And the nominees are…

You can find all the details online here.

There were, as there always are, some safe bets for nominees. Activison, Ubisoft, EA, Sony, Sega, Microsoft and Nintendo all have seven or more nominations each. GAME and sister chain Gamestation share five nominations.

And while the event champions smaller companies as well, the nominees list in part reflects what’s happening across the industry – the big companies are more dominant than ever.

Thankfully, that only underlines the successes made by smaller brands or firms that punched above their weight in the last 12 months.

Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see who the judges pick – these awards are still the most fiercely coveted given their close view of the trade. They’re also the hardest to predict, which is all part of the fun.

So congratulations go to all who made it this far as finalists – and good luck to them for April 22nd.