Game Critics Awards (Concept)

Game Critics Awards

CONCEPT

Since 1998, an independent group of about forty worldwide media outlets who determine the best games of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

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Overview

The Game Critics Awards are decided by an independent group of worldwide media outlets. They have selected the most promising games of each Electronic Entertainment Expo since 1998, and have thus become recognized as the most respected "Best of" awards that come out of the annual show. Games qualify for nomination by having hands-on playable versions of the game at the show. Games that are not available for play by the judges (i.e. shown only in trailers, announcements, or developer walkthroughs) do not qualify, but can still be considered for Special Commendations.

Judges

As of E3 2019 (Concept), there are sixty-five media outlets considered as judges for the awards. Included among these judges are:

North America

ArsTechnica
CG Magazine
Easy Allies
Electric Playground
Entertainment Weekly
Forbes
Game Informer
GamesRadar
GameRanx
Gannett News
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
Hollywood Reporter
IGN
Kinda Funny
LA Times
Newsweek
PC Gamer
Polygon
ShackNews
US Gamer
VentureBeat
The Verge
Waypoint
What's Good Games

International

Cultura Geek (Argentina)
Maditos Nerds (Argentina)
AusGamers (Australia)
Press Start (Australia)
Stevivor (Australia)
Omelete/The Enemy (Brazil)
Jovem Nerd (Brazil)
Voxel (Brazil)
A9VG (China)
GamerSky (China)
GameBlog (France)
JeuxVideo Magazine (France)
GamePro (Germany)
GameStar (Germany)
PCGames.de (Germany)
EveryEye.it (Italy)
Multiplayer.it (Italy)
4Gamer (Japan)
EAA!! (Japan)
Famitsu (Japan)
Inven (Korea)
Atomix (Mexico)
Level Up (Mexico)
Saudi Gamer (Middle East)
True Gaming (Middle East)
Tec.com.pe (Peru)
GameCored (Peru)
GRY Online (Poland)
Hobbyconsolas (Spain)
Meristation (Spain)
Vandal.net (Spain)
EuroGamer (UK)
DailyStar (UK)
EDGE (UK)
GameReactor (UK)
Metro (UK)
PCGames N (UK)
UNILAD Gaming (UK)
VG 24/7 (UK)
GameByte (UK)

Previous judges have included 1UP Network, 3DJuegos (Spain), AOL GameDaily, Associated Press, Business 2.0, CNN, Comcast Games, Destructoid, Digital Trends, EGM, The Escapist, Fortune, Game-Revolution, Gamer, Games for Windows Magazine, Giant, Glixel, Igromania, Joystiq, Kotaku, Machinima, Mashable, Nerdist, Official PlayStation Magazine, Official Xbox Magazine, Penny Arcade Report, Play Magazine, Playboy, PSM, Revision3, Rolling Stone, San Jose Mercury News, SpieleTipps, SpikeTV, Sun Media, TIME Magazine, UGO, UOL Jogos (Brazil), USA Today, Variety, Vice, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Wenner Media, Wired, and Yahoo!

Winners

The Game Critics Awards co-chairmen, Aaron Loeb and Rob Smith, determine what categories will be open each year. After E3 (Concept), the judges submit their top five nominees for each category and from those, official nominees are named. The judges then vote for their top pick in each category among those final nominations. In the event of a tie, the title with the most total nominations will break the tie.

For a full list of nominations for each year, see the corresponding E3 (Concept) page for that year.