Discussion What will be the 6 GOTY nominations at The Game Awards 2023?

[NabiscoFelt]

As of now Whats favourite Baldus gate 3 or TotK?

I'd probably say BG3, reception is insane and it probably feels fresher than ToTK. Plus feels more like a "gamer" title which I think would give it a TGA edge

yeah baldur gate 3 is a lock for a nomination, they would be blind to not nominate the game after the insane reception. As far as winning goes right now it's a race between it and totk with starfield as the possible favourite. We need to see starfield release and reception of course but if it gets the same reception as those 2 games it will probably win, right now though I'll say we have a 65% chance of baldur's gate 3 winning with a 35% for totk, the rest of the released games is not winning.

Yeah this seems like the best assessment to me. I don't personally think Starfield would hit the same MC/OC region as the other two, but anything above like a 93 would probably give it the edge imo combined with everything else

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

wonder if BG3 will get fucked over like Disco Elysium AKA critical acclaim but somewhat niche subgenre + mostly popular on PC, the GA judges seem to prefer ether first parrt or third parites that are also on playsation and xbox day 1

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

TOTK or Starfield will win TGA but BG3 will sweep the golden joystick and D.I.C.E, that's my bet

 

[Mister Gideon]

TGA is a product, and games that aren’t directly aimed at that product’s demographic rarely get more than a passing mention. TGA is not some prestigious institution whose awards should be in any way more notable than other companies or websites. It’s just louder than the others.

 

[doodlewhizz]

Best Indie is a category I don’t really have the breadth of knowledge to guess all the nominations, what do people think for that? The ones I can think of are:

• Chained Echoes (probably not due to the December release curse)
• Sea of Stars
• A Space for the Unbound
• Blasphemous 2?
• Dave the Diver?
• That horror-y fishing game I can’t remember the name of?

Dredge and Dave the Diver I think should be locks for Best Indie noms, they're the ones that seem to have received more coverage from major outlets than any other indie title so far this year. Viewfinder and Venba have also garnered some positive attention too.

Not going to speculate too much on games that haven't come out yet like Sea of Stars, but there'll also be titles like Goodbye Volcano High, Minneko's Night Market, Cocoon and Thirsty Suitors which could make an impact (though not sure on the latter as the release date is early Nov, not sure when the cut off is this year).

 

[Irene]

I think TotK is extremely likely for GotY of course but I think it’s even more likely for best game direction. It’s a weird category, but the actual creative, artistic and mechanical directions that TotK takes with its gameplay is just nothing short of astounding.

 

[Kreese]

I'd probably say BG3, reception is insane and it probably feels fresher than ToTK. Plus feels more like a "gamer" title which I think would give it a TGA edge


Yeah this seems like the best assessment to me. I don't personally think Starfield would hit the same MC/OC region as the other two, but anything above like a 93 would probably give it the edge imo combined with everything else

There are a lot of great games this year and BG3 is one of them, but in my opinion the hype for BG3 is somewhat manufactured because a vocal minority desperately want to see it surpass TOTK and Starfield. I mean, yeah... I'm streaming the game and it's pretty damn great but it's now the highest rated game ever? lol It begins to show chinks in its armour by act 2.

I'm seeing thinly veiled articles like this pop up everywhere:

PlayStation 5 RPG to rival Starfield beats Zelda on Metacritic

PlayStation 5 RPG to rival Starfield beats Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Metacritic.

www.gamingbible.com

As it stands it's only one point higher than TOTK on Metacritic with 120 less reviews. Its player count on Steam and early sales are impressive but we'll see what that actually translates to over the next X months. I don't think its cultural impact will be nearly as significant as what is attempting to be portrayed online. TOTK is a proven commodity with the most 10's ever on Metacritic and 18.5 million in sales already. Starfield looks incredible as well. Both of them have a lot more mainstream appeal that a CRPG. Mainstream appeal and sales are generally very important at TGA, while a Metacritic 97 vs. a Metacritic 96 is really splitting hairs and especially meaningless because a single review can completely change this narrative. MC scores are not what TGA is about.

 

[anothergamer100]

and it's not even like the underdog actually won any game of the year at theses awards, all the winners so far have sold well over 10 million copies

EDIT: and before anyone says "it takes two" that was the best-selling game out of the other nominees

to be fair Baldurs Gate is probably at 10 Million. Even Early access it was 2.5 Million sales, and since then its one of the highest concurrent users ever on Steam.

as for the GOTY, currently its 50-50 between BG3 and TotK. Starfield will have to be a 94+ game to have a chance. I think it might fall just short

 

[KarmaDesires]

There are a lot of great games this year and BG3 is one of them, but in my opinion the hype for BG3 is somewhat manufactured because a vocal minority desperately want to see it surpass TOTK and Starfield. I mean, yeah... I'm streaming the game and it's pretty damn great but it's now the highest rated game ever? lol It begins to show chinks in its armour by act 2.

playing ≠ streaming. Are you watching the streams just to find faults in the game? People who weren't interested in TOTK did the same thing to try muddy the waters.

 

[Kreese]

to be fair Baldurs Gate is probably at 10 Million. Even Early access it was 2.5 Million sales, and since then its one of the highest concurrent users ever on Steam.

as for the GOTY, currently its 50-50 between BG3 and TotK. Starfield will have to be a 94+ game to have a chance. I think it might fall just short

That's probably over double my current estimation. Concurrent users on Steam is a difficult yardstick to use to make these predictions because of how much Steam has grown in popularity over the last few years. Even cult games have looked like world beaters of late. I suppose we'll find out and I'm interested to see actual figures when announced.

playing ≠ streaming. Are you watching the streams just to find faults in the game? People who weren't interested in TOTK did the same thing to try muddy the waters.

Yes it does.

I'm playing (streaming) the game on Geforce Now and I have to say that I'm quite impressed with the service.

I'll do the same for Starfield. Anyone feeling trepidation about using the service should give it a go.

 

[hologram]

Wait some of y'all are now calling BG3 the favorite? Come on now

 

[thoughthaver]

Wait some of y'all are now calling BG3 the favorite? Come on now

it is funny seeing the thread go from "of course starfield will beat zelda what do you mean?" because of a showcase to "of course baldur's gate will beat zelda what do you mean?" cuz of a one point difference

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Really? I don't think so. I think if anything Red Dead Redemption 2 had much more revision to its appraisal. I mean it probably has the most famous example of the public (niche) opinion completely reversing I've ever seen since MGSV. Whereas at least with Ragnarok, the reception is still a bit too early to tell.

I feel like the popularity of NakeyJakey's RDR2 critique almost singlehandedly poisoned the well. You can't discuss the game without someone talking about how its physics are too annoying or how its missions are too linear.

RDR2 praise has definitely become more prominent lately. Not only are prominent former critics of it coming around to it and publicly admitting as much (such as Dunkey) but Rockstar’s subsequent blunders, the fact that no other open world game (or game) has approached what RDR2 does, or just the fact that six years later and three years into this generation, it’s still an unmatched technical showcase have all contributed to its reappraisal.

 

[Charamiwa]

That shift isn't arbitrary. BG3 GOTY has been a strong narrative for more than two weeks now. You see it from game journos on twitter, on gaming podcasts, pretty much everywhere. Gaming outlets are the one voting and right now there has been a very real push towards BG3. It's happening.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Yes it does.

I'm playing (streaming) the game on Geforce Now and I have to say that I'm quite impressed with the service.

I'll do the same for Starfield. Anyone feeling trepidation about using the service should give it a go.

I think they may have thought you’re streaming the game on Twitch or something (that’s what I thought lol)

 

[Leica]

I think someone posted this earlier but Starfield and BG3 will cannabalize each other's votes with how TGA's work, assuming Starfield is competent of course. TotK is still easily the favorite IMO but obviously it'll get some competition from a game scoring the way it is on aggregate review sites, it's not "manufactured hype" whatever the fuck that means.

 

[Kreese]

That shift isn't arbitrary. BG3 GOTY has been a strong narrative for more than two weeks now. You see it from game journos on twitter, on gaming podcasts, pretty much everywhere. Gaming outlets are the one voting and right now there has been a very real push towards BG3. It's happening.

Recency bias, hyperbole, and a narrative built up by.... a very small vocal % of the thousands of gaming journalists out there.

The narrative will shift again after Starfield releases and when that's not the latest thing and the dust settles, the true GOTY will become clearer.

I would actually venture to say very few people have 100%'ed BG3 or even TOTK at this point. The good thing is there is going to be plenty of time to go through all three of these games with a fine tooth comb before the voting begins.

 

[thoughthaver]

the twitter pundits and podcasters have spoken the final verdict, until the the next release that catches their attention

 

[FeiFongWong]

Where's the true goty option: Xenoblade 3 Future redeemed? Yeah, I know, no chance in hell it gets nominated

 

[Thunder84]

Any sweeping declaration for GOTY at this point is too early. BG3 is hyped to the moon right now, but so was Zelda after it launched, and if Starfield delivers then that will be too. I feel pretty confident it’s between those three, but we aren’t gonna have a great idea until the hype settles around all of them, which should happen around November or so.

With that being said, gun to head I’d give the edge to BG3 right now. Think it’s got a better chance at Game Direction, and whichever game wins that is probably gonna win GOTY too.

 

[SammyJ9]

wonder if BG3 will get fucked over like Disco Elysium AKA critical acclaim but somewhat niche subgenre + mostly popular on PC, the GA judges seem to prefer ether first parrt or third parites that are also on playsation and xbox day 1

How did Disco Elysium get fucked over? It was the most-awarded game of the show and even took Best Narrative and Best RPG. I remember it being a big story how well it did and how much it made people really take notice of it for being such a relatively small Indie game.

Unless you mean it not getting a nom for GOTY, which it probably should have so fair but it still did incredibly well.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

 

[balgajo]

My guess wasn't about BG3. Just feel that whichever game is critically acclaimed and feels fresh will probably have more awards than Totk, like what happened with Galaxy 2 and GOW: Ragnarok. For now:

FFXVI - Feels fresh but not that acclaimed. Don't think it will be that relevant.
BG3 - My bet.
Starfield - Feels fresh but need to wait for reviews.
Spider-Man 2 - May be acclaimed but for now doesn't feel fresh.
Wonder - At least from the trailer it feels fresh and may be critically acclaimed even though it doesn't seem to be the type of game to win awards. But nor BG3 looked initially imo.

 

[SuperFakerBros]

I’m not really disagreeing with that though. Both were very highly received and the clear top two. Most people just placed RDR2 as the favorite, and it winning a bunch of awards out the gate solidified that.

Go back and watch reactions to the announcement, and pretty much everyone was universally surprised. It had nothing to do with quality of the games, people had just incorrectly assumed as a collective that RDR2 was gonna win.

Hey, sorry, I thought my response went through. My bad

I could see most folk placing it as the favorite if we're talking about general audiences. I was mainly going off of the vibes I saw on places like Era and what not, where folk tended to lean more towards GoW and quite a few were very against RDR 2 being rated so highly

 

[balgajo]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

If the journalists had some bias against Zelda they wouldn't even give it high scores to begin with.

I’m not really disagreeing with that though. Both were very highly received and the clear top two. Most people just placed RDR2 as the favorite, and it winning a bunch of awards out the gate solidified that.

Go back and watch reactions to the announcement, and pretty much everyone was universally surprised. It had nothing to do with quality of the games, people had just incorrectly assumed as a collective that RDR2 was gonna win.

I felt this too. For such a long time people posted about the stuff that was possible in that game, new interesting discoveries, small details....
But maybe my own bias on how boring GOW looked led me to ignore its positive reception.

 

[xtoc]

Half a million people are playing Baldur's Gate 3 right now early this Friday morning. This is JUST on Steam. It was also launched on GOG (consoles come a month later). That is 3x the amount of RE4 at its peak. I do not see this number dropping substantially over the next few weeks. IMHO, the games that are being mentioned are great, but none of them actually change the industry (at least so far). Even Zelda TofK. What is new and innovative? Diablo IV is a reskin (okay, that might be a little harsh but it really is Diablo). Zelda TotK is perhaps even better than BotW but you could argue it is a GREAT DLC to BotW. Resident Evil 4 is pretty similar to other Resident Evil games, etc... That said, we do not know if Starfield or Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon will break the mode - they just might!

That is why I think Baldur's Gate 3 will be nominated. It literally raises the bar so high that it is an industry changer. All CRPGs will be compared to Baldur's Gate 3 for a LONG time.

BG3 maybe has currently the highest score on metacritic. But you can also look it differently. At this moment it has 19 10/10 scores while totk has almost 90 10/10. I didnt see any review bombing yet as the amount of reviews were so low. While bg3 is a really great masterpiece, it doesnt re-invent the wheel like totk did. Even almost 40 patents have been registered for this game alone if im not mistaken. About the discussion if it would be into the goty list, if it was pc only i would say no based on the small amount of reviews. But in begin september, it will release on ps5 which could help the game get more populairity.

 

[Lugia667]

of course the 2 week old game will feel fresher than the 3 month old one....

 

[Phendrift]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

Yeah it’s a bit annoying to see the same weak arguments used against BG3 that people also used to dunk on Tears.

Neither of these games will have anything to prove come GOTY season anyway. They’re both gonna settle at 95+ MC (we’ve had like 3 years out of the past 5 where NO new game achieved that) and they both have amazing WOM, are insanely popular and smashing sales records for their respective franchises as we speak. One “losing” to the other won’t be an indictment on its quality at all at that point, if it ever was.

Even more if Starfield joins the fray with similar reception.

 

[Plum]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

I definitely agree on the journalist's side of things. Though I do think that some - though thankfully not most - of the rhetoric surrounding BG3 has crossed more into what I'd call negative positivity, the 'Developers are SCARED of BG3' thing being the best example. What with that whole 'discourse' basically just being a bunch of gamers looking for an excuse to moan about their feelings towards the modern-day industry. Then there's the negative comments aimed towards those who simply pointed out that, cause BG3's review codes went out hella late, it still has barely any reviews to its name (even now it's got 100 less than TotK and about half of what Divinity: OS 2 got).

However, yeah, whilst fandom wars will always be a thing, the world isn't out to get Nintendo/Zelda and, if BG3 wins GOTY this year, it's 100% deserving of that award. This year is looking to be an all-time great when it comes to the sheer amount of quality titles being released, and whilst some will try to bring that down, I think - and hope - that most people will be able to see things for how good they really are.

 

[Kreese]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

Overall, this sentiment has some truth but it's also a simple fact of the matter that the media are not all the same person, they are not a hivemind, nor are they perfect or all created equally. One reviewer in particular that single-handedly knocked down the Zelda aggregate was actually smug enough to troll Zelda fans on social media during the review process.

Since the release of BG3, I have seen numerous articles from various outlets proclaiming BG3 has bested Zelda in reviews (such articles at this stage are dubious and clickbaitish to begin with when considering the disparity of the amount of reviews written) and proclaiming BG3 to be a "shoe-in" to win GOTY (again extremely dubious considering the competition this year that has/has not yet released). Truthfully, I've seen more suspect takes from media themselves than posters on fan sites like this one.

 

[Shiba]

At this point you could probably fill out 5 of the 6 positions already, assuming Starfield isn’t a dumpster fire.

Basically….Zelda, Baldur’s Gate, SpiderMan, Starfield and RE4. Last spot might be FF16 as I don’t think 2D Mario and SF6 would take that spot, especially SF6.

Maybe Armored Core but I heavily doubt it due to the type of game it is and I think this will probably be the lowest rated FromSoftware game in awhile(still low 80s)

 

[Dragoncaine]

I feel like people are projecting, TOTK being “too similar or iterative” wasn’t really a sentiment expressed in reviews despite the fact that you may feel that way lol.

The new gameplay and mechanics it added were very much mindblowing, even to developers. It created buzz on Twitter for quite a while after release, similar to its predecessor.

I agree that BG3 would probably be a better story for getting a GOTY win - underdog, niche genre, return of an IP after 20 years - and that TotK has less to “prove” given its sales and reception and that BotW already won the award, but I don’t think it being too similar would be a reason it loses.

Thanks for expressing exactly what I had to say. Some people like to take their personal beliefs and treat them as widespread, universal, or generally agreed upon. I liked the Barbie movie, but I didn't love it. That has no bearing on the ecstatic critical and commercial reaction to the film!

 

[thoughthaver]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

yeah whatever but baldur gate's discussion is really quite something with that whole "developers are scared of our game!!!" nonsense

 

[AngryAlchemist]

RDR2 praise has definitely become more prominent lately. Not only are prominent former critics of it coming around to it and publicly admitting as much (such as Dunkey) but Rockstar’s subsequent blunders, the fact that no other open world game (or game) has approached what RDR2 does, or just the fact that six years later and three years into this generation, it’s still an unmatched technical showcase have all contributed to its reappraisal.

That's cool if that's the case. I like the game a lot, and I think Arthur Morgan is one of the best gaming protagonists of all time. However, I still think there was more of a reappraisal of RDR2 post launch than there has been for GOW 2018 thus far. It's cool that RDR2 is seeing a wave of new praise, but it doesn't really change that it's been heavily criticized for years after the initial release. Also, Dunkey does that all the time. He did it for The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, and Death Stranding. So I wouldn't look too much into it, even if it's neat he likes the game more now.

Not that I think this is seriously worth arguing, mind you. Just saying what I've seen in countless discussions (I did notice the RDR2 appreciation in places like Era, too).

 

[AngryAlchemist]

Oh yeah that’s true enough. I think the overall consensus on FF16 is very positive. Not that there aren’t people who didn’t vibe with it, but that’s pretty clearly not how the majority viewed it.

Personally I’d give it to the Ghost Trick remaster to make up for the awards it should have won the first time it came out.

Same! I hope that we get a new Ace Attorney soon as well for compensation

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Overall, this sentiment has some truth but it's also a simple fact of the matter that the media are not all the same person, they are not a hivemind, nor are they perfect or all created equally. One reviewer in particular that single-handedly knocked down the Zelda aggregate was actually smug enough to troll Zelda fans on social media during the review process.

Since the release of BG3, I have seen numerous articles from various outlets proclaiming BG3 has bested Zelda in reviews (such articles at this stage are dubious and clickbaitish to begin with when considering the disparity of the amount of reviews written) and proclaiming BG3 to be a "shoe-in" to win GOTY (again extremely dubious considering the competition this year that has/has not yet released). Truthfully, I've seen more suspect takes from media themselves than posters on fan sites like this one.

But one reviewer (not even technically games media anymore, just a YouTuber) is not "the media". That is one person, and they are very much allowed to have their preferences (sure, flaming fans is bad form, but that's just who they are). Using this one example is like when Sony fans pretend GameSpot hates Sony because they gave TLOU an 8 or whatever. it's absurd.

The articles you see for BG3 existed for TOTK, for Elden Ring, for RDR2, for BOTW as well. Every time a new high scoring game comes out, it is compared to the relevant benchmarks. TOTK got a cavalcade of articles talking about how the metascore was higher than ER's. This is just SEO farming. There is no broader narrative.

yeah whatever but baldur gate's discussion is really quite something with that whole "developers are scared of our game!!!" nonsense

Which is a wilful misconstruing of what was originally said by IGN (it's Destin so I guess I am not surprised) as well

That's cool if that's the case. I like the game a lot, and I think Arthur Morgan is one of the best gaming protagonists of all time. However, I still think there was more of a reappraisal of RDR2 post launch than there has been for GOW 2018 thus far. It's cool that RDR2 is seeing a wave of new praise, but it doesn't really change that it's been heavily criticized for years after the initial release. Also, Dunkey does that all the time. He did it for The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, and Death Stranding. So I wouldn't look too much into it, even if it's neat he likes the game more now.

Not that I think this is seriously worth arguing, mind you. Just saying what I've seen in countless discussions (I did notice the RDR2 appreciation in places like Era, too).

Donkey is definitely willing to change his mind on things, yeah, he was just one example though! There is definitely more critical reappraisal of RDR2 now, thankfully, which is good, it's a good game and a staggering achievement, it deserves to be celebrated

 

[Kreese]

But one reviewer (not even technically games media anymore, just a YouTuber) is not "the media". That is one person, and they are very much allowed to have their preferences (sure, flaming fans is bad form, but that's just who they are). Using this one example is like when Sony fans pretend GameSpot hates Sony because they gave TLOU an 8 or whatever. it's absurd.

The articles you see for BG3 existed for TOTK, for Elden Ring, for RDR2, for BOTW as well. Every time a new high scoring game comes out, it is compared to the relevant benchmarks. TOTK got a cavalcade of articles talking about how the metascore was higher than ER's. This is just SEO farming. There is no broader narrative.


Which is a wilful misconstruing of what was originally said by IGN (it's Destin so I guess I am not surprised) as well


Donkey is definitely willing to change his mind on things, yeah, he was just one example though! There is definitely more critical reappraisal of RDR2 now, thankfully, which is good, it's a good game and a staggering achievement, it deserves to be celebrated

I don't think the behaviour of trolling a fanbase on social media during said review process should be taken so lightly, and it absolutely should be viewed sceptically given that the score that came out afterwards wound up being an outlier that actually lowered the aggregate. I would hardly compare the reviewer in question to Gamespot in terms of credibility as they are known for their controversial hot takes. Also, I certainly didn't see anywhere close (any at all?) the articles suggesting TOTK was going be a shoe-in to beat X specific game for GOTY because of its MC score even after 140 reviews, much less 20.

I reviewed games for sites on MC in prior gaming generations and Nintendo games were often met with rolling eyes. The entire review process from these sites was often far from professional. Take this with a grain of salt as this did happen a while ago (long before the Switch) but yeah... it is what it is and these are my experiences.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

I don't think the behaviour of trolling a fanbase on social media during said review process should be taken so lightly, and it absolutely should be viewed sceptically given that the score that came out afterwards wound up being an outlier that actually lowered the aggregate. I would hardly compare the reviewer in question to Gamespot in terms of credibility as they are known for their controversial hot takes. Also, I certainly didn't see anywhere close (any at all?) the articles suggesting TOTK was going be a shoe-in to beat X specific game for GOTY because of its MC score even after 140 reviews, much less 20.

I reviewed games for sites on MC in prior gaming generations and Nintendo games were often met with rolling eyes. The entire review process from these sites was often far from professional. Take this with a grain of salt as this did happen a while ago (long before the Switch) but yeah... it is what it is and these are my experiences.

They also do not have the same credibility that GameSpot does (in part because of their antics). I am not condoning a lot of their flamebaiting, I just think that this one singular reviewer obviously enjoys stoking the flames and people are wise to that, and the kind of casual person who would not be is also the person who would get to IGN, GameSpot, and Polygon long before they got to their YouTube channel.

As for the second point - I have worked across multiple sites for the last 13 years as well. I have never once seen an institutional anti-Nintendo bias or slant. Some people on the staff can often have strong dislike for them, but that is no different than people also having a strong dislike for Xbox or PS, which I also see all the time. And hey, maybe there are many outlets where there is an institutional slant or bias. I am not doubting that there are, nor am I disputing your experiences. But again, this is not unique to any particular anti-Nintendo sentiment. It happens for every company, sometimes it happens for developers and publishers, often it can be for entire genres ("real time strategy games are not real games" "JRPGs are not real RPGs" etc.). Easy Allies has a stronger dislike for Microsoft than the other two platform holders. EDGE and Eurogamer both seem to have a particular fondness for Nintendo games over the others. Outlets like Noisy Pixel or Kinda Funny seem to have a stronger affinity for PlayStation. It happens. It's not restricted to just Nintendo.

 

[Yoshifan31]

Without naming names, the endless whingeing by people who are convinced that the world is out to get Nintendo gets really tiring at the best of times, but especially now when there is zero reason to have that stance.

Zelda was treated fairly when it came out. It had a monopoly on critical hyperbole for three months. A new great game has come out and people are now raving over that. This is not because the industry was waiting for the first possible excuse to not acknowledge Nintendo, it’s because a great new game has come out and it has the benefit of freshness on its side. If it wins, it’ll be because people think it truly deserves it, not because people want Nintendo to not win (which is basically the Belda nonsense in reverse).

PC gamers are by very far the most instigative in platform warring, the narrative around BG3 is simply insane. It’s like their big moment of vindication, now they can go back saying shit like “JRPGs aren’t real RPGs, CRPGs are the true RPGs with the true emergent gameplay, PC games have better design than dumbed down console games, etc etc etc”. Every site under the sun reported the moment the game surpassed certain games on OC/MC with a fraction of reviews, no one batted an eye when certain VNs or Otome games did but when the savior of CRPGs does, no one cares about facts or perspective

I don’t mind TOTK getting humbled but the narrative would simply be insufferable if it actually did lose to a game that crashes. A game with crashes is simply dysfunctional and shouldn’t ever win GOTY, simple as that. Man I wish Silksong actually came out, it would be a much more interesting contender over two games that crash and a remake

 

[Kreese]

They also do not have the same credibility that GameSpot does (in part because of their antics). I am not condoning a lot of their flamebaiting, I just think that this one singular reviewer obviously enjoys stoking the flames and people are wise to that, and the kind of casual person who would not be is also the person who would get to IGN, GameSpot, and Polygon long before they got to their YouTube channel.

As for the second point - I have worked across multiple sites for the last 13 years as well. I have never once seen an institutional anti-Nintendo bias or slant. Some people on the staff can often have strong dislike for them, but that is no different than people also having a strong dislike for Xbox or PS, which I also see all the time. And hey, maybe there are many outlets where there is an institutional slant or bias. I am not doubting that there are, nor am I disputing your experiences. But again, this is not unique to any particular anti-Nintendo sentiment. It happens for every company, sometimes it happens for developers and publishers, often it can be for entire genres ("real time strategy games are not real games" "JRPGs are not real RPGs" etc.). Easy Allies has a stronger dislike for Microsoft than the other two platform holders. EDGE and Eurogamer both seem to have a particular fondness for Nintendo games over the others. Outlets like Noisy Pixel or Kinda Funny seem to have a stronger affinity for PlayStation. It happens. It's not restricted to just Nintendo.

I wouldn't say there was an institutional slant against Nintendo, but in my experiences these sites often seemed more interested in the free stuff they would get from X publisher than maintaining the quality of the review process... which lead to certain publishers receiving better treatment than others. Furthermore, colleagues were not all that different from forum posters with their rampant fanboyism and biases- these are the people reviewing games. This industry is filled with man-children and let's just say I wasn't in any way surprised to see powerful industry figures reduced to little more than schoolyard console-wars drivel when we got a sneak peak into their private emails during the recent Activision trial.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

I wouldn't say there was an institutional slant against Nintendo, but in my experiences these sites often seemed more interested in the free stuff they would get from X publisher than maintaining the quality of the review process... which lead to certain publishers receiving better treatment than others. Furthermore, colleagues were not all that different from forum posters with their rampant fanboyism and biases- these are the people reviewing games. This industry is filled with man-children and let's just say I wasn't in any way surprised to see powerful industry figures reduced to little more than schoolyard console-wars drivel when we got a sneak into private emails during the recent Activision trial.

I'm not arguing against any of that, I am just saying that it is not exclusive for Nintendo (and your own ActiBlizz trial example actually shows us how universal this behaviour and these attitudes are). Nintendo is not unique in the responses it provokes in the industry.

Every site under the sun reported the moment the game surpassed certain games on OC/MC with a fraction of reviews, no one batted an eye when certain VNs or Otome games did but when the savior of CRPGs does, no one cares about facts or perspective

A Perfect Metascore? We Play The Switch Game "Better Than Zelda: Breath Of The Wild"

The House In Fata Morgana Game Diary, Part 1

www.nintendolife.com

The first game to land a perfect Metacritic score is The House In Fata Morgana

Of all the games to hold a perfect 100 score on Metacritic, few would've expected it to be an updated re-release of a 2012 visual novel.

metro.co.uk

The House in Fata Morgana Dethrones Zelda as the Highest Ranking Metacritic Game

Metacritic has a new king; The House in Fata Morgana has unseated Ocarina of Time from its top spot.

goombastomp.com

???

This got reported on too. Obviously it didn't get as much traction because VNs are inherently a less popular genre (in which case you are… angry that people don’t like the same genre you do? Which, have at it, but it’s irrelevant to this discussion), but Fata Morgana was reported on when it broke the Metacritic threshold.

Seriously, this happens all the time, every counter example raised so far in this thread is only proving that some people have a strong case of confirmation bias.

 

[squinters]

PC gamers are by very far the most instigative in platform warring, the narrative around BG3 is simply insane. It’s like their big moment of vindication, now they can go back saying shit like “JRPGs aren’t real RPGs, CRPGs are the true RPGs with the true emergent gameplay, PC games have better design than dumbed down console games, etc etc etc”. Every site under the sun reported the moment the game surpassed certain games on OC/MC with a fraction of reviews, no one batted an eye when certain VNs or Otome games did but when the savior of CRPGs does, no one cares about facts or perspective

I don’t mind TOTK getting humbled but the narrative would simply be insufferable if it actually did lose to a game that crashes. A game with crashes is simply dysfunctional and shouldn’t ever win GOTY, simple as that. Man I wish Silksong actually came out, it would be a much more interesting contender over two games that crash and a remake

I honestly haven't seen anything related to the bolded. I mean, I'm sure there's always someone out there trying to stoke the flames, but by and large I haven't seen the populace make it something as triablistic as "pc vs consoles" or "jrpg vs crpg"

 

[Kreese]

I'm not arguing against any of that, I am just saying that it is not exclusive for Nintendo (and your own ActiBlizz trial example actually shows us how universal this behaviour and these attitudes are). Nintendo is not unique in the responses it provokes in the industry.

I can't say I fully agree with the bolded but to each their own.

In the different gaming circles I've attended, Nintendo is often seen as lesser by hobbyists for the simple fact that they left the power race generations ago. Hobbyists generally make up the videogame reviewer population and they also generally have an affinity powerful hardware... not to mention games that push fidelity. While a portion of them love Nintendo games, I've seen very little love for Nintendo themselves... a company that has been an outlier since they were outcast by third parties several generations ago. The money of the AAA gaming space is simply not behind them. They were targeted for being out of touch, kiddy and lesser by Sega in advertising campaigns since the 80's and the same narrative is still alive and well today... and it's not always unjustifiable either. For better and worse, Nintendo is Nintendo.

They are themselves very unique which is exactly why they provoke a unique response in the industry.

In any case, it's very possible that our personal experiences in the industry have differed which is also leading to our differing perspectives on the matter. It's been an interesting back and forth but obviously this is going a little off topic.

All things considered, TOTK received fantastic scores and I'm pleased that there's so many games this year that people are finding enjoyment in.

 

[anothergamer100]

RDR2 praise has definitely become more prominent lately. Not only are prominent former critics of it coming around to it and publicly admitting as much (such as Dunkey) but Rockstar’s subsequent blunders, the fact that no other open world game (or game) has approached what RDR2 does, or just the fact that six years later and three years into this generation, it’s still an unmatched technical showcase have all contributed to its reappraisal.

Yep I saw a twitter where people were asked the GOAT game. Lot of votes for Red Dead 2, Ocarina and BotW. This was before Tears of the kingdom and BG3 though

 

[AngryAlchemist]

I didn't realize how oppressed Nintendo was until reading this thread. Wow

 

[SpaceGodzilla]

Wonder if we should just shut this thread down at this point and make a new one closer to the actual VGA's the threads been pretty toxic for a while now

 

[Kreese]

I didn't realize how oppressed Nintendo was until reading this thread. Wow

I don't think oppressed is a the best word to use to describe a company as successful as Nintendo... arguably the most successful company in gaming history. The mainstream doesn't really care about any of this, and whether or not TOTK attains the GOTY award is fairly meaningless for Nintendo in the grand scheme of things... however, that doesn't change the fact that within the inner circles of this industry a certain attitude about Nintendo persists. There's a reason why many of us have moved over to this forum or Installbase (besides it kicking ass ).

 

[BotenAnna]

I don't think oppressed is a the best word to use to describe a company as successful as Nintendo... arguably the most successful company in gaming history. The mainstream doesn't really care about any of this, and whether or not TOTK attains the GOTY award is fairly meaningless for Nintendo in the grand scheme of things... however, that doesn't change the fact that within the inner circles of this industry a certain attitude about Nintendo persists. There's a reason why many of us have moved over to this forum or Installbase (besides it kicking ass ).

Can you elaborate more on these inner circles and certain attitudes I feel it's very important

 

[Yamanoi]

By the way awards shows dont matter to me at all. Hope you remember that. Now let me get back to me spending a lot of time arguing about awards shows that definitely don't matter to me because I need my favorite game to win or else the awards show that I don't care about is biased and catering only to the West.

 

[Kreese]

Wonder if we should just shut this thread down at this point and make a new one closer to the actual VGA's the threads been pretty toxic for a while now

It would appear so.