No matter what gets Game of the Year, you’ve already won

digitaltrends.com:

If there are only two things you can count on in the gaming world every year, it’s a new Call of Duty and game of the year awards.

From the big event stages of The Game Awards to best of lists from individual content creators and passionate fans, this is the time when everyone attempts to organize every game released this year into a “definitive” list. That is, and always has been, an impossible task. Besides the fact that no two people will appreciate the same piece of art in the same way, no one person could play all the games that come out in a single year.

Whether through nominations, votes, aggregate score, or individual preference, GOTY deliberations will always draw ire from fans who feel their favorite game was “snubbed” in favor of the more popular option. Even worse are those who feel so personally invested in their game winning that it sours their mood. In the end, that ends up being the most valuable aspect of the GOTY season for me: the conversations it sparks within the community.

• Game Awards 2024: the case for and against every Game of the Year nominee
• The Game Awards’ world premiere reveals just started two days early
• The Game Awards 2024: How to watch and what to expect

Word of mouth

Because of its size, reach, and production, Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards tend to dominate the headlines for GOTY talk. Just the announcement of the nominations sparks conversation and controversy across the internet in equal measure. I’m not here to condemn or condone the inclusion of things like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdree in the Game of the Year category, but I will say that whatever wins that award — or any other category — doesn’t really matter.

Instead of looking at any GOTY celebration, whether it be TGAs or even Digital Trends’ 10 best video games of 2024 (where Astro Bot took the top spot) as some kind of confirmation