The Game Awards 2024 nominations were revealed on November 18. Geoff Keighley created the ceremony and hosted the announcement. The event marks its tenth anniversary and honors creative and technical work across 29 competitive categories. Astro Bot from Team Asobi and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth from Square Enix each earned seven nominations, and both are nominated for Game of the Year.
Six games are nominated for Game of the Year: Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Black Myth: Wukong from Chinese studio Game Science, Balatro from solo creator LocalThunk, Metaphor: ReFantazio from Atlus, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree from FromSoftware and Bandai Namco. The advisory board said expansion packs, new content seasons, DLCs, remakes, and remasters are eligible in all categories. The international jury must judge the creative and technical contribution worthy of recognition. The change let Shadow of the Erdtree become the first DLC release to earn a Game of the Year nomination. The Game Awards published its standard in institutional guidelines. It stated: "The Game Awards aims to recognize the best creative and technical work each year, irrespective of the format of that content's release, empowering an international jury of over 100 media outlets to judge excellence." (IGN) Balatro took five nominations in total, including Best Independent Game and Best Game Direction.
Sony Interactive Entertainment led publishers with 16 nominations. Square Enix and Xbox Game Studios followed with 12 each, and Sega earned 11 nods. Fan voting opened immediately on the official ceremony portal, with ballots covering all 29 categories. Player votes count alongside the jury of more than 100 global media publications. The ceremony streams live on more than 40 digital platforms and takes place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on the evening of Thursday, December 12.
