Very true both on the GotY / awards and review scores - it’s why I generally read reviews looking for points I’ll like or dislike as my taste seems different to many.
While on occasion I’ve loved games that were media darlings (Mass Effect 2, take a bow, plus Unpacking, FH5, Firewatch and so many others) I’ve often hated them too (Baldur’s Gate 3, I so wish I’d refunded you rather than thought “maybe I’ll like it in time”) - particularly when it comes to more story-heavy games which I love.
Games that have had an impact on me for days after their credits roll such as Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Last Stop, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, The Invincible, Tell Me Why and Nobody Wants to Die (to name but a few) I’d give really high scores to, but many media outlets disliked (if PC Gamer hates a game I know I’ll love it, and vice versa).
Even in Sony first party there’s variations, I’ve had so much more enjoyment out of Spider Man (1 not 2) and Ghost of Tsushima than I ever got out of the misery-fest that is The Last of Us or God of War, yet those latter games hammer the first 2 on scores.
As you say, not everyone can play everything, and everyone likes different things - while we can call for fairness in scores (for example not marking an Xbox game down “as they’ve not had a first party game in a while”) yes true impartiality is impossible as we all bring our own likes, dislikes and biases into everything we play.
So the Game Awards can never really be fair or objective either - and it doesn’t help when the host practically orgasms when Kojima announces a new PS game but only manages excitement for Xbox when he gets to announce Indy for PS5…
Because the very essence of game of the year is flawed.
There should only be the awards in for best genre of games.
Yeah as Jesse discusses in the article though, even those can be flawed as there can be so much scope within a single category.
To really be fair, you’d have to have really granular categories - you could for example in “action RPG” have categories covering setting (Sci-Fi, Historical, Fantasy etc.), type (real-time, turned-based, isometric etc.), and developer or game size (AAA or 60+ hours, AA or 20+ hours, indie / under 10 hours etc.).
Games too often just don’t fit neatly into specific categories - and without going wild on the number of awards given out, I guess the current categories are about the best we’re going to get.
I do however wish they were a little more granular on the more “Oscar like” categories - for example Best Narrative nearly always goes to an AAA game, but I’d say in its year Unpacking subtly told a better story than any major game, so rather than just a “best indie” category it would be nice if they offered more for non-AAA developers…
And then how do you compare Halo to STALKER 2, then to ARMA, there’d have to be a huge amount of subcategories, and there arent that many games coming each year anyways.
GOTY’s a subjective thing, and it’s a short term thing, in the long run, what matters the most is the word of mouth, New Vegas is considered as one of the best games of it’s decade, and it wasn’t among the 10 nominees from 2010, there are many cases like this one.
This year we’ve had more than 6 games that left a very good taste on the players, not all of them will even get nomintated for GOTY, but that’s not changing how these are seen even now, much less in the future.
Also don’t think Sony cares as much about the GOTY as they do about sales, Astro Bot is probably the biggest GOTY contender this year, yet i doubt they will try to focus on more games like this one, since sales were good but nothing else, and they want these two digit million sellers
Before any type of game of the year discussion should be had, it would probably be best if critics, web sites, Keighley, etc. actually oh, I don’t know, included the entire calendar year for starters. GOTY awards in my opinion should be held in February so the entire year can be eligible. Having a cutoff date of late October/early November makes no logical sense especially when in history, some of the biggest games get released in this time period, especially November.
The worst aspect about yearly awards is that majority of the time, they just don’t make any logical sense. When I see categories for Keighley’s Awards Show and then look at the games in the categories like Cyberpunk 2077 (as great as it may be) being in the ongoing game category is quite honestly a fucking joke and if anything decreases the legitimacy of his Awards show because instead of making it like he always says he wants it to be, it’s always nothing more than an advertising/marketing show and even worse, giving certain segments/people way too much time on stage just because Keighley favors them while at the same time rushing Larian off the stage before they could even announce Baldur’s Gate III was coming to Xbox that day or a few days later just shows that all of it is nothing more than a joke.
Best part is when I see people claiming that the game that wins game of the year is the greatest thing since sliced bread which I find hilarious. In the last 20 years, the GOTY winner was “my” winner 5 times for a whopping 25%. If I went based on GOTY winners and MC/OC scores, I would have quit gaming a long ass time ago. Thankfully, I don’t, never have and never will.
MC/OC more than anything is just for people to brag about the games/companies they love even though they either A) don’t play them or B) know deep down that they don’t deserve the praise and recognition that they’re getting.
As for the review scores in general, I would like to see them evolve and yes, I would like to see them using my setup of where each category gets rated, all four categories get added together and divided by four which gives you the overall rating. The point of this is to show the consumer what the strengths and weaknesses are in the game because I believe that 95% of people never read the review or watch the entire video review. At least, if the scores were category based which leads to the overall rating, you would then have a better idea of the game’s strengths and weaknesses.
In the grand scheme of it all, none of this will ever change which is sad because you would think that those who cover the industry and work in the industry would want to make it all better but a lot of them talk a good game but are full of shit. Oh well. It is what it is.
My saying will always be the same though, the only review that should matter to any individual is their own because logically, that’s the only one that should matter to anyone because after all, you’re the individual playing the game.
Very good opinion piece. I share most of the observations though without had the same insides as you now that you contribute to meta critics and open critics.
For me it is telling that the criteria for those sites is not diclosed to the public. The same goes with the TGA. I am not sure that is public knowledge who is voting on those awards. With the oscars there is a public list of the acadamy members at least.
I can absolutely live without number grades on reviews. In the end a review is just a POV on a game from a certain perspective. If I share the same perspective that is good and i usually take it into account in my decisions to play or not to play a game. And that is how it should be.
I also think that most people follow the same principles but with social media you only see the annoying back and forth between platform warriors (I do not say console warriors for a reason because that would exclude PC and we have all those groups doing their list wars).
Entirely agree with this.
The reason why it isnt is depressing. It’s because its not about celebrating games, its about selling ads for games before the biggest shopping season holiday.
Don’t like Geoff Keighley: If ever there was a man who loves himself Mr Keighley is it. Don’t agree with having fans voting for GOTY when most will go on sales and reviews.
So far the game I enjoyed this year is Still Wakes The Deep.
For another view of the Game of the Year controversy, The Game Theorists looked at who nominates the nominees and who votes for the Game of the Year. One word: DADDY.
and if you want to see what The Game Awards were like before Geoff Keighley got his mitts on them (you really don’t)
