The Game Awards 2024

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122869641#Comment_122869641

In that case only the most popular games should be GotY contenders? So that means Fortnite and Roblox?

Popularity is not a measure of quality. But you just don't get that do you.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122869699#Comment_122869699

No, not by popularity alone, but it's can't be some niche obscure game either. Popularity is (and it should be) a criteria, but being popular is not enough.

And popularity is an objectively measurable quality, and the awards can't ignore what people like.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122869744#Comment_122869744

Ultimately for these Game Awards, the nominees are based on a selected panel of 100+ games journalists, outlets etc, and then the winner from the top 5-6 in each category are selected on a mix of votes from those journalists/outlets and public vote.

https://thegameawards.com/faq

So it's unlikely that a game which isn't somewhat popular will get the votes to become a nominee. At the same time though, popularity even among the wider public doesn't mean a game will get the votes to become one of the top nominees. It's not a case of "ignoring what people like", but popularity alone isn't enough to carry a game. Even if say CoD fans were saying this year's CoD is the best it's been in years, huge praise for it and CoD became more popular than it's been in years etc, if it hasn't done anything innovative or interesting enough to be more than just "a good CoD", why should it be considered as a possible Game of the Year?

Popularity gets the game noticed by more people, but it's similar to what I said about Balatro not being good because it's addictive but rather being addictive because it's good. A game might become popular because it's good, but that doesn't mean a game is good just because it's popular or worthy of being a GOTY contender.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122869863#Comment_122869863

popularity alone isn't enough to carry a game

I never said otherwise, so I don't understand why we're debating it.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122869894#Comment_122869894

And I never said you said that. My full quote was in response to this line of yours:

"And popularity is an objectively measurable quality, and the awards can't ignore what people like."

The point I was making was that the awards absolutely can ignore what people like because "popularity alone isn't enough to carry a game".

Cordell

In the same post you extracted that line I literally said exactly that popularity alone isn't enough. Good games will be popular, and that doesn't necessarily mean all popular games are good. But if they nominate or award games that no one like then what's the point?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122869954#Comment_122869954

The point is that in their opinion, under that category, they think it was one of the best games of the year. I mean you say popularity is an objectively measurable quality, but what bar does a game have to reach for one of the voting panel to decide "Actually, not enough people played that game so I'll nominate a game that I don't think was as good"?

If 5 out of the 100 jury panel nominated a game that didn't sell that well, isn't that well known, it's not going to be one of the top 5/6 games up for voting anyway. But if 25 of them do then it might, and at that stage even though the game might be more of an obscure, niche title, if they thought it was the best game in that category this year, it deserves to be nominated. Might not win, but deserves to be nominated. And the game being a nominee might then bring more attention to it, make people give it a shot, and it could even become retrospectively popular and well-regarded.

On a weighted list of metrics to judge a game on, popularity is so far down the list you'd have to turn the page over to see it on the back. I'm not saying it's not a factor, but a very popular game not being nominated while a more obscure game is wouldn't be a case of the awards ignoring what people like, it's just a case that more of the voting panel thought the obscure game was a better game.

johnny_ultimate

Quality is the overwhelming criteria for a 'game of the year' award IMO, and everything else pales in comparison.

Not all great games will be 'popular'. Games like The Crimson Diamond, UFO 50, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, 1000xRESIST and Arco have been critically acclaimed and warmly received by their audience, yet have a mere fraction of the playerbase of some better known titles - quite publicly in Arco's case. One of my favourites of the year, the new Shiren the Wanderer, probably sold a couple of thousand copies in the West, given it's fairly niche even in Japan. I see no good reason why they should be disqualified or relegated to 'indie' categories simply because they don't have the player counts of better known titles.

Obviously, evidence dictates that any awards decided by a panel or (heaven forbid) audience vote will skew towards popularity and what has been played widely. But any truly serious or thorough 'best of the year' list should be inclusive of the whole breadth of great games released that year. Awards and accolades at their best also bring a big benefit in terms of discoverability to standout titles - you're already seeing people discover Balatro due to its nomination here, even if was already a massive success.

Dave_The_Sheep

Bit of a sh*t year, it seems.

nix

To me what would make game of the year would be a breakdown of:

Gameplay

Graphics

Story/Writing

Sound design

Presentation/controls

You could get away with being weak in probably graphics and sound, depending on the type/style of game.

That's pretty much how most would factor it also, its just mainstream media/influencers tend to also include popularity/sales/bribes/whatever else bullsh!t. Which is what takes the sport out of it and makes most people mock them or not take them serious. And rightly so, most of them are compromised.

However, Geoff Keighley's game awards I myself kinda like, because looking back over the history of it, i cant see a case of the winner of the game of the year being a biased pick in any of its history. Now there haven't been many close calls so thats likely why, the only years with a load of great games were 2015 and 2018.

In 2015 it was won by Witcher 3, while if it was given to Bloodborne I wouldn't have had an issue..

And 2018 is the only year i can see where pretty much, nearly every game had the potential to win over the other, crazy year for gaming.

So I'm all for the way Geoff is doing it.. so far.. You complain of ads? Money needs to be made as people need to get paid, be thankful its at least gaming related and the potential for excitement :D

nix

However I will say, the Harry Potter game being excluded last year was a bunch of bullshit, if i see any **** like that happen again, ill be dunking on the Geoff awards with the rest of yiz..

Has anything else like that happened before? I've only been watching it a few years on and off, i usually just skim the results on a page if i see them..

Retr0gamer

The Harry Potter game was a mid as **** Ubisoft game. I mean the dragon quest hero in smash bros can use more spells than you get in Harry Potter.

And I'll say again, story isn't essential. See Balatro.

Penn

The Harry Potter game was about as clear an example of popularity not being a big factor as you can get. It was a popular game, but by most reviews, it was generally well received as decent but not really anything special. Decent wasn't enough in a year like 2023 where there were some amazing games which blew Hogwarts Legacy out of the water in most categories.

Not saying some of the judges who vote on what games are nominated may not have had personal biases against the game, but at the same time, the game came and went like a fart in the wind.

nix

Oh im not suggesting it should have been nominated for the GOTY award itself because it was great or anything, i havent actually played it myself, but it wasn't included in any award nomination at all. And not because it was bad, it was well received by pretty much everybody that played it, it wasn't put in for political reasons apparently.

I mean ****, it was one of the highest rated games of 2023 and sold the most copies, 22 million. And not in one category at the game awards? not saying those should be factors but games that popular usually get thrown into at least some categories, its insane!

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122871729#Comment_122871729

That's what I mean though; the fact there were so many huge games last year was enough to put it out of the top 5 in pretty much all categories, especially since most of those huge games did what HL did, but better.

Every member of the voting jury (100+ people) vote for their top picks in each category, and the top 5 from all of those become the nominees for the Game Awards. So it's not like they try to find one or two categories to put a game that popular in. It most likely just didn't get enough votes to make it into any category. It was an okay adventure/rpg game in a year of amazing adventure/rpg games.

In terms of critical reception (and the voting jury are people in the industry, journalists etc), the game was received well but not special by most. Whereas looking at all the categories and nominees, it's hard to see what HL could reasonably have replaced.

nix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122871819#Comment_122871819

Putting hogwarts in any category with starfield or jedi survivor in it instead, i think would have made more sense 😁

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122871729#Comment_122871729

A google search for Harry Potter and game awards shows that this line of thinking that it wasn't included for political reasons is just fanciful right wing outrage:

https://www.thegamer.com/hogwarts-legacy-the-game-awards-harry-potter-no-nominations/#:~:text=There's%20no%20conspiracy%20here%2C%20or,all%20for%20any%20shock%20nominations.

Maybe it just wasn't anything special?

Retr0gamer

The internet: Balatro isn't popular enough to be considered GotY.

Balatro:

https://twitter.com/pcgamer/status/1860073894096384400?t=kDY7qGxNnfz3XM9Jy-EEuw&s=19

Honestly seeing the arguments against Balatro and the simple put down of all those arguments is to ask if they would think the same of Tetris.