It’s shockingly dumbed down because no one buys their other games
Immersive Sims do not sell lmao
That’s completely fair, and actually a decent argument for why it should win awards or acclaim from journalists who prefer dumbed-down games over interesting ones. It is just not a move that was intended to please Arkane’s fanbase or past supporters.
However you want to cut it, Forza Horizon 5 is a glaring omission.
It should break the silence within the industry as to why certain genres - regardless of critical or commercial success - are simply not considered for nominations for certain categories.
Never has it been more glaringly obvious when the highest rated game of the year is a racing game that amassed over 9 million players in its first week.
Absurd.
Video games are video games.
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It takes two should win. It has the most soul out of everything on that list.
I enjoyed Deathloop but I hope Redfall is a better evolution of their design process.
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I ran some numbers
Am I wrong?
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Just to play devils advocate for a bit, people have likened the game awards to gaming Oscars etc.
This is very similar, the best reviewed and most seen films don’t always even get nominated for the big awards. Game journos are voting for these awards and I can see why they might pick the ones they did over Forza.
One distinction is that everyone voting for the Oscars can easily go to a cinema to see a movie, stream it and they get sent our screeners to all the films. Where as gaming still has the console divide with exclusivity. So there might be a lean toward multi or dominant platform console.
Also, for me anyway forza and racing games in general just aren’t that memorable. Forza is an incredibly well made game but when I chose to stop playing it, I wont think about it again. There is no interesting mechanics like It Takes Two or Deathloop, no amazing story like Psychonauts or no iconic pull of a resident evil or metroid.
Forza very much is the Marvel film equivalent in video games, its incredibly well made, shit tons of people will see it and be entertained by it, it will get great reviews…and not win any of the big awards.
obvs there are outliers like Black Panther
I remember Half Life Alyx (93 OC) last year but I don’t remember if it was the highest. Although it was way way more niche that Forza in this case (but never played it).
This is not accurate. Jeff Grubb is a part of the panel and he mentions that everyone on the jury has to play the games.The issue is purely prejudice.
Play every game or play the games that they are nominating ? That is an important difference.
I haven’t played it yet, but it seems to be designed to be more action-based than their previous games. That’s not a failure, that’s just aiming at a different target. Maybe a target you prefer less, that’s fair, but I wouldn’t necessarily call that “dumbed down”.
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Iirc He mentioned that they play all games that are nominated- otherwise you have a jury without a common standing.
The second issue beside just pure prejudice is also that they are squeezed for time, playing all the nominations.
An Oscar movie is just a 2 hr investment per movie for tbe reviewer. Here it takes a toll on them.
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I think you might have misunderstood because Jeff Gertsmann (also on the jury) said the exact opposite this week on the Bombcast. They can’t require people to play everything.
The nominations are from a larger group, I think.
But asking for all the games to be played might not be possible and even practical in any game award --it is only nominated games beyond a threshold that have to be weighed thoroughly.
That is the discussion - does ‘everything’ mean ALL games or does ‘everything’ mean ALL nominations.
If they can’t even play all nominations then bringing out pitchforks against thr TGAs is fully justified.
They are then admitting to a crucial flaw due to capacity, and we have to stand by and watch a deficient decision making process.
There’s no requirement to play anything. (Same as the Oscars and every other award show, unfortunately). And I’m sorry, but that’s just not feasible. The “jury” is not actually made of individual people, it’s publications. For examble, Ryan McCaffrey doesn’t get a vote, IGN does. The staff of the publication comes to a consensus and then submit their votes. So then everyone on the staff of all these places have to play all these games? That’s impossible. They have to spend the year playing what their editors assign to them, mostly.
I refuse to believe that people that review games didn’t fucking play the biggest launch of the year.
FH5 not being there just cements the massive joke this show is, only good for the reveals, that’s actually why they have the world premiers, no one would watch it otherwise.
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The Oscars has a recommendations model for what can enter into the nominations (LA movie screenings), and how the nominations are to be funnelled through all members of the jury for a common standing.
No one is asking ppl to be pigeonholed into a week for a common gaming session. But a common model that has been published and spread through the year is fair.
In the absence of a common well published model where 90% and over members of the jury have played the games nominated – you will instead end up with arbitrary memories of what constituted a good games and ambient biases and prejudices like what we are seeing now.
Play through the year, but have rules and laws so that all the members end up playing the nominations for a common decision base.
If you think about this a bit more, it actually makes scores like OC/MC worthwhile too.
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Absolutely, which makes it harder to come to a consensus
Exactly, and even if they did play ‘everything’ the question would be for how long did they play them ?
People have been saying since forza launched that they didn’t think a racing game would win Game of the Year. It wasn’t because the game isn’t good but that you wouldn’t get a consensus from game journalists that it should win. You will probably see this reflected in individuals end of year lists.
That’s just not gonna work. The Game Awards doesn’t pay these people’s paychecks. If Keighley tried to dictate what they have to play to participate, they’re all gonna tell him to get fucked. They are doing him the favor by voting, not the other way around.
The reason he does do it by publication is that hopefully at least SOMEONE on each staff has played each game and can advocate for it or not, but that’s the best you’re gonna get.
It’s an imperfect process and always will be. All award shows are. They are made up of humans, it cannot be done objectively. That’s why I don’t get why people get so upset by it. It’s a fun show, but it’s not something to take overly serious. If your games win, great, bonus!