We Should Never Agree on What 'Game of the Year' Signifies

The difficulty of finding new releases persists as the gaming industry's biggest existential threat. Even in worrisome era of company mergers, escalating revenue requirements, labor perils, extensive implementation of AI, platform turmoil, changing generational tastes, progress often revolves to the mysterious power of "breaking through."

That's why I'm increasingly focused in "accolades" than ever.

Having just some weeks left in 2025, we're deeply in GOTY season, an era where the minority of gamers who aren't playing identical multiple no-cost action games every week play through their unplayed games, debate development quality, and recognize that even they won't get all releases. We'll see comprehensive annual selections, and anticipate "you overlooked!" reactions to such selections. An audience broad approval voted on by media, streamers, and followers will be issued at The Game Awards. (Creators weigh in in 2026 at the DICE Awards and GDC Awards.)

All that sanctification serves as good fun — there aren't any correct or incorrect answers when naming the greatest releases of this year — but the stakes do feel greater. Each choice selected for a "annual best", be it for the grand main award or "Top Puzzle Title" in fan-chosen awards, creates opportunity for wider discovery. A medium-scale game that received little attention at launch may surprisingly find new life by competing with higher-profile (specifically heavily marketed) blockbuster games. After last year's Neva popped up in the running for a Game Award, I'm aware for a fact that tons of gamers immediately desired to check a review of Neva.

Traditionally, the GOTY machine has made minimal opportunity for the diversity of titles launched annually. The hurdle to address to evaluate all feels like a monumental effort; nearly 19,000 releases launched on PC storefront in last year, while only seventy-four releases — including recent games and continuing experiences to smartphone and virtual reality platform-specific titles — were included across industry event selections. As popularity, discussion, and digital availability drive what gamers choose annually, it's completely not feasible for the framework of awards to adequately recognize the entire year of titles. However, there exists opportunity for enhancement, provided we acknowledge its significance.

The Familiar Pattern of Industry Recognition

In early December, prominent gaming honors, one of gaming's oldest honor shows, published its nominees. Although the selection for top honor proper happens soon, it's possible to see where it's going: The current selections made room for deserving candidates — blockbuster games that received acclaim for polish and ambition, successful independent games celebrated with major-studio hype — but across a wide range of award types, there's a evident focus of repeat names. In the vast sea of art and mechanical design, top artistic recognition creates space for multiple exploration-focused titles set in historical Japan: Ghost of Yōtei and Assassin's Creed Shadows.

"If I was designing a future Game of the Year in a lab," an observer wrote in online commentary I'm still enjoying, "it should include a PlayStation sandbox adventure with turn-based hybrid combat, party dynamics, and RNG-heavy roguelite progression that embraces chance elements and includes light city sim base building."

Award selections, in all of its formal and informal versions, has become foreseeable. Years of nominees and victors has birthed a formula for what type of high-quality extended game can score GOTY recognition. Exist titles that never reach top honors or including "major" technical awards like Creative Vision or Writing, typically due to innovative design and unusual systems. Many releases released in annually are likely to be ghettoized into specific classifications.

Specific Examples

Consider: Would Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, an experience with a Metacritic score only slightly less than Death Stranding 2 and Ghosts of Yōtei, reach highest rankings of The Game Awards' GOTY competition? Or even a nomination for excellent music (since the music is exceptional and deserves it)? Probably not. Excellent Driving Experience? Certainly.

How good should Street Fighter 6 need to be to achieve GOTY consideration? Might selectors consider character portrayals in Baby Steps, The Alters, or The Drifter and recognize the most exceptional acting of the year lacking a studio-franchise sheen? Does Despelote's brief length have "sufficient" plot to merit a (justified) Top Story recognition? (Furthermore, does annual event need a Best Documentary category?)

Similarity in choices across recent cycles — among journalists, within communities — reveals a method progressively favoring a certain time-consuming game type, or indies that achieved sufficient impact to check the box. Problematic for a sector where exploration is paramount.

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