Metal Gear Solid V and The Witcher 3 lead all nominees at GDC Awards

Four a piece

When the Game Developers Choice Awards take place March 16 in San Francisco, two games will already have a leg-up in their odds of bringing home some hardware. The award show has revealed all the nominees for its nine categories, and Metal Gear Solid V and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lead the way with four nods each.

Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was nominated for Best Audio, Best Design, Best Technology, and Game of the Year. CD Projekt Red’s Witcher 3 earned nominations for Best Visual Art, Best Narrative, Best Technology, and Game of the Year.

Maybe the most notable snub is that Undertale wasn’t nominated for Game of the Year, as it received an incredible amount of praise since its September release. Instead, it was an honorable mention, meaning that it stands no chance of winning the GDC Awards’ most coveted prize.

Here are the GDC Awards’ categories, nominees, and honorable mentions, in full:

Game of the Year

• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Rocket League (Psyonix)

Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)

Innovation Award

• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)
• The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions: Rocket League (Psyonix), Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games) Cibele (Star Maid Games), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)

Best Debut

• Studio Wildcard (ARK: Survival Evolved)
• Toby Fox (Undertale)
• Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
• Moppin (Downwell)
• Steel Crate Games (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes)

Honorable Mentions: Asteroid Base (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime), Question (The Magic Circle) Thomas Happ (Axiom Verge), Dinosaur Polo Club (Mini Metro), MidBoss (Read Only Memories)

Best Design

• Rocket League (Psyonix)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/ Bethesda Softworks)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Her Story (Sam Barlow), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Undertale (Toby Fox), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

• Lara Croft: GO (Square Enix Montréal / Square Enix)
• Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• AlphaBear (Spry Fox)

Honorable Mentions: Prune (Joel McDonald), The Room Three (Fireproof Games), Subterfuge (Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis), Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale and 3 Sprockets / BANDAI NAMCO), Sage Solitaire (Zach Gage), SteamWorld Heist (Image and Form), You Must Build a Boat (EightyEight Games)

Best Visual Art

• Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami), Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn / Sony Computer Entertainment), Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

Best Narrative

• Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Undertale (Toby Fox)
• The Beginner’s Guide (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)

Honorable Mentions: Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment), Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment), Cibele (Star Maid Games), Soma (Frictional Games)

Best Audio

• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (The Chinese Room / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Honorable Mentions: Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix), SOMA (Frictional Games), Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo)

Best Technology

• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios / Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2 / Nintendo), Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 / Nintendo), Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)