Getting nominated for The Game Awards doesn’t mean anything at all anymore

The Game Awards has announced its nominees for Game of the Year 2025 and all its other categories – and none of it is surprising.

Game of the Year is clearly the most “important” category in the annual award show, which has basically become just corporate slop. It’s cool to see some indies in there, but it’s not like they’re shocking picks or anything. The entire year has been spent talking about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hades 2, and Hollow Knight: Silksong, and here they are.

I have actually attended the Game Awards multiple times, as it’s hosted just down the street from me. Even in person, I didn’t feel that gaming spirit. I remember one year, the cast of Fast & Furious showed up. Like okay. This is just another boring attempt to make gaming mainstream and safe.

The only interesting things that have happened at the Game Awards are that long, emotional speech by Swen Vincke was cut off to stick to some mundane schedule nobody gives a crap about, and when that crazy man found his way on stage to accuse Bill Clinton of being a rabi or something.

Do people even care about getting an award at the Game Awards?

I feel like you’d be hard-pressed to find people boasting that they won some award at the Game Awards since it really has no weight or meaning. It’s like getting the Perfect Attendance award in middle school. Who actually respects the Game Awards as some serious gaming event when it’s basically just some cringe mainstream generic slop?

Remember how QTCinderella made her own streaming award show since the Streamy Awards was super corporate and didn’t really represent the actual streaming community? (The Streamer Awards also ended up being a super cringe, boring inside joke-fest between popular streamers, but that’s besides the point.) We need someone to step in and make a game award show that actually feels connected to the gaming community and its games.

Because the Game Awards feel like the department store of video game culture. They place well-dressed celebrities in the front row, charge hundreds for tickets, have “special” appearances by random famous people… It’s all so forced.

It doesn’t feel like a celebration of real gamers.

Game Awards 2025 nominees

In case you care, here are the nominees for for this year’s corporate snoozefest:

Game of the Year

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Best Art Direction

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2 On the Beach
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Audio Design

• Battlefield 6
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Silent Hill f

Best Game Direction

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Hades 2
• Split Fiction

Best Multiplayer

• Arc Raiders
• Battlefield 6
• Elden Ring: Nightreign
• Peak
• Split Fiction

Best Narrative

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
• Silent Hill f

Best Performance

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Jennifer English
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Ben Starr
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Charlie Cox
• Ghost of Yōtei – Erika Ishii
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Troy Baker
• Silent Hill f – Konatsu Kato

Best Score & Music

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Action

• Battlefield 6
• Doom: The Dark Ages
• Hades 2
• Ninja Gaiden 4
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Split Fiction

Best Family Game

• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Lego Party
• Lego Voyagers
• Mario Kart World
• Sonic Racing Crossworlds
• Split Fiction

Best Fighting Game

• 2XKO
• Capcom Fighting Collection 2
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
• Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection
• Virtua Fighter 5 REVO

Best Independent Game

• Absolum
• Ball X Pit
• Blue Prince
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong

Best Mobile Game

• Destiny Rising
• Persona 5: The Phantom X
• Sonic Rumble
• Umamusume: Pretty Derby
• Wuthering Waves

Best Ongoing Game

• Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail
• Fortnite
• Helldivers 2
• Marvel Rivals
• No Man’s Sky

Best RPG

• Avowed
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• The Outer Worlds 2

Best Sports/Racing Game

• EA Sports FC 26
• F1 25
• Mario Kart World
• Rematch
• Sonic Racing Crossworlds

Best Strategy/Sim Game

• Civilization 7
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
• Jurassic World Evolution 3
• The Alters
• Tempest Rising
• Two Point Museum

Best VR/AR Game

• Alien: Rogue Incursion
• Arken Age
• Deadpool VR
• Ghost Town
• The Midnight Walk

Best Adaptation

• A Minecraft Movie
• Devil May Cry
• Splinter Cell Deathwatch
• The Last of Us season 2
• Until Dawn

Community Support

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Final Fantasy 14
• Fortnite
• Helldivers 2
• No Man’s Sky

Debut Indie Game

• Blue Prince
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Despelote
• Dispatch
• Megabonk

Games for Impact

• Consume Me
• Despelote
• Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
• South of Midnight
• Wanderstop

Best Esports Game

• Counter-Strike 2
• Dota 2
• League of Legends
• Mobile Legends Bang Bang
• Valorant

Best Esports Athlete

• Brawk
• Chovy
• Forsaken
• Kakeru
• Menard
• Zywoo

Best Esports Team

• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• NRG (Valorant)
• Team Falcons (Dota 2)
• Team Liquid PH (Mobile Legends Bang Bang)
• Team Vitality (Counter-Strike 2)

Content Creator of the Year

• Caedrel
• Kai Cenat
• MoistCr1tikal
• Sakura Miko
• The Burnt Peanut

Most Anticipated Game

• 007 First Light
• Grand Theft Auto 6
• Marvel’s Wolverine
• Resident Evil Requiem
• The Witcher 4