Metal Gear Solid 5, Witcher 3 lead game of the year nominees for GDCA

Following the announcement of the nominees for this year's Independent Games Festival Awards, event organizers on Friday revealed the nominees for the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards. Leading the way are Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which both received four nominations each, including nods for overall Game of the Year.

The other Game of the Year nominees are Fallout 4, Bloodborne and Rocket League. Last year's Game of the Year winner was "Lord of the Rings"game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Other games that received multiple nominations this year include Star Wars Battlefront (Best Visual Art, Best Technology, Best Audio), Bloodborne (Game of the Year, Best Design, Best Visual Art), Fallout 4 (Game of the Year, Best Design, Best Technology) and Splatoon (Innovation, Award, Best Visual Art).

Any game that was released publicly in 2015 was up for consideration. Nominees and winners are decided by the invite-only Game Developers Choice Awards International Choice Awards Network. This group is made up of "leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry."

The winners will be announced as part of the 2016 Game Developers Conference during a ceremony on March 16, starting at 6:30 p.m. PT. Funomena co-founder Robin Hunicke, who also worked on Journey as a producer, will host the show.

A list of categories and nominees, as well as honorable mentions, is available below. In addition to these, three Special Awards will be handed out during the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards: Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement. These will be announced later.

The Witcher 3 won the Game of the Year award at December's Video Game Awards. CD Projekt Red's open-world RPG was also GameSpot's 2015 Game of the Year, while GameSpot readers named it the Game of the Year in a recent people's choice poll.

Game of the Year

• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
• The Witcher 3 (CD Projekt RED / CD Projekt)
• Metal Gear Solid V (Kojima Productions / Konami)
• Bloodborne (From Software / 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 (From Software / Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

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 (From Software / 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 (From Software / 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)