The Game Awards is a company that comes together and puts on a Grammy-like award show for gamers and game developers. The Game Awards have always caused controversy within the gaming community. Whether it be complaints about a certain title winning Game of the Year or whines about a game not being nominated, people will always find a way to complain. This year, two nominees for Game of the Year contain downloadable content for a game that exists (DLC) and a remake of an already pre-existing game.
Elden Ring came out in 2022 and won Game of the Year (GOTY) that year. Shadow of the Erdtree is an expansion for Elden Ring. This DLC contains 25 hours of new content. Compared to other games such as Balatro, which takes 15 hours to 100%, it’s fair to assume that Shadow of the Erdtree has the length to compete with different games.
Final Fantasy IIV remake is technically a full game. Considering Final Fantasy IIV came out in 1997 and it had the opportunity to win Game of the Year then, this is unfair. It’s essentially the same game with a modern reimagining of the original. The game already has its basis and adds a few new aspects to “spice things up”. Yet, the additions don’t change the game; the story and the gameplay are the same. The only notable edition is the updated graphics. This shouldn’t classify as a new game or even be in contention for game of the year since it already exists and people can go play the older version and get the same experience.
Where The Game Awards fall short is realizing that a DLC and an actual game are two very different things. DLC and full games need to stay separate for a couple of factors. One, DLC exists as an expansion pack of a game that has already been finished. The other reason is that having a DLC and remake in Game of the Year could discourage creators from making games they’re passionate about because they have to compete with fully fledged games that people love. This would ensure that games such as Nine Souls, Animal Well, and Dragon Dogma 2 have a chance of getting nominated for the award.
The Game Awards have now concluded. Astro Bot won GOTY. Considering Astro Bot wasn’t a DLC or remake of a game, but rather a stand-alone game. The Game Awards made a good decision in making it the GOTY. People are upset though that Black Myth Wukong didn’t win. Wukong was made for the award. The developers made it to attempt to win an award, not just to make a game people would enjoy. So the hate that Astro Bot is getting from winning the award is unjustified.
There are many options that The Game Awards could do, such as creating a new category that includes games with DLC and remakes of older games. This would please both sides of the people. Gamers would see the DLC get an award for how amazing their work is and new games have a chance to win Game of the Year compared to the masses, but continuing to put DLCs and Remakes in the running for Game of the Year is a horrible option.