Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2025: All Nominees
The Best Multiplayer Game 2025 category reflects how modern players connect, compete, and collaborate. It highlights how developers put more focus on cooperative design, competitive depth, crossplay systems, and evolving live-play ecosystems that keep multiplayer games GOTY 2025 active for years.
Each nominee approaches multiplayer in a different way, giving players a wide range of styles and social experiences. This year’s contenders show where online gaming is heading, and why the category remains one of the most defining parts of the industry. The five nominees are:
- ARC Raiders – PvE co-op shooter with extraction-style raids, enemy waves, and shared-world encounters.
- Battlefield – Large-scale PvP with destructible environments, squad tactics, and real-time map changes.
- Elden Ring Nightreign – Open-world multiplayer with co-op dungeons, PvP invasions, and dynamic world events.
- PEAK – Team-based vertical arena shooter with advanced movement, quick rounds, and ranked play.
- Split Fiction – Narrative-driven multiplayer where choices shape real-time outcomes in branching storylines.
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Which Games Were Nominated for Best Multiplayer Game in 2025?
The Best Multiplayer Game 2025 nominees each explore multiplayer in a distinct way, including PvP shooters and open-world co-op and hybrid social systems.
ARC Raiders
ARC Raiders combines an extraction‑shooter core with squad-based PvE missions, which makes them one of the nominees for Best Multiplayer Game. Players enter a dangerous open world filled with sudden ARC attacks, hostile patrols, and limited resources. Every match centers on gathering gear, completing objectives, and reaching an extraction point under pressure.
Stick close to your squad during extraction phases and prioritize drone interference gear to counter ARC ambushes.
The world shifts constantly. Weather affects visibility, enemies react to player movement, and squads must make fast decisions to survive. Coordination is essential, and teams rely on smart positioning, supply management, and awareness of roaming ARC units.
ARC Raiders stands out for its mix of tense survival, reactive AI, and teamwork-driven encounters across an unpredictable open world.
Battlefield 6
Battlefield 6 builds on the series’ legacy of large-scale warfare, now with 128-player maps filled with chaos, vehicles, and fully destructible terrain. Matches unfold across huge sandbox arenas where infantry, tanks, and aircraft interact in real time. Explosions reshape the battlefield, forcing teams to adjust tactics mid-match.
Use the environment to your advantage, destroy rooftops or walls to flush out entrenched squads before pushing in.
The game sharpens past weaknesses. Improved netcode makes movement and gunplay feel smoother. Squad systems offer better coordination tools, and players can now ping, revive, and resupply with more clarity.
Dynamic weather events, like tornadoes or sandstorms, add unpredictability to every round. Battlefield 6 feels bigger, faster, and more polished than any entry before it.
Elden Ring Nightreign
Elden Ring Nightreign expands FromSoftware’s multiplayer foundation with seamless co-op, persistent world states, and deeper invasion mechanics. Players can explore side-by-side without summoning limits, take on massive world bosses, and engage in high-stakes PvP without loading screens or lobbies.
Equip status-resistant gear when entering shared invasion zones to survive surprise bleed or frostbite builds.
The game introduces new roles and build paths that shape how players support or counter each other. Some focus on crowd control, others on healing or ambush.
Shared-world exploration creates loops where players revisit zones together, unlock shortcuts, and influence how enemies behave. Elden Ring Nightreign turns its haunting world into a living multiplayer system, rich in strategy and tension.
PEAK
PEAK introduces a fresh take on multiplayer with its identity as a competitive social survival game built around verticality. Players form teams and scale treacherous mountain maps while managing stamina, gear, and shifting weather conditions. Every route has trade-offs, some faster but riskier, others slower but safer.
Time your jumps between ledges carefully after weather shifts, slippery surfaces can send your whole team into a fall trap.
The game’s physics-driven movement demands skill. Players must jump, climb, and slide with precision as they avoid falling rocks, collapsing ledges, and sudden storms.
Squad synergy matters, one teammate may anchor ropes while another scouts ahead or stabilizes platforms. PEAK focuses less on direct combat and more on smart traversal, coordination, and high-stress extraction.
Split Fiction
Split Fiction redefines multiplayer by blending episodic storytelling with cooperative decision-making. Players experience branching narratives together, making choices that shape the story across multiple timelines. Each session becomes a shared journey, where no two runs play out the same.
Coordinate dialogue decisions in real time using voice chat, since conflicting choices can split the group across timelines.
The game’s timeline system tracks actions across episodes, allowing groups to explore alternate outcomes in future playthroughs. Decisions carry weight, affecting both character arcs and world events.
Co-op mechanics revolve around trust, dialogue, and split-perspective moments that force players to act independently yet stay aligned. Split Fiction turns narrative into a team experience, anchored in replayability and consequence in the Game of the Year 2025 nominees.
What Makes a Multiplayer Game Award-Worthy?
To stand out in the Best Multiplayer Game 2025 category, a title needs more than strong mechanics. These are the key qualities judges and players often look for:
- Communication & teamwork design → Games that support clear squad roles, smart ping systems, and built-in coordination tools enhance cooperative depth.
- Matchmaking quality & fairness → Balanced lobbies, skill-based systems, and low wait times keep competitive experiences smooth and rewarding.
- Social systems → Features like friends lists, guilds, shared hubs, or repeatable co-op loops help build lasting player communities.
- Crossplay & accessibility → Cross-platform support and customizable controls make multiplayer more inclusive and widely playable.
- Replay value → Strong progression, seasonal content, and varied match types give players reasons to return over time.
What makes a multiplayer game truly stand out is how it fosters connection, fairness, and long-term engagement. These qualities ensure that players keep coming back, creating memorable and dynamic experiences for all.
How to Vote for The Game Awards 2025
To vote for The Game Awards 2025, visit the official Game Awards website and click on “Vote Now.” You’ll need to sign in using a supported account such as X (formerly Twitter), Google, or Facebook.
Once logged in, you can browse each category, including the best multiplayer games, and select your preferred nominees. Votes can be changed at any time before the deadline. Public voting counts for 10% of the final decision, while the remaining 90% comes from a panel of global media and industry professionals.
My Verdict
The Best Multiplayer Game 2025 nominees showcase how far multiplayer design has come, including tight extraction loops and seamless narrative co-op. Each title pushes a different frontier, whether it’s scale, innovation, or player interaction. While every game on the list deserves recognition, one stands out for its complete balance of systems.
Battlefield 6 feels the most refined in terms of competitive scale, technical polish, and replay depth. Still, the diversity across all five nominees reflects how multiplayer is no longer tied to one format. It’s about how players connect, communicate, and keep coming back.
Alongside Best Multiplayer, several other major categories were announced this year, all of which you can find in our Game Awards 2025 nominees and categories guide.
