This week, The Game Awards creator and host, Geoff Keighley, revealed which games are up for awards during its showcase in December. Dozens of games were nominated in more than 30 categories. What was missing?
2023 was a incredible year for game releases (even if the large video game industry a spiral towards more layoffs). It was going to become controversial one way or another, and Keighley resisted calls to expand the Game of the Year category beyond just six entrants this year. Baldur’s Gate 3 And The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Realm were shoe-ins, and Alan Wake 2 came from behind in late October to nab another spot. Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Bros. WonderAnd Resident Evil 4 Remake closed the group. Yes, in a year competing for the best new games ever, a remake has managed to beat Bethesda’s highly hyped space epic. Star Fieldamong other games.
Game Awards nominations are voted on by 120 media outlets around the world (Kotaku has not participated historically and has not done so this year either). This often reflects the games people had time to play as much as the games they thought were the best, and no one has time to play every game, let alone complete it. I can think of three games that would probably be on my own GOTY list if only I had the time to play them.
Then there are the categories themselves, many of which are impossible to parse. There is the best indie game that includes the product of a billion dollar company (Dave the Diver), but also Best First Independent Game and Games for Impact, a tacit acknowledgment that there are tons of great smaller games that deserve to be highlighted but don’t stand a chance against the slick blockbusters produced by the bigger ones industry players.
Gender boundaries also barely exist. There are action games, action adventure games, and RPGs. Final Fantasy 16 could have been nominated for any of them, but it was placed in the RPG category, despite having more in common with The devil may cry that Dungeons & Dragons. In the meantime Octopath Traveler II was not found. And don’t even get me started Armored Core VI, another FromSoftware banger that feels like they turned their noses up at because it was about robots and faceless NPCs chattering on walkie-talkies. Someone must have been snubbed, but Rusty deserved better.
Make a case in the comments below which game you think was unfairly snubbed from The Game Awards 2023 nominations in any of the categories and we’ll feature it in our roundup.
Gn tech
