Valve has released the finalists for the 2018 edition of the Steam Awards. As has been traditional for the past few years, voting on the finalists coincides with Steam’s annual Winter Sale. Canny Steam users have known that the sale is imminent for a few days now, as crafting badges has begun dropping mystery cards, however, Valve now has the confirmed official date. The Winter sale and time to vote will run from December 20th, 2018 through January 3rd, 2019.
The full list of categories and finalists is below.
Nominees for Game of the Year:
- PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
- MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- HITMAN 2
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Nominees for VR Game of the Year:
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
- VRChat
- Beat Saber
- Fallout 4 VR
- SUPERHOT VR
Nominees for Labor of Love:
- Dota 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- No Man’s Sky
- Path of Exile
- Stardew Valley
Nominees for Best Environment:
- The Witcher® 3: Wild Hunt
- Subnautica
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Far Cry 5
- DARK SOULS III
Nominees for Better with Friends:
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Siege
- PAYDAY 2
- Dead by Daylight
- Overcooked! 2
Nominees for Best Alternate History:
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
- Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey
- Hearts of Iron IV
- Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI
- Fallout 4
Nominees for Most Fun with a Machine:
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- Rocket League
- NieR: Automata
- Factorio
- Space Engineers
Nominees for Best Developer:
- CD PROJEKT RED
- Ubisoft
- Bethesda
- Rockstar Games
- Digital Extremes Ltd.
- Square Enix
- Capcom
- Paradox Interactive
- BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
- Klei
On the “Best Developer” category, Valve included a note stating that thanks to a very close race between the top nominees, they chose to expand the category to ten. Additionally, they chivalrously excluded themselves from the category.
Do you think the majority got it right with the nominations this year? Or do you think something’s missing up there? Feel free to sound off in our comments section with who you think the choices ought to have been, or who the winners will be!
