The Game Awards Promises Big Announcements And My Predictions For Winners

Video Games

Dec 12

The Game Awards poster — Image Source: Gamespot

It’s that time of year again. Snow in the air, carols at the door, and the Game Awards are coming. The Game Awards is the time to shine a light on the video game industry and recognize the hard work done by the developers and artists in the field. These days, it’s even more pertinent given the turmoil the industry suffered, and continues to suffer, at the beginning of the year.

Hosted and organized,by Geoff Keighley, it’s also usually a time to announce new games and show updated trailers for games coming next year. After the demise of E3, it serves as a mid-year (on the Con calendar) showcase of upcoming releases to tide gamers over until the summer.

Speaking of which, Keighley revealed that there will be two “holy shit” announcements at the Game Awards tomorrow, at the minimum. There is, of course, a lot of speculation as to what those announcements would be. Two of the biggest things that are supposed to come next year are the successor to the Switch, which still has yet to be confirmed with a release date, and Grand Theft Auto VI, which was announced, but currently has no release date.

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The are several categories that range from Game of the Year (GOTY) to Best ESports Team. Nominees are chosen by tallying the top five games selected by a jury of over 100 gaming publications around the world and influencers. Then, that same jury casts their ballots for the winner. There is a public influence to it as well, with about 10% of the winner’s votes coming from open-to-the-public ballots.

This year’s nominees for Game of the Year are Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII; Rebirth, and Metaphor: Refantazio. There is some slight drama with these nominees, especially with the inclusion of Shadow of the Erdtree, because it’s not really a full game, it’s a DLC. There were similar issues with some of the nominees last year involving the Indie Game category and what qualifies as an indie game.

All things considered, I suspect that the winner of GOTY will come down to either Astro Bot or Black Myth: Wukong. I think there could be a surprise in Metaphor: Refantazio, but it’s hard to say. Astro Bot might get edged out by Black Myth: Wukong because it is restricted to the PlayStation console, and Black Myth enjoyed massive praise across numerous markets. Each game is highly reviewed and well made, but making a judgement on collective popularity here, I would have to say I think Black Myth: Wukong will win out.

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