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Films have the Oscars, and TV shows have the Emmys; video games get The Game Awards.

The night is often exciting for a couple of reasons.

Not only are the biggest and best games of the past year celebrated, but the Awards often sprinkles in new trailers and even big new game announcements between the presenting of each award.

Geoff Keighley speaks onstage during The Game Awards in December 2019 (Photo: JC Olivera/Getty Images)

With 2020’s edition of the awards show just around the corner, here is everything you need to know.

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When is The Game Awards 2020?

This year, The Game Awards are taking place on Thursday 10 December.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the event will not be held in front of a live audience, and will instead be hosted virtually by the Awards’ creator, Geoff Keighley.

The show will use three soundstages in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo, and attendance will be limited to production crew and presenters.

Those presenters include A-list stars like Brie Larson and Gal Gadot, as well as Tenet star, John David Washington.

Who are the nominees?

This year, the most nominated game is The Last of Us Part II with 11.

A new "Innovation in Accessibility" award has also been introduced this year for games that address accessibility features for disabled players.

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Game of the Year	Animal Crossing: New Horizons Doom Eternal Final Fantasy VII Remake Ghost of Tsushima Hades The Last of Us Part II
Best Game Direction	Final Fantasy VII Remake Ghost of Tsushima Hades Half-Life: Alyx The Last of Us Part II
Best Narrative	13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Final Fantasy VII Remake Ghost of Tsushima Hades The Last of Us Part II
Best Art Direction	Final Fantasy VII Remake Ghost of Tsushima Hades Ori and the Will of the Wisps The Last of Us Part II
Best Score and Music	Doom Eternal Final Fantasy VII Remake Hades Ori and the Will of the Wisps The Last of Us Part II
Best Audio Design	Doom Eternal Half-Life: Alyx Ghost of Tsushima Resident Evil 3 The Last of Us Part II
Best Performance	Ashley Johnson – The Last of Us Part II Laura Bailey – The Last of Us Part II Daisuke Tsuji – Ghost of Tsushima Logan Cunningham – Hades Nadji Jeter – Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Games for Impact	If Found... Kentucky Route Zero Spiritfarer Tell Me Why Through the Darkest of Times
Best Ongoing	Apex Legends Destiny 2 Call of Duty: Warzone Fortnite No Man's Sky
Best Indie	Carrion Fall Guys Hades Spelunky 2 Spiritfarer
Best Mobile Game	Among Us Call of Duty: Mobile Genshin Impact Legends of Runeterra Pokémon Café Mix
Best Community Support	Apex Legends Destiny 2 Fall Guys Fortnite No Man's Sky Valorant
Best VR/AR	Dreams Half-Life: Alyx Iron Man VR Star Wars Squadrons The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Innovation in Accessibility	Assassin's Creed Valhalla Grounded Hyperdot The Last of Us Part II Watch Dogs Legion
Best Action	Doom Eternal Hades Half-Life: Alyx Nioh 2 Streets of Rage 4
Best Action/Adventure	Assassin's Creed Valhalla Ghost of Tsushima Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ori and the Will of the Wisps Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order The Last of Us Part II
Best Role Playing	Final Fantasy VII Remake Genshin Impact Persona 5 Royal Wasteland 3 Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Best Fighting	Granblue Fantasy Versus Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate Edition Street Fighter V Champion Edition One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]
Best Family	Animal Crossing: New Horizons Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time Fall Guys Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Minecraft Dungeons Paper Mario: The Origami King
Best Sim/Strategy	Crusader Kings III Desperados III Gears Tactics Microsoft Flight Simulator XCOM: Chimera Squad
Best Sports/Racing	Dirt 5 F1 2020 NBA 2K21 FIFA 21 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
Best Multiplayer	Animal Crossing: New Horizons Among Us Call of Duty: Warzone Fall Guys Valorant
Best Debut Game	Carrion Mortal Shell Raji: An Ancient Epic Röki Phasmophobia
Content Creator of the Year	Alanah Pearce Jay-Ann Lopez Nick "NICKMERCS" Kolcheff Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar Rachell "Valkyrae" Hofstetter
Most Anticipated Game	Elden Ring God of War sequel Halo Infinite Horizon Forbidden West Resident Evil Village Breath of the Wild sequel
Player's Voice	Doom Eternal Ghost of Tsushima Hades Spider-Man: Miles Morales The Last of Us Part II
Best Esports Game	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Fortnite League of Legends Valorant
Best Esports Athlete	Ian "Crimsix" Porter (Dallas Empire) Heo "Showmaker" Su (Damwon Gaming) Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu (Damwon Gaming) Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro (Dallas Empire) Matthieu "ZywOo" Herbaut (Team Vitality)
Best Esports Team	Damwon Gaming Dallas Empire G2 Esports San Francisco Shock Team Secret
Best Esports Coach	Danny "zonic" Sorensen (Astralis) Dae-hee "Crusty" Park (San Francisco Shock) Fabian "Grabbz" Lohmann (G2 Esports) Lee "Zefa" Jae-min (T1) Raymond "rambo" Lussier (Dallas Empire)
Best Esports Event	BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals Call of Duty League Championship 2020 IEM Katowice 2020 2020 League of Legends World Championship 2020 Overwatch League Grand Finals
Best Esports Host	Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez Alex "Machine" Richardson Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere James "Dash" Patterson Jorien "Sheever" van der Heijden

How do I vote?

The winners of each award are determined through a mixture of public votes and those cast by a panel of professional critics, and although only a small weighting is given to the fans (just 10 per cent), many will still be looking to make their voice heard.

Votes can be submitted via The Game Awards’ official website, as well as the Awards’ social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

This year, the Most Anticipated Game award is being fully voted-on by the public via Twitter DMs.

To vote go to the @thegameawards’ direct message screen and click on the bar that says “Vote for Most Anticipated Game”.

How do I watch it?

The Game Awards’ presentation will be live streamed across 45 different platforms around the world, but the easiest ways to watch it from the UK include through YouTube, Twitch and Twitter.

In the UK, The 2020 Game Awards will start at 11.30pm on Thursday 10 December.

The pre-show starts 30 minutes before the main event.

The Game Awards 2020: UK time, how to vote, where to stream, and which games are nominated