The Game Awards’ GOTY nominations have left players as divided as ever

With the end of another terrifying year on the planet Earth starting to draw to a close, the discourse around the games industry has inevitably begun to shift towards fruitlessly attempting to crown a game of the year.

For some gamers, this means voting for their favourite title to win the game of the year award at The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley’s winter event designed to celebrate the close of another twelve months of the medium.

Though, as ever, the nominations for the category of GOTY put forth by those organising the show have left some gamers disappointed and others delighted, leading them to head online and post about their views on the subject.

What’s your game of the year for 2022?

These beliefs are the subject of a recent Resetera thread, which began with user --R posting the list of nominees for the award, which consists of Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Stray.

Of these games, Stray’s nomination was seemingly the most polarising, with views on it ranging from user Prompto saying: “I’m happy Stray is up there. Really enjoyed it.” to RightChandMan declaring: “Stray was fun and cute, but not GOTY worthy.” and Neo_ladeen exasperatedly asking: “What is Stray doing on that list?”

Some who landed in the latter camp went so far as to suggest some indie games they thought deserved to make the cut over Stray, with user Dest shouting out Neon White, while Arn nominated Tunic and Rosebud declared: “Vampire Survivors was robbed.”

Of the titles that will be in consideration, Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok were viewed as the two most likely winners, with user Z6E1Z9O saying: “While I loved all of these games, I think the real competition is between God of War and Elden Ring, (there’s) no way a game outside of those 2 will win the GOTY.”

However, user subpar spatula suggested that things might not be as simple as that, theorising: “I am going to say Stray wins because everyone will be like, ‘everyone else is gonna vote for Elden Ring or God of War, so my vote doesn't count and so I gave it to the cat’ and that is how the cat will win.”

Regardless of whether you think Stray is destined to sneak out a surprise win, make sure to follow us for reaction to the eventual results of The Game Awards and in-depth coverage of both God of War Ragnarok and Elden Ring.