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Best 2018 Video Game Writing Nominees Announced, See Them All Here

What do you make of the nominees?

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2018 might be over and done with, but we're not done just yet celebrating the year's games. The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for "Outstanding Achievement In Video Game Writing," and titles like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, God of War, and Spider-Man made the cut.

The five nominees this year are:

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To be eligible, a game must have been released between December 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018, and also feature on-screen writing credits. Additionally, the credited writers must have already been or applied for membership in the WGA Video Game Writers Caucus. This incurs a $100 fee. However, WGA said it also considered games that were not developed "under WGA jurisdiction."

The winner will be decided by panels made up of Caucus members and others Writers Guild members who are "active in video game writing." The announcement of the winning title will come during the 2019 Writers Guild Awards on February 17.

Horizon: Zero Dawn took home the award last year, beating out Madden 18, Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

What do you make of the nominees for 2018? Let us know in the comments below!

Outstanding Achievement In Video Game Writing

Assassin's Creed Odyssey:

  • Associate Narrative Directors: Matthew Zagurak, Joel Janisse, James Richard Mittag
  • Narrative Director: Melissa MacCoubrey
  • Story by: Jonathan Dumont, Melissa MacCoubrey, Hugo Giard
  • Scriptwriters: Madeleine Hart, Betty Robertson, Jesse Scoble, Diana Sherman, Kelly Bender, Jojo Chia, Ian Fun, Zachary M. Parris, Ken Williamson, Daniel Bingham, Jordan Lemos, Simon Mackenzie, Katelyn MacMullin, Susan Patrick, Alissa Ralph, Stephen Rhodes
  • Team Lead Writer: Sam Gill
  • AI Writers: Jonathan Flieger, Kimberly Ann Sparks

Batman: Enemy Within, Episode 5 - Same Stitch

  • Lead Writer: James Windeler
  • Written by: Meghan Thornton, Ross Beeley, Lauren Mee
  • Story by: Meghan Thornton, Michael Kirkbride

God of War

  • Written by: Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog
  • Story and Narrative Design Lead: Matt Sophos
  • Story and Narrative Design: Richard Zangrande Gaubert
  • Narrative Design: Orion Walker, Adam Dolin

Spider-Man

  • Story Lead: Jon Paquette
  • Writers: Benjamin Arfmann, Kelsey Beachum
  • Co-Written by: Christos Gage
  • Additional Story Contributions by: Dan Slott

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

  • Narrative Designers: Alex Scokel, Eric Fenstermaker, Kate Dollarhyde, Megan Starks, Olivia Veras, Paul Kirsch
  • Additional Writing: Tony Evans, John Schmautz, Casey Hollingshead, Nitai Poddar
  • Narrative Design Leads: Carrie Patel, Josh Sawyer

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Sinclair

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Edited By Sinclair

I'm even more baffled by the fact that neither Witcher 3 nor its expanions didn't win. The script in that game is comparable to a great novel.

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TiringPillow

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Edited By TiringPillow

"Additionally, the credited writers must have already been or applied for membership in the WGA Video Game Writers Caucus. This incurs a $100 fee." I'd have to imagine Rocktstar's $100 check must have been lost in the mail and that's why Red Dead 2 wasn't nominated.

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Fud_Sang

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Rockstar made one of the best stories for a game period this year. That it is not on that list doesn't speak volumes of the game but of the guild that refused to nominate. That said these choices are good too. Especially God of War which of these choices is the sure winner.

As odd as this snub is the only question I have is...

How did Madden nearly win last year?

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phoenix1289

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I'm fine with most of the nominees but why is Red Dead Redemption not there? It's writing was easily some of the best of the year.

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Yeezer

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No Red Dead makes it a joke.

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sakaiXx

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Writers guild of America is representing USA or America as continent? If its USA only then I understand no Red Dead but ubisoft quebec made Assasins Creed Odyssey so maybe America the continent?

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Kyrylo

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Edited By Kyrylo

wow what an awful list xD

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Smackybumbum

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No red dead! Mad!

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