Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 received a total of eight nominations at this year's Game Developers Choice Awards, despite strong competition that left the GSA developers without a chance. Okomotive's Herdling at least managed to secure an honourable mention.
The winners of this year's Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) will be announced on 12 March during the GDC Festival. The ceremony will take place one day after the Independent Games Festival Awards, for which several GSA studios have also been nominated. Separating the two award ceremonies is likely to increase attention for the winners.
The GDCA are among the most important awards for triple-A games worldwide. And the 2026 edition is dominated by the surprise French success Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Developed and published by Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive, the game has received a total of eight nominations, including in the main category of Game of the Year. Because there is also an Audience Award, the title could end up winning nine prizes.
However, the competition is strong. This applies both to the Game of the Year category, in which Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury), Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo), Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry) and Split Fiction (Hazelight Studios / EA) are also nominated, but also to all other categories.
Studios from GSA, which are strong in the indie sector, are not among the GDCA nominees. In the Social Impact category, Okomotove made it into the Honourable Mentions with its title Herdling.
What makes the GDCA special is that the game developers themselves are the judges. Members of the International Choice Awards Network (ICAN) are eligible to vote, and titles do not have to be submitted. Instead, all games released in the previous calendar year, i.e. 2025, are eligible to participate.
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)
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.)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Honorable Mentions: Absolum (Guard Crush Games, Dotemu, Supamonks / Dotemu), BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends / Devolver Digital), Hades II (Supergiant Games)
