The Game Awards 2022 is just around the corner, and we're ready to settle down with a warm glass of Mountain Dew and put out milk and cookies for Santa Geoff as he gets ready to drop a bag of trailers down our chimneys. It may seem like slim pickings for Nintendo this year, but the Switch isn't doing too badly — and Nintendo is still the second-most-nominated publisher, behind Sony Interactive Entertainment and tied with Annapurna Interactive.
But if you're wondering how to watch The Game Awards, exactly when it is, or how long it'll run for, we've got you covered.
When is The Game Awards 2022?
The Game Awards will take place on Thursday, December 8th (the 9th for anyone east of the Americas), live from the Microsoft Theater in LA, at 5pm Pacific. There will be a 30-minute pre-show, at which we expect some of the smaller awards will be shuffled out the door.
Here are the local times in several time zones:
North America (December 8th)
5pm PST
6pm MST
7pm CST
8pm EST
9pm AST
Europe (December 9th)
1am GMT
2am CET
3am EET
Asia & Oceania (December 9th)
6:30am IST
9am CST
9am AWST
10am JST
12pm AEDT
2pm NZDT
Where can I watch The Game Awards 2022?
The Game Awards will be streamed on YouTube and Twitch, both of which can be used natively on the Switch now, if you fancy. You can also watch direct feeds of the streams on the following sites:
This year, The Game Awards has opened applications for people to co-stream the event on their Twitch channels, as well. Keighley has confirmed that everything is already cleared for streaming!
The Game Awards will also be shown live in 40 IMAX cinemas across North America — check here to find out if you have one near you.
How long will The Game Awards 2022 be?
We actually know the answer to this, for once... and the reason is a bit unusual!
Valve is giving away one Steam Deck for every minute of The Game Awards, and they've confirmed exactly how many minutes that will be. In the terms and conditions of the competition, they state that the runtime is "approximately two and a half hours". That's 150 Steam Decks!
(Note: The competition is only running in the US, Canada, the UK, and the EU, and only for people who have made at least one purchase in the last year on Steam.)
Which games have been nominated for The Game Awards 2022?
You can check out the list here for all the nominees.
But specifically for the Switch and Nintendo, the following games are nominated:
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Game of the Year, Best Score/Music, Best RPG)
- A Plague Tale: Requiem (Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Score/Music, Best Performance - Charlotte McBurney)
- Citizen Sleeper (Games for Impact)
- A Memoir Blue (Games for Impact)
- Endling: Extinction is Forever (Games for Impact)
- Hindsight (Games for Impact)
- I Was A Teenage Exocolonist (Games for Impact)
- Fortnite (Best Ongoing Game, Best Community Support)
- Apex Legends (Best Ongoing Game, Best Community Support)
- Tunic (Best Independent Game, Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Debut Indie)
- Cult of the Lamb (Best Independent Game)
- Neon White (Best Independent Game, Best Action Game, Best Debut Indie)
- Sifu (Best Independent Game, Best Action, Best Fighting Game)
- No Man's Sky (Best Community Support)
- Return to Monkey Island (Innovation in Accessibility)
- Bayonetta 3 (Best Action Game)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Best Action Game)
- Live A Live (Best RPG)
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Best RPG)
- Triangle Strategy (Best RPG)
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R (Best Fighting Game)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Best Family Game)
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Best Family Game)
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Best Family Game, Best Sim/Strategy Game)
- Nintendo Switch Sports (Best Family Game)
- Splatoon 3 (Best Family Game)
- OlliOlli World (Best Sports/Racing Game)
- Two Point Campus (Best Sim/Strategy Game)
- Rocket League (Best eSports Game)
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Most Anticipated Game)
Which games will be shown or announced at The Game Awards 2022?
We have no idea! Unfortunately, Keighley hasn't replied to any of our phone calls, probably because we don't have his phone number anyway. But here's what's been confirmed so far:
- Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson as presenters (Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us)
- Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as presenters (Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us TV adaptation)
- A live presentation about Final Fantasy XVI
- A look at 505 Games' new project
- A presentation by Josef Fares (the infamous "F*** the Oscars" guy and lead developer of It Takes Two)
- Among Us news
- Tekken 8 news
Not a lot of Switch or Nintendo news, then. But that doesn't mean there won't be any...
...in fact, we think all of Geoff's tweets about the Super Mario Bros. Movie might be a clue 👀
Who is performing at The Game Awards 2022?
Hozier, baby. The soft-voiced Irish musician will be performing "Blood Upon The Snow" from God of War: Ragnarok.
How does voting work for The Game Awards?
You can vote for your favourites in each category! The final winners will be decided by a "blended vote": 90% determined by the voting jury, and 10% determined by public fan voting.
There is a 100% fan-chosen vote, too, called Players' Voice, which began on November 28th and will conclude on December 7th, with three rounds of voting. You can place your vote here. Hey, Sonic Frontiers is on there! And, uh, Minecraft!
Voting closes on Wednesday, December 7 at 6 pm PT. You can check out the jury here — it is largely made up of outlets like The Guardian, Eurogamer, and so on, as well as independent but highly-regarded names like Jeff Gerstmann. The Innovation in Accessibility award in particular is judged by accessibility advocates and experts.
Will you be watching The Game Awards? What games would you like to win? Is it at a ridiculous time where you are? Let us know in the comments!
Comments 35
2,5 hours…
That’s way too much Geoff for me. I’ll watch the highlights the day after.
Unless Nintendolife is doing a stream? With livechat, Alex doing telling a Christmas Carol and all?
@Friendly that will be well past Alex's bedtime, I think!
And so it begins…
XENOBLADE 3 FOR GOTY OR BUST (i havent played it but i watched gameplay on youtube so close enough i guess)!!!
Love watching these! Can't wait!
I would have watched it, but since I'm in the UK and it will run from 1am to 3.30am, I think I'll just watch any interesting reveals on Youtube.
Why is it always at 1 in the morning for everyone in Europe. I HAVE SCHOOL TESTS IN THE MORNING DAMNIT.
Yeah I won't be watching that cringefest. Nothing against Keighley as I actually think he does/has done a lot for the gaming industry but the shows are just cringey like most live awards shows.
I'll just catch up with all the trailers/news after.
Can't wait to see none of my picks win and Nintendo's full 30 seconds of presence as a sizzle reel on a commercial break.
Geoff's events are boring as hell. I'll just check out the articles / headlines afterward.
I’m only going to be there for the announcements, as always, and maybe the drama that might happen. And I would be lying if I said I wasn’t there for some of the awards.
Hard pass. Gotten really bored of Geoff's events.
I always have a ball watching this on Superbutterbunn's twitch page. She's absolutely hilarious at these! 😂😁
These are always way to long its tiresome. I always forget 90% of what I've seen in these shows almost immediately afterwards.
I watched it for the first time in 2019 hoping for a Smash Bros. character reveal after Joker the previous year and found the experience utterly agonizing so never again.
As far as I'm concerned, my games of the year are Return to Monkey Island and Kirby. Whatever wins at the Awards is no skin off my back
I'll be watching for sure, especially if there's a Nintendo Life chat like previous years. MK8 Deluxe DLC wave 3 being so new will keep me awake to the start time.
4/5 of the "Best RPG" category are Nintendo Switch exclusives. Unfortunately the 5th one is Elden Freaking Ring...
I'd just have it open on Steam to participate in the Steam Deck giveaway.
If you are a Nintendo fan, the irrelevance of this event is evident. I'll happily just grab the news of any reveals the next day. But sitting through 2 and a half hours of back slapping is too nauseating for me.
I'm guessing Corpse Factory won't get nominated for anything. Such a shame.
@Fizza because it's in LA, 8 hours behind you.
Save yourself some time and please do NOT watch the Game Awards. It's one giant 4hr long commercial with the awards barely taking any time in the show. Especially if you are a Nintendo fan, Nintendo is hardly going to have a presence and is not going to show Zelda TOTK or anything interesting.
Just wait until the next day to read all the headliners and watch any interesting trailers in a 10 minute recap. Seriously, the Game Awards are a massive waste of your and everyone else's time.
I've never played any of these and most I haven't even heard of. I feel more and more disconnected from mainstream modern gaming every year.
Prepare for the longest Gillette commercial of your life.
A two and half hour fluff piece that could easily be condensed into an hour no thanks. I'll skim through at my leasure the following day thanks
It amazes me how people actually watch this crap.
@Magitek_Knight Same here. The modern day mainstream gaming scene is feeling more and more in it's own little world, increasingly like Hollywood in other words, where you got these elite out of touch figures in control, and I just can't connect with it.
Baldurs gate 3 is only in early access but is leaps and bounds better that all the rpg games on this list. The quality of games coming out of the RPG genre is concerning
I hope Elden Ring crushes everything as it deserves it!
They did surprisingly well with nominating, given their "experience" in the market.
At the end of the day though, I'll just have to announce the winners myself, as usual.
GOTY - Xeno 3
Best narrative - Little Witch Nobeta
Best score and music - Xeno 3
Games for impact - Stray
Best performance - Nvidia 4090
Best ongoing - Okami
Best indie - Lunistice
Best community support - Team fortress 2
Innovation in accessibility - idk lol
best action game - Scorn
best action/adventure - Myst 209337th remake if it came out this year
best rpg - xeno 3
best fighting - them fighting herds
best family - your family, go and hug them
best sim/strategy - do these games even come out anymore
best sports racing - gran turismo 7
best multi - splatoon 3
best debut indie - Stray
best adaptation - edgerunners
most anticipated game - half life 3
Bear in mind that the list is not comprehensive because it's saturday morning
I’ll be watching only because I registered for the steam deck giveaway. I am a bit confused though as to which time I should be watching because when I registers the confirmation box said I should watch the live stream commencing 8th December 17:00 PT even though the UK where I live is GMT and the GA doesn’t start for it until 12:30 the following day. It could be the steams service made a mistake but I just need to make sure so that I’m ready.
Maybe they will announce a Crash Team Racing NF 2? 😀
Mario movie - Daisy reveal
@JayJ Know what I'd rather do than watch an award show about games? ...play games.
The scene in Ragnarok concerning “the culmination of love” put it over the top for me. I’m not interested in awards but I think even the best games this year (and I am a serious Elden Ring supporter) would find it hard to compete with GoW.
“Open your heart to the world as you have opened it to me, and you will find every reason to keep living in it.”
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