Why Shroud's Games Award GOTY criticism makes no sense

Streamer Shroud recently asked their viewers to vote for an extraction shooter ARC Raiders above Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in The Game Awards 2025, but his argument doesn't make much sense. ARC Raiders It has instantly become one of the most popular new releases of the year, with millions of gamers flocking to the extraction shooter across PC and consoles. Clair ObscurMeanwhile, is a critically-acclaimed turn-based RPG that has earned rave reviews for its incredible soundtrack and emotionally charged story.

Sports Awards 2025 nominees are yet to be announced, but many are in agreement Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are in the forefront to win the top prize. ARC Raiders Although less guaranteed than being nominated for a GOTY, there is still a chance Campaign 33. However, Shroud has stirred some controversy by telling his audience, “We have to make sure. [ARC Raiders] Wins game of the year. Don't let that campaign game win game of the year. Don't let it happen. Don't do it at all. We all have to come together to win this game.” Shroud later pointed out that the last time a multiplayer game won a GOTY was Overwatch Won in 2016.

List of Game of the Year winners

2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition
2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2016: Overwatch
2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2018: God of War
2019: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
2020: The Last of Us Part 2
2021: It takes two
2022: Alden Ring
2023: Baldur's Gate 3
2024: Astro Bot

Six of the 11 Game Awards GOTY winners are purely single-player experiences. Dragon Age: Exploration, It takes two, Alden Ringand Baldur's Gate 3 All are co-op, together It takes two Apparently only playable via co-op. Overwatch Winning GOTY is the only pure competitive multiplayer game, while Alden Ring A mix of cooperative and competitive multiplayer elements.

Kafan was probably referring to purely competitive multiplayer games with his comments, and meant the only winner that fits. Overwatch. The problem then becomes which groundbreaking competitive multiplayer games should have won out over these other games? Can be prosecuted PUBG: Battlefield As it popularized the battle royale genre, many would say it should be beat The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild In 2017? PUBG It was in early access when it was due for GOTY controversy and was riddled with serious technical problems. Then there is Fortnite. Following in the footsteps of Epic's BR PUBGBut it managed to surpass it completely and become one of the most popular games of all time.

FortniteBR was released in early access in 2017, the same year PUBG was nominated. It didn't have its proper 1.0 release until 2020, when it was nominated for Best Running Game and Best Community Support. muddiness of Fortnite's early access status caused confusion and possibly sabotaged its chances of being nominated for a GOTY, but regardless, if it was nominated in 2017, it should have won against. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Breath of the Wild One of the highest rated video games ever made, it is currently ranked sixth according to review aggregate site Metacritic. FortniteIts cultural influence is incredible, but few really consider it a better game Breath of the Wild?

If we say Fortnite Should be eligible in 2020, which makes things a little more interesting. The Last of Us Part 2 A highly controversial game, but mainly for story reasons as opposed to its gameplay, which even its biggest haters will admit is top-notch. Some might argue that Fortnite 2020 was more than deserved The Last of Us Part 2But even though 2020 was the year of its 1.0 release, it was already years old and was nominated in other categories instead. maybe Call of Duty: Warzone It should have been nominated that year because of how popular it was during the pandemic, but the game has also received its fair share of unpopular updates and suffers from a serious cheater problem. It was confusingly presented as both a standalone thing and a mod for 2019 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare the game

There is already a great multiplayer game award

One of Shroud's suggestions was that there should be a single-player GOTY and a multiplayer GOTY. The thing is, The Game Awards already has an award that recognizes the best multiplayer game. Whether a class always obeys meaningful rules (Call of Duty: Warzone Was nominated in 2020 but defeated in 2018 between us), is one thing, but the prize exists.

Best Multiplayer Game Winners at The Game Awards

2014: N/A
2015: Splatoon
2016: Overwatch
2017: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
2018: Fortnite
2019: Apex Legends
2020: Between Us
2021: It takes two
2022: Splatoon 3
2023: Baldur's Gate 3
2024: Helldivers 2

Until the 2015 Game Awards, the Best Multiplayer category did not exist Splatoon Picking up the prize. Overwatch Won in 2016, later PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, between us, It takes two, Splatoon 3, Baldur's Gate 3and finally, Hell Diver 2. Moreover between us Despite the 2018 game winning in 2020, the Best Multiplayer category seems to largely hit the most popular newly-released multiplayer games, depending on the definition of multiplayer. what possible should do The multiplayer is divided into categories. Perhaps the Game Awards would benefit from a category specifically for co-op games, and another specifically for competitive multiplayer games. Years of winning co-op games, eg It takes two and Baldur's Gate 3There weren't really any big new competitive multiplayer games nominated anyway, but it would still be nice to have that distinction.

Shroud won Content Creator of the Year at the Game Awards 2019 and was nominated for Trending Gamer in 2017.

Game Awards 2025 host Geoff Keighley has made no announcement about potentially splitting the multiplayer category between competitive and co-op. But for now, there's still the all-inclusive GOTY Award, as it should be, and a separate award for Best Multiplayer so the best co-op and PvP experiences are still recognized. The Sports Awards 2025 will take place on December 11 and the nominees are yet to be announced at the time of this writing.