2026 Game Developers Choice Awards nominees announced
Organizers of the GDC Festival of Gaming today announced the finalists for the 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), the premier, globally recognized accolades for peer-recognition in the video game industry. All winners will be revealed during this year’s GDCA ceremony, held on March 12, during the GDC Festival of Gaming in San Francisco.
Any game released and made publicly available during the 2025 calendar year can be nominated for the 2026 Game Developers Choice Awards. Nominees and winners are chosen by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), an invitation-only organization composed of leading game creators from across the industry.
Donkey Kong Bananza gets a lot of love here, including a nomination for Game of the Year. Other Nintendo-related titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and Split Fiction are also represented.
Fans can make their voice heard by voting on the Audience Award from all of this year’s GDCA finalists. Voting can be done here between January 26 and February 8.
Below is the complete list of nominees for each category of the 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, including honorable mentions:
Best Audio
- 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)
- Rift of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games / Klei Publishing)
- South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Honorable Mentions:
ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Doom: The Dark Ages (id Software / Bethesda Softworks), Lumines Arise (Enhance / Monstars Inc.), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)
Best Debut
- BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
- Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
- Dispatch (Adhoc Studio)
Honorable Mentions:
ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (Too Kyo Games, Media. Vision Inc. / Aniplex), The Roottrees are Dead (Evil Trout Inc.)
Best Design
- BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
- Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
- Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
- Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Honorable Mentions:
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios / Deep Silver), The Alters (11 Bit Studios)
Innovation Award
- BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital)
- Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy / Devolver Digital)
- Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
- Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Honorable Mentions:
CloverPit (Panik Arcade / Future Friends Games), Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia), REPO (Semiwork Studios), Sunderfolk (Secret Door / Dreamhaven), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)
Best Narrative
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
- Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
- Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
- Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Honorable Mentions:
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (DON’T NOD Montréal, DON’T NOD), South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios), The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment / Xbox Game Studios), The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway / Raw Fury)
Best Technology
- 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)
- Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Honorable Mentions:
ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios / Electronic Arts), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Warhorse Studios / Deep Silver), PEAK (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab, Landfall)
Best Visual Art
- Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu)
- 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)
- Hades II (Supergiant Games)
- Keeper (Double Fine Productions / Xbox Game Studios)
Honorable Mentions:
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry), South of Midnight (Compulsion Games / Xbox Game Studios), Sword of the Sea (Giant Squid), The Midnight Walk (MoonHood / Fast Travel Games)
Social Impact
- And Roger (TearyHand Studio / Kodansha)
- Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia)
- Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastián Valbuena / Panic)
- Dispatch (AdHoc Studio)
Honorable Mentions:
Herdling (Okomotive / Panic), Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (DON’T NOD Montréal, DON’T NOD ), PEAK (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab, Landfall), To a T (uvula LLC / Annapurna Interactive)
Game of the Year
- Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)
- Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
- Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
- Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Honorable Mentions:
Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu), BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital), Hades II (Supergiant Games)
For those wondering how last year’s results panned out, head on over here.
