Game Awards 2025 Nominations Led by ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ With Record 12 Nods

The Game Awards, which celebrates achievements in the video game industry, revealed its 2025 nominees on Monday (Nov. 17). Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads the way with 12 nominations, making it the most nominated game in the show’s 12-year history.

This year’s game of the year nominees are Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive; Death Stranding 2: On the Beach from Kojima Productions; Donkey Kong Bananza from Nintendo; Hades II from Supergiant Games; Hollow Knight: Silksong from Team Cherry; and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II from Warhorse Studios.

Over the past year, several popular video games and franchises have crossed over into television and film. The following films and streaming shows are nominated for best adaptation: A Minecraft Movie, Devil May Cry, The Last of Us: Season 2, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch and Until Dawn.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is The Game Awards’ most nominated publisher in 2025 with 19 nominations across its combined portfolio, followed by Kepler Interactive with 13 nods, and Electronic Arts and Microsoft, each with 10. The nominees for The Game Awards are selected by a global jury of more than 150 media publications and creator outlets.

From today through Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. PT, fans will be able to help choose the winners in all categories via authenticated online voting on the Game Awards site.  In China, fans can vote for their favorites on a variety of platforms including Bilibili.

The Game Awards will air live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday, Dec. 11, with awards, world premiere new game announcements, and musical performances by The Game Awards Orchestra, conducted by Lorne Balfe. The Scottish composer, 49, won a Grammy three years ago for best compilation soundtrack for visual media for Top Gun: Maverick and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmys.

Tickets to attend The Game Awards in-person can be purchased on the AXS site. At press time, available tickets ranged from $251 in the upper mezzanine to $1,506 for loge seats.

This year’s show will stream live on Prime Video for the first time and will once again stream for free across more than 30 digital video platforms including Twitch, YouTube, Steam, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and TikTok Live. The Game Awards 2024 broke viewership records with an reported 154 million global livestreams, up 31% over 2023’s record-setting showcase, which reached 118 million livestreams. In addition, more than 15,000 individual content creators and online influencers co-streamed the show to their audiences, according to show organizers.

The Game Awards is executive produced by Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim. Richard Preuss is the director, LeRoy Bennett is the creative director, and Michael E. Peter is  co-executive producer.

Here are nominees in seven key categories for the 2025 Game Awards. For the full list of nominees, visit the Game Awards site.

Game of the Year

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Hades II (Supergiant Games)

Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver)

Best Score and Music

Christopher Larkin, Hollow Knight: Silksong

Darren Korb, Hades II

Lorien Testard, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Toma Otowa, Ghost of Yōtei

Woodkid and Ludvig Forssell, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Best Audio Design

Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios/EA)

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Silent Hill f (NeoBards Entertainment/KONAMI)

Best Performance

Ben Starr, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Charlie Cox, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Erika Ishii, Ghost of Yōtei

Jennifer English, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Konatsu Kato, Silent Hill f

Troy Baker, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Best Family

Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

LEGO Party! (SMG Studio/Fictions)

LEGO Voyagers (Light Brick Studios/Annapurna Interactive)

Mario Kart World (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Sonic Team/Sega)

Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios/EA)

Best Adaptation

A Minecraft Movie (Legendary Pictures/Mojang/Warner Bros)

Devil May Cry (Studio Mir/Capcom/Netflix)

The Last of Us: Season 2 (HBO/PlayStation Productions)

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch (FOST Studio/Ubisoft/Netflix)

Until Dawn (Screen Gems/PlayStation Productions)

Content Creator of the Year

Caedrel

Kai Cenat

MoistCr1TiKaL

Sakura Miko

The Burnt Peanut