This past week, I watched The Oscars for the first time ever. While pretty much all of my free time gets devoted to video games and sports, I recently started watching movies occasionally when I work out instead of just gaming Youtube videos. I’ve really enjoyed this little mix-up, as I’ve never watched movies consistently in my life. It’s a nice change of pace, and it’s way easier to fit a movie in occasionally compared to TV shows and anime like I used to. I recently set a goal to watch as many movies nominated for “Best Picture” as possible before the ceremony, and I managed to watch seven of them. While I think The Oscars could use a few tweaks, I really enjoyed being able to watch the ceremony and have opinions on the awards (expect a few blog posts next year).
Of course, as a Game Awards sicko, I was naturally watching this ceremony and also thinking about how The Game Awards could get better. While there are several things that I wish The Game Awards would take from The Oscars (most notably, at least a little more emphasis on the awards), there was one thing in particular that really had my mind turning. While The Oscars has five nominees for most of its categories, it has ten nominees for “Best Picture”. The Game Awards started out with five and upped it to six in 2018, and we’ve been there ever since.
While there are many reasons that industry award shows exist, I think a big one is that they tend to be very good for whatever medium that they are celebrating. These big events alert people to some of the highest quality pieces of art from that given year. Movies that are nominated for “Best Picture” tend to get a viewership bump, and the same goes for games that get nominated for “Game of the Year”.
However, if you have more nominees than what is needed, it can also diminish the accomplishment of being a nominee in the first place. If games that are just “good” are being nominated, it’s easy to see a world where the “Game of the Year” bump slowly gets dies out. I’ve often grappled with what the right amount of games is to be nominated because of the balance that this needs.
So I decided that it was time for an experiment. I went back and tried to figure out what games would have been nominated for “Game of the Year” each year if we had ten nominees to decide if it “looks right”. I added each game based off the same formula that I use when I predict the “Game of the Year nominees” each year (which I’m pretty good at). I looked at Opencritic scores and weighed popularity of the game as well (AAA games tend to outperform indie games, sadly). Also, if a game won a “major” genre category like “Best Action”, “Best Action/Adventure”, “Best Indie”, or “Best RPG”, but wasn’t nominated, that was pretty much always an easy sign to put it in. Let’s get to it, and I’ll offer my final thoughts at the end.
Bolded games are the additions that I’ve made. The game with a * was the winner of the award.
2014
-Bayonetta 2
-Dark Souls II
-Dragon Age: Inquisition*
-Far Cry 4
-Hearthstone
-Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
-Shovel Knight
-South Park: The Stick of Truth
-Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
-Titanfall
Snubs: Forza Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive, Transistor
This is definitely a year where I’d say a change to ten would be fine, but not terribly exciting. It’d be nice to have seen Shovel Knight on the big stage, as it remains one of the most famous indie games of this era, but I also don’t view it as a massive snub. Titanfall was definitely pretty innovative, but it isn’t remembered the way that the sequel is. Super Smash Bros. is obviously a big one, but it’s a Wii U game, so there really wasn’t that much enthusiasm for it. Far Cry 4 is a perfectly competent shooter, but it wasn’t fresh the way that Far Cry 3 was. I think that if we had the current six game format, Shovel Knight could have been added in here, and that would have been enough.
2015
-Batman: Arkham Knight
-Bloodborne
-Fallout 4
-Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
-Ori and the Blind Forest
-Rocket League
-Splatoon
-Super Mario Maker
-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt*
-Undertale
Snubs: Forza Motorsport 6, Pillars of Eternity
This is a year where we can really see the dividends that could come from having ten games. Rocket League is one of the biggest multiplayer games ever. Undertale is one of the most famous indie games ever. Ori and the Blind Forest actually won the award for “Best Art Direction.” Splatoon won for “Best Shooter,” and all of the Batman games were a pretty big deal. None of these would have felt out of place if they were added in.
2016
-Battlefield 1
-Dark Souls III
-Dishonored 2
-Doom
-Inside
-Overwatch*
-Pokémon Go
-Stardew Valley
-Titanfall 2
-Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Snubs: Civilization VI, Forza Horizon 3, XCOM 2
2016 had a pretty damn solid five nominees. I don’t think moving it to ten this year would have greatly enhanced things, but I don’t think it would have really diminished them either.
If anything, I wish we had six games at this point and Stardew Valley could have made it in, and we could have wrapped it up there. It’s one of the most popular and most acclaimed indie games of all time. It absolutely deserved to be here.
Battlefield 1, Dark Souls 3, and Dishonored 2 are all really strong games that haven’t really left a massive mark. They certainly wouldn’t have been out of place, but I also don’t think they felt totally necessary in this category.
Personally, I would have hated Pokémon Go being on here, and it really wasn’t super well reviewed, but it still won multiple awards in 2016, so I think there were pretty good odds that it would have made it. In that case, I’m glad we had fewer nominees at this point.
2017
-Cuphead
-Horizon Zero Dawn
-Nier: Automata
-The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
-Persona 5
-PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
-Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
-Super Mario Odyssey
-Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
-Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Snubs: Assassin’s Creed Origins, Injustice 2, Nioh
If you want to make the case for ten games, this would not have been a bad year for it. Cuphead is one of the most acclaimed indie games ever. Nier: Automata is considered the best game of all time by plenty of people and seems like an unfortunate snub. Biohazard and Wolfenstein II both had nominations for “Best Game Direction” and would have fit in just fine here, and any Uncharted game is a pretty big deal. 2017 would have easily been better with ten (also, can we please get PUBG out of there?).
Even with all of these additions, we still have Nioh, Injustice 2 (it’s always hard for fighting games), and Assassin’s Creed: Origins on the outside looking in. This was an excellent year for games.
2018
-Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
-Celeste
-Dead Cells
-Detroit: Become Human
-Dragon Quest XI
-God of War*
-Marvel’s Spider-Man
-Monster Hunter World
-Red Dead Redemption 2
-Return of the Obra Dinn
Snubs: A Way Out, Forza Horizon 4, Pillars of Eternity 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider
2018 was the first year that The Game Awards upped “Game of the Year” to six nominees, and it’s a damn good thing that they did, as this year was pretty legendary. All six of the original nominees are all-timers that are fondly remembered.
However, as much as I like some of the games after those six, they all feel like a solid step down. Dead Cells won “Best Action,” so that’s an easy addition. Detroit: Become Human picked up three pretty big nominations (Best Game Direction, Best Performance, and Best Narrative), so I think it was in a position to sneak in with ten. My friend Hana may laugh at Dragon Quest XI being here, as The Game Awards can be pretty “anti-weeb,” but I think Dragon Quest would be big enough to overcome that bias. It was also very acclaimed. Return of the Obra Dinn won “Best Art Direction” and was also well received enough to make it, in my view.
There are many other games on a similar level that could have also made it in. A Way Out was nominated for “Best Game Direction,” for example, but nothing else feels on the level of those original six.
2019
-Control
-Death Stranding
-Devil May Cry 5
-Disco Elysium
-Fire Emblem: Three Houses
-Outer Wilds
-Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice*
-The Outer Worlds
-Resident Evil 2
-Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Snubs: Apex Legends, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
At the very least, upping the nominees to ten prevents truly egregious misses from happening. Perhaps one of the worst snubs in Game Awards history was Disco Elysium somehow not making it in over The Outer Worlds. Disco Elysium would go on to win “Best Indie,” “Best RPG,” and “Best Narrative.” It was an insane snub.
Outer Wilds got a nomination for “Best Game Direction” here, and I think its inclusion would have aged nicely. Devil May Cry 5 and Three Houses also both won their categories and are very fondly remembered. Apex Legends was a very tough cut, and could have definitely made it in over Three Houses or Outer Wilds potentially. This is definitely a year where I would have felt good about ten nominees.
2020
-Among Us
-Animal Crossing: New Horizons
-DOOM Eternal
-Final Fantasy VII Remake
-Ghost of Tsushima
-Hades
-Half-Life: Alyx
-Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
-Ori and the Will of the Wisps
-The Last of Us Part II*
Snubs: Nioh 2, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
We’ve reached the COVID stretch of gaming where I’m mostly going to be fine with six nominees for the next three years. We have a very strong set of nominees here, and then a fairly sizable falloff once we try to expand to ten.
With ten nominees, I think that 2020 would have been the first and only year in Game Awards history to feature an exclusively VR game. Half-Life: Alyx was very highly acclaimed, and it has a big franchise behind it, so I believe it would have snuck in. Among Us didn’t launch in 2020, but it still managed to snag some other wins thanks to 2020 being the year it was essentially discovered by more people. It probably would have made it in, even though it would have offended my sensibilities to have a 2018 game there.
Miles Morales is a great game, but also kind of feels like DLC. In 2020, that would have been enough. Finally, Ori likely grabs its second “Game of the Year” nomination in this format, with Nioh 2 and Jedi Fallen Order looking in from the outside.
2021
-Deathloop
-It Takes Two*
-Kena: Bridge of Spirits
-Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
-Metroid Dread
-Psychonauts 2
-Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
-Resident Evil Village
-Returnal
-Tales of Arise
Snub: Forza Horizon 5
2021 was one of the weakest years in modern gaming thanks to the full effects of COVID getting in the way of many releases. Weirdly, despite some slightly weaker games, the addition to ten wouldn’t have been as bad, because most of the games I’m adding in feel pretty on the level of most of the nominees. Returnal is the easiest one, as it actually beat out “Game of the Year” nominee Deathloop for the “Best Action Game” prize.
Personally, I think Cyberpunk 2077 should have been nominated here, as the game had been fixed up pretty well by this point, but I know that would have left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Because of that, a Tales game is shockingly able to avoid weeb prejudice and get a nomination in this alternate reality, as it actually won “Best RPG.” I also put Kena in here, as it won “Best Indie.” Considering it won “Best Narrative,” I also think Guardians of the Galaxy would have made it in.
2022
-A Plague Tale: Requiem
-Bayonetta 3
-Elden Ring*
-God of War: Ragnarök
-Gran Turismo 7
-Horizon Forbidden West
-Immortality
-Kirby and the Forgotten Land
-Stray
-Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Snubs: Neon White, Tunic
Stray is one of the worst decisions for a “Game of the Year” nominee ever in my view. But looking at the games that missed out on being in the six, I kind of see how it happened now.
Bayonetta 3, Gran Turismo 7, and Kirby all won in their respective categories, so they all get nods from me here. You know I’m desperate to find ten when a racing game makes it in, but Gran Turismo is a pretty big deal. I put in Immortality as my 10th because it got a nomination for “Best Game Direction.” But this is definitely a year where things feel much better at six.
2023
-Alan Wake 2
-Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
-Baldur’s Gate 3*
-Final Fantasy XVI
-Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
-Resident Evil 4
-Sea of Stars
-Street Fighter 6
-Super Mario Bros. Wonder
-The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Snubs: Hi-Fi Rush, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
I am a firm believer that for a long variety of reasons, 2023 has been the beginning of a gaming golden age of sorts. At this point, AAA teams seem to have a firm grasp on what makes their franchises great, and we are getting more amazing indie games than ever before.
This was one of the first years where I genuinely struggled hard with my ten. I feel like any of my four additions could have been taken out for Hi-Fi Rush or Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, which missed my cut here.
As usual, Armored Core, Sea of Stars, and Street Fighter 6 all got nods for winning their respective categories. Winning the fighting game category is never a guarantee to make it to the big stage, but a name like Street Fighter makes that decision much easier.
Finally, I went with Final Fantasy XVI over some of the snubs because it did get several other big nominations. But man, this was tough. This year would have been way better with ten nominees.
2024
-Astro Bot*
-Balatro
-Black Myth: Wukong
-Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
-Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
-Helldivers 2
-Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
-Metaphor: ReFantazio
-Silent Hill 2
-Tekken 8
Snubs: Dragon’s Dogma 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Once again, there are a few games that I did not get to put in this ten, and it genuinely pained me. I really wish I could have found room for The Lost Crown, but I just didn’t see the path. I also heavily considered Dragon’s Dogma 2, but people soured on it so much over the year that I had a hard time pulling the trigger on it.
Helldivers 2 was one of the biggest stories of the year, and won “Best Multiplayer”, so that was an easy call. Infinite Wealth is one of the highest rated games of the year and got multiple nominations, so that made it in. Same with Silent Hill 2. Tekken 8 was highly acclaimed enough and is a big enough name to be another rare fighting game entry. Having ten games nominated looks perfectly natural again here.
2025
-Blue Prince
-Clair Obscur: Expedition 33*
-Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
-Donkey Kong Bananza
-Ghost of Yotei
-Hades II
-Hollow Knight: Silksong
-Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
-Monster Hunter Wilds
-Split Fiction
Snubs: DOOM: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
This is another one where I really like having ten nominees.
Even though I didn’t like Blue Prince, I felt kind of bad for it last year. In most years, it would have won “Best Indie” and netted a “Game of the Year” nomination, but it faced some of the most insane indie competition ever. With ten nominees, it at least would have gotten the big nomination even if it didn’t win anything. Despite the hype dying down a bit over the year, I think Monster Hunter Wilds would have been also made it in with its acclaim.
From there, the two biggest snubs and two games that were nominated for “Best Game Direction” are easy calls. Split Fiction and Ghost of Yotei would have been clear choices with ten nominees.
Final Thoughts
Early on in this experiment, I felt iffy about the prospect of ten nominees in any given year. While there were some exceptions, I thought there was a bit of a prestige and quality drop off after seven or eight most of the time.
But in the last three years, we have seen some of the greatest gaming of our lives. In all three years, ten nominees would have greatly enhanced the pool. It would have given us more game variety and given an extra push to some games that deserved it. I genuinely wonder if the famous Game Awards medley is what is holding back this change from happening, as I imagine it is quite the process to put together. As much as I adore the medley, I do not think it should hold back fantastic games from getting an honor that they deserve. If gaming continues as it is, I think it will be high time for Geoff to make the change to at least eight. But much like it took some intense outcry for The Oscars to make a change, we will likely need to see a snub of truly epic proportions before something happens.
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