The Game Awards Nominations Are Surprising
The Game Awards are making a play for respectability. The video game awards show is known for nominating games for sociopolitical reasons rather than their merit, sales, or popularity with gamers, and often snubbing games that many thought would be a shoo-in for recognition. This year, it was assumed that woke, DEI-influenced games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Star Wars Outlaws, and the failed Sweet Baby Inc. lineup would dominate while the popular stuff would once again be ignored. But this morning, the nominees were announced, and gamers were surprised to see Black Myth: Wukong nominated for Game of the Year, among several other categories. Black Myth: Wukong was a huge success, but it was derided for not being “inclusive” enough despite featuring a cast of anthropomorphic animals. Its developer, Game Science, also caught heat for some misinterpreted comments from producers and accusations of a sexist work environment. Other nominees for Game of the Year were also popular games, like ASTRO BOT, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and the Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree (which counts because its gameplay is over forty hours long). You can see the announcement below:
People are wondering what caused this sudden influx of integrity in The Game Awards, and I think it’s a combination of several things. One is the same thing that got the Oscars to institute changes over a decade ago: they were afraid of losing too much of their audience by nominating stuff nobody liked or cared about. For the Oscars, the inciting incident was the 2009 ceremony (which honored films from 2008) and its snubbing of The Dark Knight, a legitimate phenomenon of a movie that not only enthralled audiences but got rave reviews from critics who normally look down on superhero movies. Instead, the nominees were The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, The Reader, Frost/Nixon, and the winner, Slumdog Millionaire. Some of those are great movies (I never saw The Reader, and Benjamin Button was a tedious slog with no soul), but excluding The Dark Knight seemed to many like a ridiculous swipe at mass appeal. This resulted in the Academy changing the Best Picture nominations and allowing up to ten nominees instead of the previous five. In that respect, The Game Awards actually did it better than the Oscars; expanding the number of nominees was a meaningless gesture that wouldn’t matter when the winner was chosen, but nominating stuff gamers love above the garbage made for journalists and their BFFs from Berkley is a tangible change.
Another one that many are citing is The Real Game Awards, the ceremony started by Stuttering Craig of Side Scrollers as the first step in his “Take Games Back” movement. Craig intended The Real Game Awards to be a chance for gamers to have their voices heard instead of the games journalists that make up the voting panel for The Game Awards. It’s not hard to imagine this movement is bigger than anyone in mainstream gaming media wants to admit, and The Game Awards is responding by making changes like this, at least for one year, in response. “See? We held our noses and nominated all the games you liked, and we ignored the stuff we’d rather push, like Dragon Age: The Veilguard. You don’t need an alternative; just come back home.” And there is tangible evidence of this: Geoff Keighley, the creator of The Game Awards, is currently trying to copyright the term “game awards,” which is an obvious attempt to shut down The Real Game Awards. That means they’re scared. You can watch Smash JT’s video about that below:
The other factor is almost certainly the cultural shift happening in America. This has been clear to anyone paying attention, but corporations, studios, journalists, and the like are good at ignoring things they don’t like, counterintuitive though it may be. Games like Black Myth: Wukong and Stellar Blade are perceived as fingers in the eye of the woke machine, and they sold incredibly well, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard (with its transgender character and grating woke dialogue) is bombing, and Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement in anything has become a kiss of death. But – I know I keep talking about this, but it’s important – I believe the US Presidential election from two weeks ago was the sign they could no longer ignore. Americans (and probably many more across the world) are tired of this ideology, and there’s no way to qualify or rationalize it anymore. Now, various entertainment outlets are scrambling to save face and acquiesce to the majority. It’s only a matter of time until the Make Gaming Great Again memes launch.
Let us know what you think of the nominations for The Game Awards in the comments!
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