Zelda might have a better shot at the Action Adventure category. The series has fared well there historically, and it's nowhere near as hotly contested as most years.
A lot of platformers have historically figured in the Action category too, for example Metroid Dread won it in 2021, and I'd think that there's a pretty good argument that that's where Astro Bot fits. It's relatively light on puzzle solving, with linear levels and some outright twitch shooting in places.
That's not to say that the jury couldn't see it differently, of course.
@Matt_Barber Metroid Dread won Action Adventure in 2021 (Returnal won Action), though you are correct that some platformers have ended up in Action (e.g. Mega Man 11 was nominated in 2018).
I'm seeing a lot of discourse regarding the Game Awards not mattering because only 10% of the points come from gamers and 90% is from a jury. But I think that's a good thing. I personally put more value in the votes of a professional jury whose members have played many more games that year than the public who mostly play one or two games all year long and think their biased opinions somehow matter more.
I am however not a fan of this rule that DLC and remasters are eligible for GotY.
They've already got a separate category for ongoing games, so DLC and season passes should only be nominated there. As for remasters and remakes, I think making an extra category for those would be ideal.
As for all the separate "genre" categories, I think those are a bit silly. Most games don't fit into a simple box anymore, and you don't see the Academy making distinctions between action movies and dramas for instance. But hey, I get why they're there. More games get awards this way, resulting in a more satisfied audience.
I'm a little biased but I'm very confident Metaphor Re:Fantazio is gonna take it.
That said TGA's shot themselves in the foot with this "DLC-remake-remaster" rule, it makes zero sense. If anything they should have made a new category for "Best Expansion" since they were clearly angling for SotE to win something. Plus TGA is very snobby towards JRPGs in particular.
I'm a little biased but I'm very confident Metaphor Re:Fantazio is gonna take it.
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Apart from the first year of the game awards which was atypical because it was the trial year, every GotY winner except 1 has released June or earlier. The one exception was August. Obviously this is in no way a rule but I do wonder if having more hype spread out over the year makes it more likely to get votes rather than a game like Metaphor Re:Fantazio which was dropped not long before the awards.
Granted, Astro Bot was also relatively late as a September release and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a small negative mark for 'technically' being a remake even if most of the content is new. Elden Ring gets a negative mark for being DLC even if allowed. Those 4 are the frontrunners at least in terms of metacritic and I would say Astro Bot has the fewest marks against it by being slightly earlier in the year and brand new. Although I also acknowledge the game awards bias towards RPGs and gritty action games, so who knows.
@jedgamesguy DLC and remasters have been nominated for other awards in the past (e.g. Witcher 3 Blood and Wine won Best RPG in 2016, MK8 Deluxe was nominated for Best Family and Multiplayer in 2017) meanwhile remakes have been nominated for GotY in the past (RE2, FFVII Remake, RE4) so the new rule seems specifically about making DLC and remasters eligible for GotY.
I don't see Rebirth or Metaphor winning because they'll lose to Shadow of the Erdtree in the Best RPG category.
Should have added this, but what was the point of making game seasons eligible for the GOTY category and every category they have at the show? They literally have a Best Ongoing Game category that would fit game seasons way more, I wouldn’t even consider a game season GOTY because it’s not even a finished or full game and more of an add-on to game. In fact, why didn’t they make a category specifically for game DLC? I cannot imagine how messy game eligibility is going to be now that game seasons are being included now and what should be considered for an award and what shouldn’t.
@valtianeea With the voting thing, I do agree, and I think the Player’s Voice category shows how much of a mess it would be having most of the jury be the entire public. I remember when they had one a few years ago and Sonic Frontiers and Genshin Impact were among the nominees for that category, and all I saw for that online was Sonic and Genshin fans beefing with each other and arguing and accusing each other of using bots to inflate the votes, though I believe that it was like that because Genshin would give players rewards if it won in the category and that Sonic didn’t get any other nominations in categories besides Player’s Voice. I just think it could become too biased and cause a lot of arguing. It would be nice if they did count gamer’s votes a bit more and make it a bit more balanced with the jury votes, but if they did it too much I think the show would be even more of a mess.
Should have added this, but what was the point of making game seasons eligible for the GOTY category and every category they have at the show? They literally have a Best Ongoing Game category that would fit game seasons way more, I wouldn’t even consider a game season GOTY because it’s not even a finished or full game and more of an add-on to game. In fact, why didn’t they make a category specifically for game DLC? I cannot imagine how messy game eligibility is going to be now that game seasons are being included now and what should be considered for an award and what shouldn’t.
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Honestly I think the changes were to make their lives easier. Now they can be even more arbitrary (or not) and not worry about rules. If DLC like Shadow of the Erdtree is number one on metacritic, they no longer have to argue about whether it is allowed for GotY nomination. If (made up example) Fortnite added some amazing accessibility option or amazing music they can nominate it for accessibility or music categories without people arguing about whether it counts.
I would have preferred a DLC category personally myself but I can understand how that would have still left grey areas people had to argue about.
I'm not a fan of the new DLC/expansion eligibility rule...
I think full 'from the ground up' remakes can/should be permitted for all categories, like Silent Hill 2 for example, but simple remasters should be a no.
@CJD87 We'll see if it makes any difference in practice. Remasters were arguably already allowed but they haven't exactly been filling the ranks in prior years. If the main difference in the new rules (beyond being clearer than they used to be) is allowing Shadow of the Erdtree to be nominated for GotY then, well, hopefully it will lose anyways 😆
I'll trust a jury over a public vote any day. Just look at the user reviews for pretty much any game on Metacritic. Even if they've not been outright bombed, they're still usually full of inane comments from people who appear to have completely missed the point.
Still, if that's what you want, there are the Golden Joystick awards. They're a 100% public vote and you should get the results in a few days from now.
For what it's worth, their nominations usually have substantial overlap with TGA and here's what they went for: Animal Well, Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Helldivers 2, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Satisfactory, Silent Hill 2 and Tekken 8.
Nothing from Nintendo, obviously, but a couple of those games are on Switch.
@FishyS I think that could be it, I think there was a lot of contention with people over whether or not games like remakes or remasters should count in GOTY categories, though especially remasters of old games. But, I do feel like that nominating remasters of old games for categories kind of feels like nominating the same game again, and remasters aren’t exactly new games. I feel slightly different about remakes getting nominated since the upgrades to older games in those is significant, and sometimes it has completely new content, but it just doesn’t make sense that TGA didn’t make a separate category for game seasons, DLC, and remasters, and possibly remakes.
Some people think that the eligibility changes came from wanting to nominate the Elden Ring DLC for GOTY, but I do agree with the change likely coming from how there was too much contention over what games counted for a GOTY nomination and how they didn’t want to worry about any rules.
A random gamer that loves retro games, Rareware, Vocaloid, ballpoint pens, squirrels, and sleeping.
@FishyS Yeh really strange, and I also imagine that the change is perhaps to allow some pandering towards nominating (and potentially crowning?) ER's Erdtree expansion.
I really enjoyed Erdtree, but for me personally it has not been the best thing I've played this year... in so far I'd argue more towards Balatro, Astro-Bot, The Lost Crown, Tekken 8 etc.
(I definitely think ER earnt its GOTY win in 2022, but I don't think Erdtree has that needed X-Factor for a 2024 win)
Best Family Game - Princess Peach Showtime, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Echoes of Wisdom
Considering GTA6 is in the Most Anticipated Game category and Astro Bot is in Best Action/Adventure as well as Best Family Game, Multiplayer is the best chance of Nintendo winning anything this year.
It would be kind of hilarious if Mario Party won best multiplayer but it feels unlikely. I'm a little sad Zelda didn't get nominated for music but I'm glad it got two call outs even though it won't win 😅 And I'm glad Peach Showtime grabbed a family nomination.
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Topic: The Game Awards 2024
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