We Should Never Settle on the Meaning of 'Game of the Year' Means

The challenge of discovering fresh titles remains the video game industry's biggest existential threat. Despite the anxiety-inducing era of business acquisitions, rising revenue requirements, workforce challenges, the widespread use of artificial intelligence, storefront instability, changing player interests, progress somehow returns to the elusive quality of "achieving recognition."

This explains why I'm increasingly focused in "awards" more than before.

Having just some weeks remaining in 2025, we're firmly in GOTY season, a time when the small percentage of gamers not experiencing the same several no-cost competitive titles weekly complete their backlogs, argue about the craft, and understand that they too won't get everything. Expect exhaustive annual selections, and there will be "you missed!" reactions to these rankings. A player general agreement chosen by media, influencers, and fans will be issued at annual gaming ceremony. (Industry artisans weigh in next year at the interactive achievements ceremony and Game Developers Conference honors.)

All that sanctification is in good fun — there are no correct or incorrect answers when discussing the best games of the year — but the significance seem more substantial. Every selection made for a "game of the year", either for the prestigious top honor or "Top Puzzle Title" in fan-chosen honors, opens a door for wider discovery. A medium-scale adventure that received little attention at release might unexpectedly find new life by competing with better known (specifically heavily marketed) big boys. After last year's Neva was included in nominations for a Game Award, It's certain without doubt that numerous players quickly sought to check a review of Neva.

Historically, recognition systems has created minimal opportunity for the variety of games launched annually. The difficulty to clear to consider all feels like climbing Everest; nearly 19,000 releases came out on digital platform in 2024, while just 74 games — from new releases and live service titles to smartphone and VR exclusives — were represented across industry event finalists. When commercial success, conversation, and platform discoverability drive what gamers play each year, there's simply not feasible for the structure of honors to adequately recognize twelve months of releases. Still, potential exists for enhancement, assuming we accept it matters.

The Familiar Pattern of Industry Recognition

In early December, prominent gaming honors, one of interactive entertainment's oldest awards ceremonies, revealed its finalists. Even though the selection for Game of the Year proper occurs early next month, it's possible to see the direction: 2025's nominations created space for deserving candidates — major releases that have earned praise for polish and scale, hit indies received with AAA-scale hype — but in multiple of honor classifications, there's a obvious predominance of repeat names. Across the incredible diversity of art and mechanical design, top artistic recognition makes room for several open-world games located in feudal Japan: Ghost of Yōtei and Assassin's Creed Shadows.

"If I was designing a future GOTY theoretically," an observer commented in online commentary that I am amused by, "it should include a Sony exploration role-playing game with strategic battle systems, character interactions, and luck-based roguelite progression that incorporates chance elements and features light city sim base building."

Award selections, throughout official and informal forms, has grown foreseeable. Multiple seasons of finalists and victors has birthed a template for the sort of polished 30-plus-hour game can score a Game of the Year nominee. Exist games that never achieve GOTY or including "significant" creative honors like Creative Vision or Story, thanks often to innovative design and unusual systems. Many releases published in a year are destined to be ghettoized into genre categories.

Notable Instances

Hypothetical: Would Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, a game with review aggregate only slightly below Death Stranding 2 and Ghosts of Yōtei, achieve main selection of industry's GOTY selection? Or perhaps a nomination for superior audio (because the audio is exceptional and deserves it)? Unlikely. Top Racing Title? Certainly.

How good must Street Fighter 6 need to be to receive GOTY consideration? Might selectors evaluate unique performances in Baby Steps, The Alters, or The Drifter and see the most exceptional acting of the year lacking major publisher polish? Does Despelote's two-hour length have "enough" story to warrant a (earned) Top Story award? (Furthermore, should annual event benefit from a Best Documentary classification?)

Overlap in choices throughout multiple seasons — within press, within communities — demonstrates a system more favoring a certain time-consuming experience, or independent games that landed with sufficient attention to qualify. Problematic for a field where finding new experiences is paramount.

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