The nominations for the 2024 Game Awards are set to be announced later today (Nov. 18), but buzz about the event has turned to the unusual choice to allow DLC, expansion packs, season passes, remakes, and remasters eligible for the Game of the Year (GotY) award.
This decision, revealed on Nov. 17, could potentially push many GotY hopefuls out of the running, with Elden Ring’s 2024 DLC Shadow of the Erdtree now likely a top contender.
With DLC Eligible for GotY at the Game Awards, is Shadow of the Erdtree a Winner?
Elden Ring could once again pick up awards with the change to the GotY rules for 2024. Image Credit: FromSoftware
2024 has been a great year for games, with surprising titles like Balatro, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Black Myth: Wukong, and Stellar Blade all earning praise and accolades. Many had even pointed to the poker rogue-like as a potential GotY candidate, and one of the few indie titles to potentially pick up the title.
But with the rule change that would allow DLC, expansions, and remasters eligible to win GotY at the Game Awards, Balatro and others could lose out to the critically acclaimed Shadow of Erdtree. This seems like daylight robbery given that DLC hasn’t been eligible in the past.
If it had, going back through the Game Awards’ decade of results, then it’s like that some legendary DLCs such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine in 2016, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne in 2019, and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty in 2023 could have all taken home GotY awards.
Instead, this move feels it was deliberately made to give Elden Ring its second set of awards, while ensuring that non-AAA games are relegated back to the genre and indie categories where they “belong.”
Balatro is seen by many to be a prime contender for GotY Image Credit: Esports.net
It’s also a bizarre move given that DLCs and seasons passes already have an award – The Best Ongoing Game, which has existed since 2017, and was won by Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty in 2023. Surely Shadow of Erdtree would fall into this category rather than any other?
But the unfortunate reality of the Game Awards is that they’re not really about celebrating the best in gaming. They’re about advertising new games. More time is given over each year to previews and reveals than anything about games, and more time is set aside for celebrities and Geoff Keighley speeches than celebrating the industry.
As someone who has contributed to the Game Awards voting in the past (albeit as part of the Esports section of the awards), the awards have always been a way for those selected to attempt to guess the “right answer” to the award question and seem super smart for doing so.
In the esports section, games like League of Legends and VALORANT end up winning again and again because they dominate the scene. And even if Faker does deserve another ‘esports player of the year’ award, it always feels hollow, because most people can’t even name another esports player.
This is mirrored in the mainline gaming awards, because you have to be seen as voting for the “right” games. You have to like the big hard souls-like hack-and-slash, and the awesome poker rogue-like that you’ll actually play for years loses out.
I guess this is just a really long way of saying, if Balatro loses to the dodge roll in a swamp game, I’m rioting.