Since its debut in late 2015, The Game Awards, essentially the Oscars for video games, has allowed developers to be recognized and celebrated for their work, new projects to be revealed and has become a staple within the gaming community.
This past year, however, contention arose after the nominees for the acclaimed “Game of the Year” award were announced. Out of the six nominees, fans found themselves confused as to why the downloadable content (DLC), “Shadow of the Erdtree,” for 2022’s Game of the Year “Elden Ring” was included, as it is not a stand-alone game but an expansion of an already existing one.
The Game Awards is no stranger to controversy. Be it a fan rushing the stage to spout a political message or forcing developers to end their acceptance speeches early to make more time for advertisers, something always seems to happen with each passing year. Fans of the show were particularly vocal about this, as they expressed how they were upset that an expansion itself was nominated — feeling as if it took away a spot that could have been given to another game.
The most vocal of this group was fans of the “Silent Hill” series, which released a remaster of the critically acclaimed “Silent Hill 2” in October 2024. Fans felt as if a DLC expansion getting nominated for “Game of the Year” took a slot away from this game, not giving it a chance to potentially win the biggest award of the year.
In response to the outrage online, The Game Awards added a statement to their FAQ page to help clarify the standards for “Game of the Year.”
“The Game Awards aims to recognize the best creative and technical work each year, irrespective of the format of that content’s release. Expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all categories, if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination. Factors such as the newness of the content and its price/value should be taken into consideration,” the page reads.
This statement clarified why an expansion was even nominated in the first place, however, fans were still not satisfied with this response, as in the past, notably with “Blood and Wine,” the expansion for “The Witcher 3” was not nominated for game of the year, despite garnering similar praise as “Shadow of the Erdtree.”
While in the end “Shadow of the Erdtree” took home zero awards, the fact that it was even nominated left a sour taste in fans’ mouths, showing how there has been a notable shift in the content of The Game Awards in the past few years. Community input is still largely taken into account, but many have stated it feels as if the show has started to pander more to advertisers and large corporations — taking the spotlight away from the developers of these games and instead shining it upon the next new thing for audiences to look forward to.
Out of all 30 awards presented during the evening, only 12 awards were presented in person to the recipients, two of which were given during the pre-show of the event. With the show running at just under four hours long, the rest of the time was filled with announcements for upcoming games, series and adaptations and many breaks for advertisements.
What once used to be a place where games were celebrated has slowly become what some would call a glorified announcement trailer for the future of the industry, giving a bleak look at what the future of this industry may become.