Topic: The Game Awards 2024

All in all, I'd say the nominees were pretty solid across most categories. Although I loved my time with Erdtree, I really do disagree that DLC should be eligible for all awards... and would have rather seen something like Tekken 8 or Prince of Persia take the spot that Erdtree has.

Nonetheless - I am absolutely delighted to see that Balatro hit "the big leagues" and got a nom for the actual GOTY award, and not 'just' the indie awards. I'd expect Astro or FF7 to take it, but I've just voted now for Balatro - which I think is/was an absolute masterclass in curating addictive gameplay and opening up the deck-builder genre for those who were not already drawn in by games by Spire.

Slim pickings for Nintendo unfortunately, but IMHO the first party portfolio this year hasn't been mindblowing - and Echoes (at least for me) was a large disappointment. Nice to see Jamboree get some love though, as this for me is the best MarioParty game perhaps ever

Nice to see Jamboree get a nod for best multiplayer, but it's not winning over Helldivers or Black Ops.

And just as we all knew, they bent the rules so Erdtree can get nominated for GOTY. What a joke. If it wins, which I think it will, it sets a terrible precedent and is an absolutely awful look for the industry.

Best indie game is the most interesting category here - more so than GOTY.

Hoping it goes to Lorelei and the Laser Eyes as I loved that so much, but UFO 50 would be a worthy winner given what it represents. Balatro is probably the favourite given it’s a GOTY nominee.

Best Game Direction is the most embarrassing category when its literally JUST THE SAME GAMES AS THE GAME OF THE YEAR. Like why does this exist if no one has put any thought into it?

Otherwise I just look at these like "sure, why not?" I'm not annoyed at any of the nominees for any reason, at the very least.

@kkslider5552000 They are for different things though, much like the Best Picture and Best Director awards as the Oscars. Sometimes they'll go the same way and sometimes different nominees will split them.

Best Game Direction is supposed to be about the creative vision, and should go to Balatro on the grounds that nearly the entire game was made by one guy in a couple of years, only one of which was spent on it full time. There is literally nothing in there that's not explicitly what he wanted, because he was the one who did it all.

On the other hand they should give GotY to the one that they think is the best game, which should also be Balatro.

I genuinely do not think the people voting for this think about these differences, is the problem. I do not think that level of thought is done here.

@kkslider5552000 I mean, last year every game nominated for game direction was also nominated for GotY but different games won the two categories. In 2022 the nominations were slightly different for the two categories but the same game won. In 2021 the nominations were slightly different and different games won. It just depends on the year and the games, as with any category. Given the nominations this year, it wouldn't surprise me at all if different games won the categories.

The voting is 90% weighted to the jury and 10% to the public, except for the Player's Voice which is 100% public.

So long as the jury know what they're doing, I don't think public ignorance of how the categories are supposed to work will be an issue.

Forgot nominees were today, and seeing Shadow of the Erdtree got nominated is kind of not a surprise, as well as how Sony got the most nomimations out of other game developers, though I should add that I’m not saying it’s bad or trying to insinuate something. A quick question, is Shadow of the Erdtree the only DLC that got nominated? Because I think that’s what I saw.

There are a lot of Nintendo games in that Best Family Game category and I do think they have a good shot at winning that award, but I do think that Astro Bot could possibly win the award instead since I heard that game was a really good platformer. I don’t really care what games will win, also since I don’t think I’ll be watching the show unless NL maybe does a live chat of the livestream.

I wonder what games will be nominated for Players Voice, I’m expecting Mihoyo/Hoyoverse games in that category (namely Zenless Zone Zero) but I am expecting that category to be a huge mess and full of a lot of bickering.

@Pastellioli The huge mess and bickering is what makes Player's Voice amusing 😆 I'm expecting Palworld to make an appearance as well as one of the usual Hoyoverse games and perhaps also both Balatro and Elden Ring because a lot of fans probably think both those games have a disadvantage in GotY for being DLC/indie. Sonic didn't pick up any nominations so it could easily be in the player voice bloodfest again as well. I would like to think Zelda could do well in Player's Voice, but I feel like Nintendo fans aren't quite motivated enough to do things like spam polls.

@FishyS I remember when there were a ton of Sonic and Genshin fans beefing with each other in that category once and accusing each other of using bots. I also do think Palworld could get nominated and possibly Sonic x Shadow Generations, I can see the Elden Ring DLC getting in that category as well. I’m expecting at least one or two triple-A games to get nominated, and the rest of the nominees to be double-A games, mainly ones that were super popular with fans rather than critics. I don’t really expect a Nintendo game to get in the category for some reason though.

One that I can't explain is how Diablo IV managed to get nominated for the Innovation in Accessibility award for the second year running.

@Matt_Barber It's the same logic behind Elden Ring's nominations, the game got DLC this year (Vessel of Hatred in October).

@Grumblevolcano So, what they're getting nominated for is adding accessibility features to an existing game and tying them to a $40 DLC?

That's innovative, I suppose, but not in a good way.

@FishyS @Matt_Barber

So I just want to state very clearly that I think the jury is ignorant and I can think that while knowing they didn't vote 100% the same. I do not think the jury overall has too much thought overall about game direction. Like maybe there is a basic description of the concept given to the jury and enough have a very quick thought about it that made some differences but I do not believe that it is given the same consideration as best director at the Oscars even remotely.

And there is a possibility that I could believe that they also don't give the jury enough information for a potentially vague concept like "game direction" which is not given the same level of overall thought as directing a film. This is the same game awards that gives out the vast majority of its awards in rapid fire succession for more trailers between its commercials, so I want to make it as clear as possible that this is not a serious award ceremony at all and thus I do not trust that the process is as legitimate as the type of major award shows that give more level of focus to those awards that you see on tv. I do not believe in it. It is not serious, it is a joke.

@kkslider5552000 As @FishyS said, they've managed to give the awards out to different games from similar shortlists for a few years running, and I'd have said that the Game Direction ones have generally been the more innovative, so they appear to have at least some grasp of the difference between them.

That said, yes, this is the Game Awards. It's one of the more mainstream outlets for handing out trophies and notorious for its biases, particularly toward AAA games from the big publishers. If you're wanting to see a more serious evaluation of video games as art, you're probably better off waiting for the BAFTAs or the DICE awards.

The worst new rule is that the winner of Game of the Year must rhyme with "word tea".

I just don't think that's fair.

Don't get me wrong, I agree it is garbage overall, it's just fun to speculate. Honestly even the best award shows have massive bias and often sacks of money passed back and forth and this award show in particular doesn't even pretend to be much more than a bunch if advertisements. That said, the fact that there are lots of independent organizations voting does still make it bit interesting to see who will win even if I personally basically never agree with the outcome.

TGA is a fun time, and personally I love all the build-up and the show itself. I don't agree with all the decisions (DLC in all categories?!...!) but ultimately the whole thing is a good time I think.

Delighted for Balatro, what a dream for the devs that they are being mentioned in the same conversation as the other 'heavy hitter' games!

I really enjoyed Erdtree, but think it ultimately belongs in an Expansion/DLC category (as opposed to 'main' GOTY contender). Would rather have seen Tekken 8 or Prince of Persia take that spot in the nominations.

Would like to see Astro or Balatro take GOTY, but am expecting Rebirth to get it.

I only tune in to TGA for the world premiere trailers.

The winners? It's whatever. They're what the collective aggregate decided on.