We've been treated to the full list of nominations for The Game Awards 2021 today, which takes place on December 9th, and Xbox and Bethesda are leading the pack by some distance with a whopping 20 nominations in all.
The Xbox Game Studios nominations for each category are as follows:
- Deathloop (Game of the Year)
- Psychonauts 2 (Game of the Year)
- Deathloop (Best Game Direction)
- Psychonauts 2 (Best Game Direction)
- Deathloop (Best Narrative)
- Psychonauts 2 (Best Narrative)
- Deathloop (Best Art Direction)
- Psychonauts 2 (Best Art Direction)
- Deathloop (Best Score And Music)
- Deathloop (Best Audio Design)
- Forza Horizon 5 (Best Audio Design)
- Deathloop (Best Performance - Jason Kelley)
- Deathloop (Best Performance - Ozioma Akagha)
- Forza Horizon 5 (Innovation In Accessibility)
- Deathloop (Best Action Game)
- Psychonauts 2 (Best Action/Adventure)
- Age Of Empires IV (Best Sim/Strategy)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (Best Sim/Strategy)
- Forza Horizon 5 (Best Sports/Racing)
- Starfield (Most Anticipated Game)
As you can see, both Psychonauts 2 and Deathloop are particularly well represented, with the latter remaining a PlayStation exclusive for now due to an agreement that was finalised prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda.
You'll be able to find out the winners and catch all the action at The Game Awards 2021 here on Pure Xbox this December, and hopefully Xbox Game Studios might even grab the Game of the Year award in the process!
If you want to vote for yourself, you can do so over at the official Game Awards website right now.
What do you think of these nominations? Let us know down in the comments section below.
Comments 49
No Nintendo game! And still fanboys tell me on Nintendo Life that Nintendo make the same amount of quality games these days.
This is what Microsoft wanted, to have quality exclusives after the quiet years of the Xbox One launch. What they have achieved from the Xbox One S days until today is incredible.
Really shocked at the game of the year contenders, no Forza, no Returnal and no tales of Arise? Yet deathloop is there
I voted for resident evil village as that's best game out of that list I've played this year.
Also why do they keep saying Bethesda seperate to xbox? Shouldn't it just be xbox
@BlueOcean Nintendo had nominees in a few categories and Metroid Dread is up for game of the year (somehow)
Oops, this list is missing the Sony and Nintendo games. My bad, I read it too quickly looking for any Nintendo game.
Also, no love for Deaths Door in any category 😑
@UltimateOtaku91 it was nominated for indie game of the year. It's not on the list because it wasn't t published by XGS. It's a Devolver Digital game.
I haven't played Tales of Arise yet but a friend of mine did and told me it's one of the best RPGs ever. Forza Horizon 5 got the Best Sports/Racing nomination but of course deserve the Game of the Year nomination more than Metroid Dread and others (I haven't checked Sony's nominations yet).
Apparently racing games are not games, that's the only explanation for FH5 not being nominated for GOTY.
@Magabro Exactly.
The Xbox/Bethesda tag on The Game Awards tweet is ridiculous because Bethesda is part of ZeniMax and ZeniMax is part of Xbox Game Studios so they should just say that. It's like saying Sony/Insomniac or Nintendo/Monolith Software 😂.
@UltimateOtaku91 Forza and Tales suffer from being able to be put into one of their categories. People figured that’s good enough. :/
Where can I see all nominations? The official website is a mess.
@BlueOcean Gematsu https://www.gematsu.com/2021/11/the-game-awards-2021-nominees-announced
@BlueOcean to be fair, Xbox themselves are keeping XGS and Bethesda as two separate publishers.
This kinda reminds me of the Ballon d'or. There's the top scorer award already in the golden boot but best player is also almost always the top scorer. Best player could be any position...best game could be any genre. It's the best overall without boundaries.
End of the day it's a handful of folks picking their favorites, it's never going to not be biased. Enjoy what you enjoy folks, don't need others permission to be happy. Just ask any necrophiliac...they ain't looking for your consensus.
Every publisher is doing a great job. And Xbox is back in town. Amazing year for the greens.
These things are largely meaningless, that being said Forza was robbed here!
Metroid Dread absolutely deserves its nomination. It’s certainly the best game Nintendo put out this year and is already being compared to Super Metroid for best game in the franchise. That is nothing to sneeze at.
As someone that played and loved Tales of Arise I wouldn’t consider it a GOTY candidate personally, loved too many other games more.
Regardless I’m rooting for Psychonauts 2 in every category it’s nominated in since that’s my GOTY and SMT V for best RPG.
Death’s Door also deserved more.
I can’t believe sea of thieves isn’t nominated for ongoing game. With season passes, the pirates of the Caribbean content and underwater dungeons.
@uptownsoul Drink some water mate, nobody cares
Forza Horizon 5 the highest NEW reviewed score game of 2021 92 Meta.
GAME OF THE YEAR.
This awards thing is a joke.
@BlueOcean
Nintendo true in house studios have done nothing since the original start of the console and the big AAA releases.
Shows how tiny their own in house studios are and when you think about it, they don’t even have to make them look like top graphically looking games which would reduce production time.
Let’s remember most of their games like Yoshi, Kirby etc etc are not their in house studios.
Serious question as a player does anyone really care about these?
To me they are just another advertising thing by which if they win something they add it to their advertising blurb but if I wasn't already interested in said game it wouldn't change my mind
Congratualtions Xbox + Bethesda
A great year. Well done.
If your favourite game wasn't nominated it doesn't matter. You don't need someone else to validate your choices! There's always going to be personal favourites that don't make it.
@UltimateOtaku91 I believe a part of the Bethesda buyout included keeping the Bethesda name, this is why we saw the 'Xbox x Bethesda' event at E3. It's also smart business Bethesda is a beloved brand, that mindshare is worth something. Completely removing it immediately would be like throwing away part of what they bought.
@BlueOcean I don't think Zenimax had the same mindshare so that has been pushed aside.
And people were right, I was so hoping FH5 would make the overall GOTY category, it's not a niche (racer) game, it surpassed 8 million players like 2 days ago.... highest rated new game of the year and one of the most played and not in the goty discussion is just heresy imo.
@Magabro @UltimateOtaku91 @Dezzy70 There's always going to be games we personally like that don't make the list. That's life. Half Life: Alyx missed out last year despite being even higher rated that FH5.
But the Game Awards are voted for by over 100 gaming and news publications plus select youtubers. From Edge to Eurogamer, IGN to Kinda Funny, The Guardian to Easy Alies making it the widest awards jury of all the critics awards.
They're pretty open about their selection policy for the nominees.
https://thegameawards.com/voting-jury
and
https://thegameawards.com/faq
For the awards winners those votes count for 90% of the vote while the fans count for 10%. This allows fans to swing many wins but prevents social engineering which has been a problem on other fan voted awards like The Golden Joysticks.
Ultimately awards shouldn't matter, like what you like, no one needs validation.
Flightsim nominated (again) is really odd, it won last years sim/strategy catergory, and now nominated again for the same category.... hmmm, thought there was a strict rule for being nominated , only new games, no remaster/remakes... why not nominate Hades again, was new for me this year.... and one of my most played and loved games
@Carck @BBB Yep, just a conversation starter.
It's been a great year for Xbox Game Studios and that has been rewarded with a boatful of awards. Kudos.
@TheSilverFalcon Yes noticed that too about Flight sim. Very odd. Sometimes games are nominated in a different year to when they launched because they only get traction later (e.g Among Us, Hollow Knight) but that does seem odd/wrong that this was nominated in the same category twice, in successive years.
On FH5: There's always going to be games that divide us, that's normal and OK. Despite the fact I love it, personally it wouldn't have made my GOTY list as to ME it's too similar to FH4. But everyone's list is different. With only 6 selections there's always great games that miss out.
@Dezzy70 and I were discussing this elsewhere (we get about lol) but I also think Forza launching the same week that voting entries were due from the 100+ publishers and YouTube channels on the Jury that vote for TGA may have also worked against it. Many would have dipped in but few would have put dozens of hours into it.
Interesting Starfield will be in the predicament next year too launching days before (11/11) the votes are due, it might even be pushed to the awards in 2023.
@Magabro Yes but isn't ZeniMax part of Xbox Game Studios? The publishing arm was also acquired. My understanding is that ZeniMax/Bethesda are physically independent like most of the studios that Microsoft have acquired. Of course, keeping the Bethesda name as developer is the perfect thing to do but, honestly, I don't understand the reason to keep Bethesda as a different publisher name (even if it works "independently") but okay.
@mousieone Thank you.
@Dezzy70 Thanks! A guy wrote about it on NL and I said more or less what you're saying as a long-time Nintendo fan. What have they been doing all these years, I wonder. Besides, some people were comparing the development process of those same-gen ports and cartoony games with the rest of the industry, that is, comparing the development of Splatoon 2 with Halo Infinite and mentioning the pandemic as an excuse when it only started last year.
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/nintendo-switch/why_the_switch_disappointed_me
Of course, there were people replying that Nintendo still develop the same number of quality games and counted ports as new games 😂.
The only new games that Nintendo have developed in-house for Switch are: Super Mario Odyssey, a half-baked Animal Crossing, Splatoon 2 which is like a Wii U expansion, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (developed by Monolith). Super Mario Maker 2 which is another Wii U expansion and Arms. The rest of the games are the outsourced games, the mini games compilations and the Wii U and Android ports.
@BlueOcean
Nintendo been busy building theme parks and making Lego 😂😂😂
@TheSilverFalcon "And people were right, I was so hoping FH5 would make the overall GOTY category, it's not a niche (racer) game, it surpassed 8 million players like 2 days ago.... highest rated new game of the year and one of the most played and not in the goty discussion is just heresy imo".
Even if I didn't like FH5, I would agree. What you said is a fact.
@Dezzy70 That's exactly what @NEStalgia said in a serious post.
@BlueOcean
Think I saw the post on NL as I mentioned lack of games and got a right ear bashing.
It because most Nintendo fans think their in house studios make Yoshi, Kirby and Luigi mansion, but we know they don’t. 😂
@Dezzy70 Yeah the last post on the thread that discuss new games developed by Nintendo for Switch that I linked even includes Monster Hunter Rise and Shin Megami Tensei V.
On topic, Rift Apart and not Forza Horizon 5 as GOTY is objectively wrong.
@BlueOcean
Agree Totally wrong, rift apart I played and was very good and enjoyable to a point but simple.
FH5 should be this year’s goty.
Highest rated new game of 2021 as well.
@Dezzy70 Exactly!
In between, now Playground can focus on Fable 🤤.
The only thing that worries me is WHO is going to write it?
Very good year for Xbox and you can see the momentum building. That’s the key, we know the acquisitions and strategy shift will take time to come to fruition but everyone can see the direction of travel. Real variety as well.
Another very solid year for Nintendo-not quite 2017 or 2019 but allowing for the ongoing pandemic the Switch has had a very good year, despite the endless complaining over on NL.
Sony have not had a vintage year by their standards but still a very good start for PS5 and again the Pandemic has to be taken into Account.
I don’t get worked up about these nominations but the one that jumps about at me is how many Rift Apart has compared to Forza Horizon 5. I’m a huge fan of both series-and both games are technically very impressive-but whereas Rift Apart feels slightly underwhelming compared to other R&C games, FH5 is comfortably the best in the series yet. Hey ho, all subjective I guess.
@themightyant @TheSilverFalcon Not that I agree with it but if a game is PC only then makes a console debut; it can be counted twice. It doesn’t work in the other direction though.
@SplooshDmg Ouch. I'd prefer someone like Leigh Loveday or the original Fable writers.
Jez Corden wrote an interesting article on Forza's GOTY snub. I disagree with most of it, he jumps to odd conclusions and hasn't thought through all the issues with fan or dev awards, both of which already exist, but it's an interesting read regardless.
https://www.windowscentral.com/game-awards-snub-forza-horizon-5-snub-video-game-creativity-and-diversity
@SplooshDmg Rhianna Pratchett one of them? 😅
@SplooshDmg 😥
Removed - excessive emoticons; user is banned
@UltimateOtaku91 probably because Bethesda did the majority of the work before the acquisition and they are still going through the integration too. It will probably be phased out with the newer project releases.
Ok, truth time.
Psychonauts 2, It Takes Two and Ratchet & Clank won't win because "cartoon games", although the latter has a slight chance on account of being a Sony first party.
Metroid Dread is also out of the equation because it's a 2D platformer/Metroidvania and these are almost exclusively associated with the indie scene.
So, it's either gonna be Deathloop or RE Village. Which i'm not saying is a bad thing. In fact i believe they are excellent games(although haven't played them yet). I'm just trying to highlight what i believe is the mentality behind these procedures.
So, in retrospect: two AAA titles compete for the award while the rest are there to fill the list for the sake of diversity.
Tap here to load 49 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...