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Baltimore (January 28, 2026) / NAVGTR CORP. – The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit media organization of 547 media voters and 15,180 subscribers, has announced nominees for its 25th annual awards program honoring video game art, technology and production.
The NAVGTR Awards honor 50 competitive categories recognizing achievement in animation, art direction, character design, controls, game design, game engineering, musical score, sound effects, writing, and more. Since its inception, the academy has recognized over 7,545 talented individuals.
Leading all games with 19 nominations is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (developed by Sandfall Interactive), followed by Ghost of Yōtei (developed by Sucker Punch) with 16 nominations. Rounding out the double-digit nominations are Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with 11 nominations and The Alters with 10 nominations.
The other most-nominated games are Split Fiction, Dispatch, South of Midnight, Hades 2, and Bye Sweet Carole. Five nominations each went to The Outer Worlds 2, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and DOOM: The Dark Ages. Four nominations each went to Mafia: The Old Country, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and Blue Prince.
This year’s Game of the Year nominees for the NAVGTR Award are:
- The Alters
- Blue Prince
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Split Fiction
The top developers this year are Sandfall Interactive, Sucker Punch, Kojima Productions, 11 bit studios, Hazelight, and AdHoc Studio.
The top publishers this year are Sony Interactive Entertainment, Kepler Interactive, Smilegate, SEGA, Xbox Game Studios, Nintendo, 2K, and 11 bit studios.
In addition to nomination leaders, several other original properties were nominated, including WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers, Hotel Barcelona, The Midnight Walk, Sword of the Sea, Promise Mascot Agency, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, and Keeper.
For a complete list of categories and nominees, please visit https://navgtr.org.
Winners will be announced on March 11, 2026.
All titles, characters, likenesses, and indicia are copyrights or trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
About NAVGTR CORP.
NAVGTR Corp.(TM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation devoted to promoting and recognizing game developers.
The general voting body of reviewers, journalists, analysts, content creators, and writers includes current and former contributors for Destructoid, EGM Now, Game Rant, Gamers Temple, GamesIndustry.biz, Gamespot, IGN, Investor’s Business Daily, Kotaku, Mashable, Massively, MMORPG, MSNOW, Nintendo World Report, PC Gamer, Polygon, The Koalition, Ten Ton Hammer, Terminal Gamer, and Venture Beat.
Additional varied outlets include Austin American-Statesman, Chicago Sun-Times, CNN, COIN-OP TV, GamesRadar, Los Angeles Times, Moody’s, NBC, New York Times, NTN24, The Ottawa Citizen, San Jose Mercury-News, USA Today, The Vancouver Sun, Wired News, and hundreds more.
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