Have you ever wondered what the most influential game that came out this year was? The Game Awards 2024 were a highly anticipated event where new games were announced and games that came out in 2024 were given awards. However, many video game fans, including myself, were very disappointed with this year’s event. While this year’s game awards were bigger and flashier than previous years, most of the negative discourse lies in the Game of the Year award’s nominees. 

One of the biggest reasons for debate was the decision to add “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree” to the list of Game of the Year nominees, as there are only six slots available for the category. The category typically represents the most influential, well-received, and creative standalone games, but a new rule was introduced this year in order to allow expansion packs, or downloadable content  (DLC), into the nominee pool. This rule was as a last minute change to specially allow “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree”  into the nomination pool, making it an unpopular ruling. Even though the expansion was widely considered a masterpiece, it doesn’t detract from the fact that you need to own the base game “Elden Ring” to actually play the expansion. This sets a bad precedent for not just the Game Awards, but for the gaming industry as a whole. 

Allowing games to become continued platforms that are recognized for the same achievements as newly minted games is a terrible decision. Developers incur significantly more risk by creating new titles, and if we prevent the creation of new games, then the creativity shown by the game industry would likely stagnate. Fans are now arguing for a new category set in the game awards, a DLC of the Year, in order to give the newer titles their spotlight. Many fans hated “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree” being on the list of nominees for that exact reason. They believed other games, like “Space Marine 2” or “Helldivers 2” should have been one of the six nominees instead of the expansion pack.

Furthermore, fans feel underrepresented in the actual process of selecting awards. This year, rules were changed to have the voting jury, made up of big news stations and larger corporations, take up 90% of the vote compared to the measly 10% that the actual players take up. Players are raising questions over the members of the jury panel as well, since they include outside outlets that have little to no connections to the gaming community. Some of these include Entertainment Weekly, the Atlantic, NPR, and Pride. Gamers have pointed out that these outlets are big, world news organizations, or tabloid magazines and celebrity gossip, all of which have very limited news about gaming, and when they do, it is very watered down with little to no actual substance. This makes it feel more like a Hollywood dominated show, angering many fans of the show in previous years. 

Even though some of the outlets do cover the gaming space, such as The Gamer, they claim this year’s Game Awards were bound to have controversy because of the “groundswell of toxicity,” within the gaming community. This is inherently wrong, as gamers love the games they play, and when they see the jury that is voting on the awards is made mostly of outlets that aren’t focused on gaming, that’s when they get angry.

Some may brush off the Game of the Year award as just another trophy, but its impact is undeniable. Even getting a nomination for the title can boost publicity massively. Take “Balatro”, the indie game that was nominated for Game of the Year. In the month following the Game Awards, “Balatro” sold over 1 million copies, over a fifth of its total sales. However, it’s not just the smaller games. Games like last year’s Game of the Year, “Baldur’s Gate 3”, had a huge influx of players after winning. The Game of the Year’s nominees set a bar for the gaming industry, meaning if a developer team wants to make it onto that podium, they have to do better and better each year, helping grow the gaming industry as a whole. 

In the end, gamers are angry because these DLCs are being nominated, and because the vote is ultimately determined by non-gaming related news outlets, not because of some “inherent toxicity” that gamers have. When fans are underrepresented and unoriginal content is blocking the spotlight from other games, that’s when people look upon these awards negatively, since it impacts how games are made going forward.