Hello and welcome to the Global Game Awards 2015

It’s been another great year for us gamers and tech enthusiasts. Here at the Global Game Awards 2015 you get the chance to make a difference, voting on your favourite gaming highlights of 2015. In the categories below we have stuffed in everything from games, hardware, console and even best developers, so you can tell the world what made your gaming year in 2015. VOTE NOW and have your say in the 2020 gaming industry recognised Global Game Awards.

GLOBAL GAME AWARDS

View 2013 Awards View 2014 Awards View 2015 Awards View 2016 Awards View 2017 Awards View 2018 Awards View 2019 Awards View 2020 Awards

Game Of The Year 2015

Only the best of the best are nominated for the prestigious Game or The Year title, and there can be only one. We are all looking for that one supreme game that brought us to our knees over the past 12 months. Maybe it was the most beautiful experience ever, or perhaps its story was so imaginative that you couldn’t help but be whisked away to its pixelated shores. Nominees are usually highly competent in every facet that makes a title brilliant and all of them are video game titans that stand above the rest. These titles reach the lofty heights where the ‘Half-Lifes’ and the ‘Elder Scrolls’ of gaming history dwell. They push the industry forward, innovating with rich new features and exceptional gameplay, all the while perfecting mechanics that will set the template for every other title to aspire to.

The Witcher III

Life Is Strange - Episode 1

Fallout 4

Grand Theft Auto V

Cities: Skylines

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Pillars of Eternity

Bloodborne

Best Indie

The rise of the sleeping indie beast is continuing unabated, and here we celebrate some of the most creative and forward-thinking talent around, embracing new mechanics, while revitalising the old. These are games developed with a fraction of the budget of the AAA monsters, but are no less enjoyable for it. The indie devs behind them craft personable, unique games that showcase some of the greatest underground talent in the world today.Indie devs often work their magic under considerable pressure, sometimes holding down full time jobs while ploughing any of their precious time into their own projects. The best of those projects become commercial successes and the best of those are given pride of place in our Best Indie Award category.

Jotun

Westerado: Double Barreled

Volume

Best Digital Sales Platform

While Valve came along and kicked it all off with Steam, we’ve seen PC gaming flourish and encompass many digital sales platforms in recent years. Now when you want to get the best deal on a PC game, you can shop around for the cheapest buy or the greatest offer. All these fantastic storefronts competing with each other means there’s only one winner overall - the PC gamer. Here we celebrate the best of these, serving the gamers with the cheapest deals and the cheeriest smile. Consider customer service, regular costs, game speed delivery, purchasing options, deal frequency, deal discounts and of course user interface and ease of use.

Steam

Uplay

Most Anticipated Game 2016

You don’t need tea leaves or a crystal ball to pick out these plum choices. We’re not even through 2015 yet but we can’t help but look forward to all the gaming gems coming our way over the next year. These choice cuts are the ones that have us slavering in anticipation, eager to get hands-on with their out of reach wares.

Mass Effect Andromeda

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Total War: Warhammer Fantasy

Best Developer

It’s often the publishers that take the lime-light during game launches, after all they’re usually the driving force behind its marketing. But with the Best Developer Award we want to draw the attention back onto those who put the hours into making some truly special experiences for us - whether they be tiny, stunning indie offerings or vast, time-sucking online multiplayer games.

CD Projekt RED

Obsidian Entertainment

Colossal Order

FROM Software

Best Motherboard

Mobos are the body of the PC and allow data to flow around the various hardware components. We all know that PC gamers can be like Dr Frankenstein when it comes to building their rigs, so this award will go to those motherboards that provide excellent build quality, using premium components, while also offering an array of component placement options to accommodate our varied build needs.We are not looking for motherboards that have necessarily been released during the last year but that are available during this last year.

Asus Maximus VIII Hero

MSI Z97A Gaming 6

Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P

ASRock Fatal1ty H97

Best Headset

Real gamers do not overlook the impact a brilliant gaming audio experience will offer to their games. Cowering behind a crumbling rocky wall as bullets whizz overhead, fragments of exploded rock crashing down around you, the ping as your comrades’ clips empty or the roar of your car’s engine as you rev on the start line, the screech of rubber as it burns when you tear away, the hurtling crush of metal on metal as you come to blows on the first bend. Gaming headsets take the best games in the world, and they make them even better, drawing you in with astonishing 3D sound that helps you feel the full force of your gaming experience. These are the headsets that bring gaming alive like no others.

Kingston HyperX Cloud II

Audio-Technica ATH-PDG1

Astro A50 Wireless

Gioteck HC-4

Best Horror Game

You’ve sat through four Paranormal Activities and barely batted an eyelid and you watched Saw for breakfast while chowing down on your cornflakes, but these games came along and the living daylights are now scared from your very being. The best horror game teeters on the brink between intense and unplayable, waiting to push you into the abyss, challenging your sanity and testing your metal. Only the hardiest of gamers can play any of these alone, with the lights turned out and an immersive headset on.

Until Dawn

Dying Light

Soma

Stasis

Best Early Access

Early Access is a harsh environment, where games are sent out into the wild, often in extremely early states, ready to be ravaged by the gaming masses.This award celebrates the cream of the crop, the bravest of the brave, those Early Access titles which are showing incredible levels of promise even at this early stage. Not only does Early Access offer developers to the chance to seek additional funding, but it also gives gamers the chance to get in on a project from the ground floor, perhaps even influencing key decisions and shaping the final product.

ARK: Survival Evolved

Layers of Fear

Angels Fall First

Cryptark

Best Open World

Every year the benchmarks for gaming get pushed further and the big hitters in the industry are now at the stage where they have to create entire worlds for a player to roam around in at their own pace. The Best Open World Award nominees are those titles that set those benchmarks.Developers build breathing worlds for the gamer to skip merrily through, but it is only the best that allow the gamer to bounce along with a rocket launcher in hand and a complete world of possibilities resting on their trigger finger. Mastering this field means keeping the player entertained whenever they want, without railroading them into a story arch they cannot escape, while simultaneously providing them with entertaining, relevant options whenever they so wish. No easy feat, but the year’s nominees manage to walk that ground comfortably.

The Witcher III

Grand Theft Auto V

Fallout 4

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Best Strategy

Click. Click. BOOM. Strategy games are the bedrock of PC gaming, capitalising on the addictive nature of amassing huge armies and wealth, or constructing a sprawling metropolis from the comfort of your own chair. Strategy games run the full gamut from fast combat-focused competitive titles through to the ponderous thinking-man’s city-builders, with everything in-between. Refining what works and expanding on something we have played before only gets a game so far, but nominees for the Best Strategy Award offer you something more.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

Total War: Attila

Act Of Aggression

Satellite Reign

Best Audio

Game soundtracks are often cruelly overlooked, but a title’s music and composition can often be the things that really makes or breaks a game’s atmosphere and tone. 2014 has been a pretty standout year when it comes to fabulous musical scores, especially in smaller games. However, a number of them really stood out to us, and difficult as it was to narrow down to just four, here are the games whose music really transported us to another world.

The Witcher III

Grand Theft Auto V

Hotline Miami 2

Soma

Best Gamers Case

The home of our beloved gaming PC components. This award will be given to those cases that appeal to our aesthetic senses while providing the gamer flexibility over installation of modern components. The case might be the pinnacle of sci-fi styling or understatedly simple; it could be large enough to house a fleet of components or tiny and discreet. Whatever its design it needs to fill its case requirements to perfection.

Cooler Master HAF X

Corsair Vengeance C70

Fractal Design Define R4

Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro Tower

Best Visuals

They have been known to drive grown men to tears by their beauty. Their exquisite attention to detail has brought millions flocking to bask in their brilliance. No, it’s not the Mona Lisa, it’s of course the GGA’s Best Visuals Award nominees. These games are on another level when it comes to polygon crunching gorgeousness, delivering some of the finest visual experiences ever dreamed of in video game land.

Star Wars: Battlefront

The Witcher III

Grand Theft Auto V

The Order 1886

Best Console of 2015

It’s been an absolutely monstrous battle between the consoles this year, with all of them throwing out exclusive after exclusive in an attempt to take over your living rooms. This award celebrates the games consoles which have been the greatest experience over the past 12 months, knocking it out the park with unmissable exclusives, incredible third-party support and a range of updates to ensure that they are the best places to game.

PlayStation 4

Xbox One

Nvidia Shield Console

Wii U

Best Monitor

The range of monitors nowadays is vast. Here we are looking at what pushes the tech boundary in visual output, be it screen width, pixel definition, contrast, dots per inch, curved screens, wide screens, adaptable screens and so on. Gaming evolves rapidly and so do the monitors on which we view their gloriousness on. The final big factor is always, how much will that beautiful 34 inch curved widescreen monitor cost and will my PC be able to manage a monitor of that brilliance?

Samsung U32E850R

LG 24GM77

Acer XB270HU

Philips Brilliance BDM3470UP

Best Sim

As gaming continues to knock on the door of reality we are treated to a steady stream of titles that enable almost realistic gameplay across a variety of real world arenas. Up for this category we could find flight simulators facing off against racing simulators against tank simulators. Gaming allows us to explore passions and pursue very real hobbies and this award category represents the best real world simulations that gaming has to offer. Perfecting these simulations means painstaking research and a meticulous eye for detail by the developers as they rebuild our passions and hobbies for us.

Best Mobile Game

Mobile gaming doesn’t always have the best reputation, thanks in part to a flood of microtransaction-ridden titles and the innumerable clones out there. However, the mobile sector is still packed with passionate developers producing well thought out, fabulous games to while away our time on long journeys.In this category, we’ve looked at the best of the collective app stores for some truly stand-out titles.

Fallout Shelter

This War Of Mine

Lara Croft GO

Football Manager 2016 Mobile

Best PC Builder EU

Falcon Computers

Fierce PC

Scan

QuietPC.de

Best Platformer

Resolutely old-school in design, the humble platformer has been an industry stalwart synonymous with fun, pick up and play gameplay. The best platformers of the year combined classic gameplay with innovative new features and slick mechanics that made them a true joy to play. Level design and excellently implemented physics showcase the best the genre has to offer, serving up fresh ideas and situations at an exhilarating pace.

Super Mario Maker

Ori and the Blind Forest

Broforce

Grow Home

Best Publisher

To get a game out the door takes a lot of organisation and often a huge amount of backing. This is where the publishers turn up. Orchestrating the release or taking a risk on a new IP is no easy task.The Best Publisher award is set aside for those companies who put the gamer first, where they strive hard to support the ongoing health of the industry, release games that are good value for their price tag or maybe invest in top quality aftermarket support for. They may champion struggling genres or release free expansions.

Best Innovators

This award is looking at games and hardware in our industry that break the mold and do it with style. Not content to follow the reliable formula, sometimes something can really shine through because it tries something different. It might not be perfect this time around, but this award heralds the attempts as much as the successes. Without innovation the industry would become boring fast.

Steam Controller

The Witcher III

Splatoon

Ashes of the Singularity

Best PC Builder US

Suppliers and builders have been known to cut every corner they can to put together a perfect beast for a perfect price. This category is the culmination of these deals, where full PC builds enable the modern PC gamer to play the most demanding games at the highest quality for the best price. Here we focus on US based custom build businesses that get the right gaming rig into the hands of the gamer for the right price.

Best Comedy

Gaming is all about entertainment and this category focuses on the lighter side of life, humour. The nominees for the Funniest Game Award are titles that made us smirk and titter, tickled our funny bones or just kept us smiling the whole way through whatever fantastical nonsense the game presented. Humour can be found in the strangest of places sometimes, and it takes an excellent writer to create a genuinely amusing game. We are looking for vibrant amusing characters or a witty script and story that works within the boundaries of the genre.

Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 1 - Zer0 Sum

Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell

Magicka 2

Kings Quest

Best Laptop

Laptops come in all sizes, offering a dizzying amount of variety in performance and cost. This can sometimes leave the consumer lost. The nominees for the Best Laptop Award are those awesome gaming laptops that shine out across a sea of similar products. They will be laptops that push the gamer’s sweet spot by balancing cost and performance, flexibility and luxury, style and of course exceptional gaming experiences. They may have brilliant speakers or be bundled with lightning fast memory and a perfectly matched motherboard, possibly the top end mobile GPU for a mid range price, but whatever these nominees have done to get our attention they represent the best in portable gaming, making it the exciting option it is today and for that we gamers salute them.

Asus G751JY

Microsoft Surface Book

Gigabyte P35K v3

Aorus X3 Plus v3

Best Free To Play

Free To Play is a controversial payment structure, largely because it is so readily exploited by the greedier publishers and developers. But when F2P is done right, it can be something wonderful; a completely free experience that developers are motivated to spend time and money on honing and improving in order to make money from the title. This means that whilst some games might disappear in the annals of time, Free To Play titles tend to retain their popularity. Often competitive online games, these F2P titles stand out not only for their outstanding game design but also their long term development.

Hearthstone: Heroes Of Warcraft

Heroes of the Storm

Marvel Heroes 2015

World of Warships

Best MOBA

The Multiplayer Online Arena Battle is a highly competitive game genre that has really come into its own over the past five years. Although some classic MOBA titles spearheaded this new frontier of competitive gaming it’s only in recent times that the entire world at some point or another is likely to have encountered this merciless game category. This award is reserved for MOBA titles that are not just brand new but continuing to evolve or managing to maintain the attention of the masses. With the classics still being played as much today as they ever were, if they are good enough then they still have a right to command the prestigious nominee slot. Fast paced, unforgiving, and complex to master, these are all traits attached to these incredible games and only the best reach the nominee status.

DOTA 2

League of Legends

Heroes of the Storm

Smite

Best Action

It’s all about non-stop, sweat inducing, heart pumping, high-octane action in this Award Category. The sort of titles that demand a constant stream of coffee pumped straight into the veins, just to get you focused enough to keep up. The year’s greatest action games are those that left you itching to play “just a bit more” and going toe to toe with some of gaming’s greatest enemies in explosive action-packed battles. Often inspired by some of the classic action hero movies, we may find titles ranging from 3rd person beat-em-ups or possibly action-packed racers through to sci-fi space blasters. Many games fall under this category but only the most innovative, well-paced, and explosive titles are nominated for the Best Action Game Award.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Dying Light

Batman: Arkham Knight

Mad Max

Best Shooter

An ever-popular genre, these Best Shooter nominees have done that magical bit extra to distance themselves from the chasing pack, putting you in creative situations through which you have to make like Arnie and decimate the opposition.

Star Wars: Battlefront

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Battlefield: Hardline

Best Game For Children

A game doesnt have to be for adults only or layered with blood and gore to make for a truly spectacular experience. Many times in our gaming lives we will be stunned by the beauty and wonder that can fascinate even the smallest child.This award looks for those titles that can stretch across all ages offering something for even the youngest gamer to enjoy. The category particularly focuses on titles that are playable by children aged 6-12. But parental discretion is always advised even in the games that we select as our nominees.

Minecraft: Story Mode

Splatoon

Lego Dimensions

Disney Infinity 3

Best PC Exclusive

PC gaming. The last bastion for strategy gaming, MOBAs, RPGs, management and more. There are some genres for which only a keyboard and mouse and the unlimited possibilities of PC gaming will suffice.This award celebrates the best that the PC has to offer, the game greats available nowhere else except the humble beige box.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

Pillars of Eternity

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Satellite Reign

Best Expansion

This generation has seen a seismic shift from traditional expansion packs to bite-sized downloadable content. Seldom does a game get released now without a flurry of additional content following swiftly behind, and it’s become harder than ever to know which bits will be worth buying. Fortunately there are still titles that manage to stand out from the crowd, with huge fully fledged expansions that almost feel like new titles in their own right. These are the titles where you just can’t get enough, taking the dynamics of a beloved title and expanding on it in new and compelling ways.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone

Cities: Skylines - After Dark

The Talos Principle: Road to Gehenna

Best RPG

Roll your D20s its time for the RPG game of the year award. It all sounds so simple but behind the doors these games represent some of the more complex mechanics and plots around, giving us some of the most expansive and varied gaming environments we’ve ever seen.Role-playing is all about immersion, and these games represent some of the deepest, most engrossing experiences available, often involving the player in some of the most grandiose tales of pure fantasy. The roleplaying game mechanic has been with us since the RPG Lord, Gary Gygax, first thought of pen & paper tabletop games with your buddies, and since then leveling up and character development has found its way into a huge proportion of video games.

Best Mouse

For exceptional accuracy and to compliment your lightning quick reactions you need the best gaming mouse around. These are the industry’s hottest offerings in the mouse world, optimised for gaming to ensure nothing stands between you and victory. From DPI switching to ergonomics and tracking technology, the best mice are customisable in the extreme and give you the options you need to stay right at the top of your game.

Razer Deathadder

Logitech G303 Daedalus Apex

Corsair Gaming M65

Roccat Nyth

Best Story

Throw away Dickens. Set alight your copy of Tolstoy. Wuthering Heights meet paper shredder. You have no need for these intellectual curios with gaming’s huge advances in storytelling and character development. These are the cream of the crop, the Booker prize for our new interactive age. All of the nominees give us a riveting yarn that had us hooked from the very first page screen, with stories that will live long in our memory. Intriguing plot devices, exceptional character dialogue, twists and turns that all come together to deliver a real contender for the Best Story Award.

The Witcher III

Life Is Strange - Episode 1

Game of Thrones: Iron From Ice

Her Story

Best CPU

The more affordable option for early Skylake adopters, the Intel Core i5-6500K comes packing some hefty performance paired with great energy efficiency on the new Socket 1151. Power consumption is at an all time low and there’s plenty of overclocking potential.While not necessarily worth an upgrade on its own, offering only modest performance improvements over its predecessors, the DDR4 support and next-generation chipset support make the intel Core i5-6600K a great buy for new PC builds this year.

Best Sci-Fi

In space, no one can hear you vote. Don’t let that stop you though, as these games are the latest and greatest in interstellar travel and all things fantastically futuristic. The nominees considered, will push the boundaries of reality, offering us the chance to embrace incredible wonders from the comfort of our own homes. Boldly they explore the dark frontier of space and push our imaginations to the limits. This genre is one of the most difficult to get right, as the creators of the title have to maintain believability, while still wowing us with stuff that could happen but hasn't.

Fallout 4

Soma

Anno 2205

Galactic Civilizations III

Best Original Game

Sequels are all well and good but there really is nothing that gets the pulses racing than the thought of something entirely new. In the age of sequels these are becoming an increasingly rare treat, but here we celebrate some of the best original games keeping things fresh. While these don’t have to be from new franchises they are all entirely new series, doing something radically different from what’s gone before.

Life Is Strange - Episode 1

Pillars of Eternity

Until Dawn

Bloodborne

Best Adventure

Enter the masters of the winding saga. These titles take the player to far off exotic lands, where they can explore, discover and resolve mysteries, usually involving a rubber chicken. Many titles have an element of this category within them, from platformers to text-only games through to fully fledged open worlds, but only the greatest manage to harness the perfect pace of adventure through a game’s unfolding. The Best Adventure award stands out as one of the most richly awarded game accolades, only going to those titles that truly capture our imagination and hold our hands as we journey across the reaches of possibility.

Life Is Strange - Episode 1

Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 1 - Zer0 Sum

Kings Quest

Stasis

Best Hardware Manufacturer

This award is one of the most sought after accolades in the gaming hardware industry. You can't fake technological advancement and you can't feign exceptional standards, they either deliver the gaming goods or they disappear trying.This highly competitive technology market is where the gaming consumer gets the last vote and we are one of the most selective and vocal communities across the net.

Nvidia

AMD

Razer

Valve

Best Co-op

As a wise man once said, two heads are better than one, and that’s never been more appropriate than in the world of co-operative gaming. Whether you’re saving the planet or just having a race, getting another player involved is always instantly more fun. Co-op gaming has a strong place in many gamers’ hearts and as online gaming becomes easier, this Award category helps us find the gems that let us play and share our gaming experiences with our friends.

Dying Light

Warhammer: The End Times - Vermintide

Lego Jurassic World

Sword Coast Legends

Best Graphics Hardware

This section is often only a two horse race when considering the core manufacturers, but we will also be considering bang for your buck across the overclocking companies that prepare the graphics cards for retail.Throw into the mix the ever more impressive onboard solutions available, which provide very real options for laptops as they become more popular as gaming machines. All of this opens this Award category up to some serious competition. Each item of nominated hardware will offer a brilliant solution to people looking for their ideal graphics solution, but only one of them can win the Best Graphics Hardware Award.

Best Sports

Combining two of the worlds leading entertainments, video games and sports, is as genius as it is obvious, but with critical eyes from both sets of fans watching carefully it means that only the best reach the Best Sports nominees. Digitally recreating the technical subtlety and high impact involved in today’s top sports, these are the titles that bring the world of sport to our living rooms.

FIFA 16

NBA 2K16

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016

NHL 2016

Best Multiplayer

Let loose the dogs of war! These are the best games that let you go head to head or fight side by side in multiplayer arenas. Whether its spewing forth hot lead at one another or wishing this car had a seventh gear, these are the ones that got your adrenaline pumping and unleashed your competitive urges. Regardless of when they launched, these are the games that have been swallowing up your time like nobody’s business, as you desperately try to inch up that scoreboard.

Grand Theft Auto Online

Star Wars: Battlefront

Rocket League

FIFA 16

Best Survival

It might read like an Early Access award but the truth is that the burgeoning survival genre is easily one of the most ambitious out there, and all of the titles recognised here are continuing to expand on an already mind blowing concept. In an age of handholding and mollycoddling, there’s something formidable about being plonked in the middle of nowhere and left to fend for yourself, gathering supplies and crafting weapons and defences, scratching the Neanderthal itch.

ARK: Survival Evolved

H1Z1

Stranded Deep

Subnautica

Best Management

We want more and more control within our games and the Best Management title is the accolade that salutes those games that provide us with an incredible management experience. We are looking for a business simulator or empire manager, where we are able to tweak and pull every button and option that someone in that role might face in real life.Then we sit back and watch our efforts take shape. Replicating a living model in this way is a huge undertaking from the developer and only the best Management Sims find their way into this category. Offering hundreds of hours of game time, building empires and working business strategies within a fully defined game environment is what we looked for and what we get with these fantastic nominees.

Cities: Skylines

Prison Architect

Anno 2205

Football Manager 2016

Most Anticipated Hardware 2016

In this category, we look to see what delights the future world of tech holds for the gaming industry. We hunt down the coolest and most exciting industry changing hardware and the best of those incredible technological gems finds it way into our Most Anticipated Hardware award lineup. Possibly one of the most exciting categories for us as it lets us glimpse our gaming world of tomorrow and we will show our excitement here.

Best Handheld Device

To experience the best mobile games without lag or issues, you need the best gaming phones the market has to offer. But whilst some of these smartphones might set you back a few quid, we’ve tried to find the best value to performance phones, with these models excelling in design, value and all round performance as well as simply hardware specs.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Apple iPhone 6

LG Nexus 5X

Nokia Lumia 950XL

Best Racing

Participating in adrenaline fueled competition on a race track is not always possible, especially when you think of the multi million dollar equipment required for Formula One. So the world of racing games is a much needed way for us to get into the cockpit of a souped up sports car or on the back of a motorbike. The Best Racing Award does not require a track race, but it definitely looks for games that bring the fast paced thrill of competitive racing to our driving gloved gaming mitts. These nominees will give us a good reason to break out our steering wheels, flight sticks or joypads and offer the rush of a racing simulation brought to life.

Need For Speed

Project CARS

Dirt Rally

Ride

Best Gaming Keyboard

Keyboards are part of the PC gamer’s arsenal and some keyboard manufacturers have really managed to push the boundaries of innovation when it comes to design.The Best Gaming Keyboard award will go to the keyboard that has made the furthest strides in usability, innovation and flexibility, while keeping its products cost effective and accessible to the masses.

Razer Blackwidow Chroma

Corsair Strafe Mechanical Keyboard

SteelSeries Apex

Turtle Beach Impact 500