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News • Adam Breton '24 • November 2024
The Game Awards are a trusted and reputable source for game nominations. This article covers the controversial nominations for 2024 Game of the Year award.
What Are the Game Awards?
The Game Awards began in 2014 as a community-driven system where people can vote on their choices for given categories. There were 22 categories up for nomination in 2014, but the awards have since expanded to 29 categories that can be voted on.
These can include "Best Indie Game," "Best RPG," "Best Action," and many more. Following a win in any of the categories, gaming companies can use the recognition for promotion, like Fallout 4 did with by publishing a G.O.T.Y. (Game of the Year) version (bundled with all the Fallout 4 DLCs) after winning "Game of the Year." Awards can also set new industry standards for gaming culture and production.
Past Controversy
This year's awards are not The Game Awards' only controversies. Last year's G.O.T.Y. winner was Baldur's Gate 3. It got into hot water because people in the gaming community were worried about what precedent Baldur's Gate might cause for future games. It was a Dungeons & Dragons type game with massive amounts of content to play through, and people that worked in gaming companies, among others, voiced their thoughts, worried that it would place too many burdens on developers. Many thought that players would ask for too much content.
People on Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram, and Youtube pointed out that games like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed turn out games yearly with minor changes or riddled with bugs. They also said games like God of War: Ragnarok (Nominated GOTY 2022) take their time to release a game with polish and all the planned content already added. Another was Call of Duty: MW3 (No nomination for GOTY 2023) with its lackluster campaign. A big selling point for Call of Duty is that the game's campaigns are high-quality and packed with action, and many buyers pick up a copy just for the purpose of playing the campaign. A major complaint was they were charging $70 the current standard price for a AAA high quality game. But it only had 4-7 hour campaign but compared to other campaigns its not that much shorter. Moderwarfare 2019 was 6 hours in length Black Ops 4 was 4-7 hours in length as well. So many said they were just hopping in on a bandwagon of hate.
Past complaints
Many people have said that Remakes, DLCs, and Remasters should have their own category for nominations. This is so more games can get nominated for Game of The Year. An example is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth sense it is a Final Fantasy remake it gets neop babyed into the awards because of its fanbase and community. When this happens it takes a spot where a brand new original tile and idea for a game could win. Burt sense popular titles get remakes or remasters they typically automatically get a spot at the awards. Many have said DLC should get their own spot. Because DLCs add onto a game and it content and many want then to get their own spot light sense it can be a whole new experience and content added to a game that deserves recognition. Like Phantom Liberty a DLC for Cyberpunk 2077. Because it added a lot of new content to the game and fixed a lot of issues about it and was called by many the best DLC os the year but got no nominations for Game of the year. Or DLC of the year because there isn't a category for it.
Why are the current Nominations so Controversial?
The current nominations for GOTY are Astrobot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor: Rephantazio, Black Myth: WuKong, and the most controversal Eledn Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. This is highly controversial because it is a DLC becasue a DLC has never gotten a GOTY nomination. It has always been in the rules that a DLC can be nominated for GOTY but it never happend before. People all over the internet feel angry with the game awards because the Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 redeemed the game after its horrible launch in 2020. Another reason people are mad with this nomination are because with DLCs, Remakes, and Remasters take slots away from new titles that could win game of the year. For example Final Fantasy VII Rebirth automatically gets a GOTY nomination because of how big the franchise and fanbase is. It would also be the first game to win GOTY twice sense the base game won in 2022 against God of War: Ragnarok.
This was the controversial picks for GOTY if you think is should be otherwise go onto the Game Awards website and vote for your Game Of The Year.
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