The Game Awards 2021: Start times, how to watch, what to expect and all nominees
The Game Awards kick off at 5 p.m. PT, 8 p.m. ET.
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The annual Game Awards will broadcast from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Game Awards
Today is the day of days for video games: The annual Game Awards, a night featuring a swanky award ceremony, a bunch of new trailers and a few world-premier reveals for the games of 2022 and beyond.
Watch this: Game Awards 2021: Watch all the trailers revealed
We've already been teased with big news leading up to the show, including a proper look at The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a trailer for the Suicide Squad game and a sneak peek at the upcoming Halo TV show. Show host Geoff Keighly has teased on Twitter that one world premier at the Game Awards has been in the works for two and a half years.
The 2021 Game Awards will be broadcast from the
Microsoft
Theater in Los Angeles on Dec. 9, a welcome return to normalcy after last year's all-virtual show.
Apart from world premiere trailers and reveals, there's the actual awards themselves, which will also include musical performances and guest appearances by celebrities. Stars announced to appear on the show include Sting, Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves. Here's what you need to know about 2021's show.
When is the Game Awards?
The 2021 Game Awards start Thursday at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. Viewers in the UK will have to wait up until 1 a.m., while those in Australia will have a start time of 12 p.m. AEDT. There's a preshow that kicks off a half hour before all of those times. You can watch the stream on multiple platforms:
Keighly has said that 40 to 50 games will be featured on the show in some fashion. Many of these will be already announced games, and some have already been teased. Beyond that, there'll be a few big surprises that we can only speculate about. Keighly told USA Today that there are "four or five" reveals on the scale of Elden Ring, so look forward to those.
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Among the games we know will be on the show are The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which was originally scheduled for a 2021 release, and Destiny 2's Witch Queen expansion. Also announced for the show is Matrix Awakens, a tech demo for Epic's Unreal Engine 5, a trailer for Showtime's upcoming Halo series as well as one for Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
Who are the 2021 Game Awards nominees?
This year's Game Awards have 30 categories up for grabs including Best Indie, Best Ongoing, Innovation in Accessibility, genre awards like Best Role Playing and of course Game of the Year.
Here are the nominees and categories.
Game of the Year
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)
Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
Best Game Direction
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Returnal (Housemarque/SIE)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games/SIE)
Best Ongoing
Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)
Final Fantasy XIV Online (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (MiHoYo)
Best Narrative
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/SQUARE ENIX)
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/SQUARE ENIX)