Let's Not Settle on the Meaning of 'Game of the Year' Means
The difficulty of finding new titles remains the video game industry's most significant fundamental issue. Despite the anxiety-inducing age of business acquisitions, growing profit expectations, labor perils, extensive implementation of AI, digital marketplace changes, evolving audience preferences, hope often comes back to the mysterious power of "achieving recognition."
That's why I'm more invested in "awards" than ever.
Having just some weeks remaining in 2025, we're completely in GOTY period, an era where the small percentage of players who aren't enjoying identical multiple free-to-play competitive titles weekly play through their backlogs, discuss the craft, and understand that they too can't play every title. Expect detailed best-of lists, and there will be "but you forgot!" reactions to those lists. An audience general agreement voted on by press, influencers, and fans will be issued at industry event. (Creators participate in 2026 at the interactive achievements ceremony and GDC Awards.)
This entire sanctification is in good fun — there are no right or wrong selections when discussing the greatest titles of this year — but the importance do feel more substantial. Every selection cast for a "game of the year", either for the grand main award or "Excellent Puzzle Experience" in fan-chosen honors, provides chance for wider discovery. A mid-sized experience that flew under the radar at launch could suddenly attract attention by competing with higher-profile (meaning extensively advertised) major titles. When 2024's Neva popped up in consideration for recognition, I know for a fact that numerous gamers suddenly desired to see analysis of Neva.
Traditionally, award shows has created limited space for the breadth of releases published annually. The hurdle to address to evaluate all feels like an impossible task; approximately eighteen thousand releases were released on PC storefront in 2024, while merely seventy-four titles — from new releases and continuing experiences to smartphone and VR platform-specific titles — were included across industry event finalists. When mainstream appeal, discourse, and platform discoverability drive what players play every year, there's simply no way for the framework of honors to adequately recognize the entire year of games. Nevertheless, there exists opportunity for progress, assuming we accept its significance.
The Familiar Pattern of Annual Honors
In early December, prominent gaming honors, including video games' oldest recognition events, announced its nominees. Although the vote for Game of the Year proper occurs soon, it's possible to notice the direction: This year's list created space for deserving candidates — major releases that have earned recognition for quality and scale, popular smaller titles received with AAA-scale attention — but in multiple of award types, we see a evident focus of familiar titles. In the enormous variety of visual style and mechanical design, top artistic recognition creates space for several sandbox experiences located in historical Japan: Ghost of Yōtei and Assassin's Creed Shadows.
"Were I designing a next year's Game of the Year theoretically," an observer noted in a social media post continuing to chuckling over, "it would be a Sony sandbox adventure with strategic battle systems, party dynamics, and luck-based roguelite progression that leans into chance elements and features basic building construction mechanics."
Industry recognition, across organized and unofficial versions, has become predictable. Several cycles of nominees and honorees has created a template for what type of polished lengthy experience can achieve award consideration. There are games that never reach top honors or even "significant" creative honors like Creative Vision or Narrative, thanks often to innovative design and unusual systems. The majority of titles released in any given year are expected to be relegated into specialized awards.
Case Studies
Hypothetical: Will Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, an experience with a Metacritic score only slightly shy of Death Stranding 2 and Ghosts of Yōtei, achieve the top 10 of annual top honor selection? Or even one for superior audio (because the audio stands out and deserves it)? Unlikely. Excellent Driving Experience? Sure thing.
How outstanding does Street Fighter 6 have to be to receive Game of the Year recognition? Might selectors evaluate distinct acting in Baby Steps, The Alters, or The Drifter and acknowledge the most exceptional acting of the year absent major publisher polish? Can Despelote's two-hour length have "sufficient" narrative to deserve a (justified) Top Story recognition? (Furthermore, does annual event require a Best Documentary category?)
Similarity in choices over multiple seasons — among journalists, within communities — shows a method increasingly biased toward a particular time-consuming game type, or independent games that generated sufficient attention to qualify. Problematic for a field where exploration is everything.
