The Game Awards 2020: Date, Time, Nominees, and How to Vote

The Game Awards 2020 are almost here, which means that it’s almost time for what’s quickly become one of the gaming industry’s biggest events of the year.

While The Game Awards has become one of the best sources for new game announcements and trailers outside of E3, the show still focuses on honoring the year’s best games. Granted, 2020 has been an unusual year, to say the least, but you wouldn’t know it just by looking at the list of The Game Awards 2020 nominees, which include not only the year’s best games but some of the best games in recent memory.

Here’s what you need to know about The Game Awards 2020:

The Game Awards 2020 Date

The Game Awards 2020 will air on Dec. 10. You will be able to watch it on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook Live, Steam, TikTokLive, and other platforms.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s show will not be held in front of a live audience. However, the show is expected to air live, with Geoff Keighley resuming his normal hosting duties.

According to a press release, the event will be streamed live in “4K UHD from studio locations with no in-person audience in Los Angeles, Tokyo and London. The three host cities for The Game Awards will be digitally connected for an innovative celebration with live award presentations, musical performances, and spectacular world premiere game announcements.”

The Game Awards 2020 Time

Here are the start times for the The Game Awards 2020 based on various regions:

North America: 3:30pm PST / 4:30pm MST / 5:30pm CST / 6:30pm EST
UK/Ire: 11:30pm GMT
Europe: 12:30am CET / 1:30am EET
Asia/Oceania: 8:30am JST / 7:30am AWST / 10:30am AEDT

The times above reflect the anticipated start time of the event’s pre-show. The show is expected to start 30 minutes later. The full show is expected to run about three hours (including the pre-show), but that estimate is based on the runtime of previous years. It’s possible this event’s altered format will impact the final runtime in some way.

The Game Awards 2020 Nominees

The Game Awards 2020 website notes that for a game to be eligible for nomination at this year’s event, it must “be available for public consumption on or before November 20, 2020.” This year’s show will also include games released in December 2019, which missed last year’s cutoff date.

While that means Cyberpunk 2077 will not be eligible for this year’s awards, the show will not suffer from a lack of notable candidates. The Last of Us Part 2 secured the most nominations at this year’s show, but The Game Awards 2019’s results prove that upsets can certainly happen. We expect titles like Hades, Ghost of Tsushima, and Doom Eternal to have big nights.

You can go here for the full list of The Game Awards 2020 nominees. If you’re curious which games we felt were overlooked by this year’s award show, be sure to check out our thoughts here.

Otherwise, here’s a brief look at some of this year’s most nominated games:

11 Nominations

The Last of Us Part II

9 Nominations

Hades

8 Nominations

Ghost of Tsushima

5 Nominations

Doom Eternal

4 Nominations

Fall Guys
Half-Life: Alyx

3 Nominations

Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Fortnite
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Valorant

2 Nominations

Among Us
Apex Legends
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Call of Duty: Warzone
Carrion
Destiny 2
Genshin Impact
No Man’s Sky
Spiritfarer

The Game Awards 2020 How to Vote

You still have a chance to vote in the final round of The Game Awards 2020 Player’s Voice awards. You just need to go to this website, sign into your account, and cast your vote for one of the remaining games.

As for the award show itself, the winners will be determined by the votes of a jury consisting of global media outlets and other industry figures. For more information about The Game Awards 2020 voting process, be sure to check out the FAQ section of their website.

The Game Awards 2020 Live Stream

You can watch The Game Awards 2020 in the live stream below: