony will take place on December 12, beginning at 5:30 pm PT/8:30 pm ET, and will be livestreamed on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Facebook, and a bunch of other online locales that you can find here. It will also be broadcast live in 53 Cinemark theaters across the US, following a "superticket" screening of Jumanji: The Next Level.