Expansion Packs And DLC Are Now "Eligible In All Categories" At The Game Awards

Woooo great news. Some DLCs are worth the nomination, so I'm all for it.

That’s somewhat stupid, should have been a “Best DLC/expansion” category. But it’s not as stupid as how the voting works (90% judges, 10% gamers), or the fact Keighley is trying patent the words “the game awards”.

The show is just a giant glorified commercial anyway.

Insert rolls eyes emoji here.

SIDE ORDER IS ELIGIBLE LESGOOO

oh, and the Booster Course Pass, I guess

I seriously don’t see why people get all hyped for this stuff. I just want to play games, form my own opinions. Not buy something just because it “won over 200 awards”. Are people really that incapable of forming their own thoughts on a game without having to “wait for reviews” or seeing how many awards it wins?

This is fine, but a DLC category would have been grand

@LavenderShroud they get excited to see their opinion get validated on a big stage and then get online to complain about it afterwards when something else wins

Edit: I just remembered. This is a lot like when Splatoon 3 won best shooter. The response wasn’t “Really? Splatoon? I never really thought to try it, but apparently it’s good enough to win an award. I guess I’ll give it a shot.”
Most of what I saw online was “Really? Splatoon? That lame baby game for kids who aren’t allowed to play COD? The Game Awards are so lame now.”
It doesn’t really sway opinions at the end of the day.

bad move no dlc should be acceptable as a possible goty candidate..

@johnedwin Depends though. Certain DLCs are about as big as the main game sometimes and have their own story.

Why seasons? That seems like a weird category knowing how multiplayer games are. You played them once, you played them all, as far as the game itself is concerned.

I'd rather they stick with expansion packs.

Is it time for the geoff awards again?

Nothing beats a glorified advert every end of year. /s

Anyways, DLC imo is not a good move and easily exploitable. If you're going to evaluate DLC for an award then evaluate the DLC including the base game.

In my opinion, I wouldn’t even include game seasons as GOTY nominees. Why are they including game seasons as GOTY candidates when it’s not really a finished game at all? Isn’t there a game category called “Best Ongoing Game” that they could have used for that instead?

It honestly would have been better if they made a separate category for game seasons and game DLC, but I am unsurprised that they didn’t do that at all. I feel like that the voting and the candidate list is now going to become even more of a mess…

I agree with others...they could've just added a single "Best DLC/Expansion category". I don't think DLCs should be nominated in the other categories personally.

So essentially Elden Ring DLC will be winning many rewards...again. If they are separate categories, awesome. If DLC, or 1-1 remakes, is in contention for game of the year...We have a problem as an industry.

The We Really Don't Want To Give Awards To Astro Bot Rule, got it.

I honestly don’t mind huge expansions like xenoblade 2, elden ring, as those are really big and I can see making sense to give an award for in a category like “best game expansion” but just like any dlc, and it doesn’t even have it own category? I’m not sure if I like that very much.

This was done because of Shadow of Erdtree and Geoff is a FromSoft simp that wants senpai to notice him. There were plenty of massive epic game expansions and DLCs prior, so why now? I personally have never taken The Game Awards seriously, theyre just glorified ads, and this is another step in affirming that opinion to me.

The Real Game Awards are where it’s at. By gamers, for gamers.

This trailer fest of a show is close to unwatchable it has to be unbearable to actually be at the event.
I'm surprised the event has lasted as long as it has.

Y'all know DAMN WELL Geoff was never going recognize any Japanese game other than the two directors that DROWN they're games in such dour Hollywood self-service. Geoff is self serving narcissist who's tastes are bought and sold by the California elite: hence the massive Sony bias. This has also created the feedback loop that made first party so Sony boring and aggravatingly average. Just like the Oscars, nothing actually good will ever win anything other than Music, and I place of of the Visual effects category, he has fighting game.

Also, I hate the entire e-sports half of the industry, let alone the Keighly's, but am I the only one who thinks Fighting games being in their own category separate from all the other live categories smacks a little like "James Basken sitting in the back corner" type?

This feels completely unfair. If Elden Ring's DLC can win "Game of the Year," then it takes away from other games that came out this year that actually deserve the title.

I don't tend to take this seriously because like others have said- it's just a commercial. The awards lost any merits that they had so long ago. The audience doesn't even pick the winner so it's worthless anyways. The game of the year is the game that you loved that year, and that's that.

@Zeebor15 It's funny too. This year has seen the most JRPG releases in recent memory, and the GOTY contenders are going to basically be majority JRPGs. The only one of those contenders that'll probably win is Elden Ring's DLC, given that Geoff actually recognizes Fromsoft.

I'm assuming this rule was made specifically for Elden Ring DLC. I don't mind it, there are a lot of DLC expansions that are basically their own game. I enjoyed Octo Expansion way more than I enjoyed the rest of Splatoon 2, the best of these deserve recognition.

Like, I love Shadow of the Erdtree and all, but the show should really be about wholly new releases. A separate category for DLCs is a fine idea, just not as a GOTY nominee.

Just when I thought I couldn't care less about the game awards...he goes and does this. I guess this means it's possible for the same game to win multiple times. Let's him ride any hype train I suppose. Ah well. I never watch it anyway.

@VoidofLight I don't know what you're on. There's no way any JRPG that isn't the hyper inflated bull crap (From and Square-Enix) will get even mentioned. Xenoblade 3 only got as far as it did because they expanded the category more than they should have and needed a diversity hire to pad the numbers.

@Zeebor15 There's no way FF7 Rebirth and Metaphor won't be there. Especially given how Persona 5 was there one year.

@LavenderShroud same reason you have whatever as your avatar. People are big fans of things and like to celebrate them. It's fun. The people that take it seriously are the ones I worry about. Like if you get upset that your favorite game didn't win, I think that's strange, lol

Damn man, Mrs Freeze got them changing the whole game...awards.

@VoidofLight FF7- part 5 was this year? Huh,just have been early early. Back when all I was focusing on was Another Code. I could either one of them being the diversity pick for Best AAA, but not both of them. FF will probably get music again. It's the only series with actual music that ever gets nominated in that category. Seriously, what is it with Western games and just NOT having music, but somehow getting soundtrack nominations?

@Zeebor15 I actually hope Metaphor wins music. A good chunk of the OST for that game is great.

So if a game releases early in the year, and gets dlc later on...can it get nominated twice in the same category? Or would it be classed as the same game...

Hmm. No game developer, but I imagine that making DLC is ***Slightly** less time consuming than starting from scratch? By virtue of that, I think a DLC Category makes more sense.
Either way. I don't watch the awards nor buy something based on what won (it probably won't be on Switch anyway!).

@LavenderShroud I would have never played games like Disco Elysium, Hades or even Uncharted if it wasn't for their superb reviews as they did not call my attention at all.
On the other hand I would have fallen for very well marketed games that were trash if not for them.
Yes, reviews help people who touch grass or have limited budgets to save both money and time and also to find games that were originally under the radar.

This reminds me of when Genshin Impact won something at least over a year after it was released. Heck, it might've won in multiple years. Though that game has lost a lot of its fans.

think thats because there is less games coming out that could be eligible for game of the year. I mean they cant just give goty to wukong or stellar blade, right? And if they give goty to a game like Dragon age, its gonna be too obvious the awards are rigged

Don't let this bother you too much. The whole show is a joke.

@Diowine I’ve actually enjoyed or sought out games that have poor reviews. Infinite Undiscovery, Sonic ‘06, The Last Remnant. All poorly reviewers, and I’ve enjoyed them. I’m also one of probably two people in the world who liked Balan Wonderworld. Reviews are meaningless to me unless they point out things like very poor and practically unplayable controls or poor voice acting. Aside from that, I’ll play what I want despite what reputations they may have, like Balan.

The only reason why this change was made is so that Shadow of the Erdtree can be nominated for (and possibly win) GOTY.

Sonic remakes

Kirk Van Houten: "I don't like the idea of Elden Ring having two nominations in one category"

In all seriousness, I agree there's DLC that should be recognized, but maybe as its own category (Best DLC of the Year).
In my eyes, if a DLC wins GOTY, that probably says more about the state of the industry in that year more than anything else. Either, that or the event is rigged.

@VoidofLight probably should. Will not

@johnedwin I both agree and disagree. Xenoblade 3's Future Redeemed DLC was my GOTY last year 2023. But really, it's practically a whole new game using the assets/engine and some plot elements of the main game in a shorter but refined campaign. Shame it wasn't recognized at all.

Give it its own category. Categories would be even better, to differentiate between DLC that act as full games and those that merely add content.

Translation: Keighley needed an excuse to give elden ring goty again and this was the best avenue to do so.

@Chimichanga I think it's pretty good how voting works in the Game Awards. Awards being decided by gamers is always a bad idea, people tends to forget the sh*tshow that the players choice category was.

I think it's okey to let DLCs be nominated to GOTY. Elden Ring DLC is longer than most single player games and is also the highest-rated game this year, so I think there is no reason to say it's not worthy the nomination.(Can people even name other DLCs that would have had chance to get a nomination? DLCs with GOTY quality are pretty rare)

And anyways, being nominated not necessarily means it would be going to win, as a matter of fact, it would likely lose die to not-a-new-game "bias" unless the year had been really bad for gaming.

So it let even less room for original games...

Why not just add an extra category for them. Best Remaster/Remake of the year, and best additional content of the year. Atleast that way paid DLC gets put in the same category as free content updates as well.

Didn't remakes, ports, and remasters already get awards? Or am I totally off base?
Eldin Ring's expansion was fantastic, but this year had Metaphor, Granblue Fantasy Relink, the Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Astro Bot, Unicorn Overlord, Dragon's Dogma 2, UFO50, and more.
If a season of anything gets nominated for GOTY, I'd scream lol
I mean not actually because whatever, it's the Game Awards. But you know what I mean.

@Axecon it had no chance winning against either baldur's gate 3 or tears of the kingdom..

Yeah, TGA is officially a joke lol

This is the right choice. These awards should celebrate the best to come from this year and shouldn’t turn its head away because its building directly off of a previous release. In the case of Erdtree, its essentially treated as an entirely new game within Elden Ring. Plenty of thought and effort went into Erdtree than what you would see in other major releases like Princess Peach Showtime. Let the cream rise to the top.

The idea of a “best expansion” nomination is tricky because frankly DLC expansions have been less popular in recent years. Its like how some years in the “Best Fighting Game” category or “Best Sports Game” category are just write-ins. I’d rather it belong to something like the Best Ongoing Game category to reward innovative ideas within an established product. The nominations get alot deeper in competition that way.

Ehh, I feel like a "best DLC/Expansion" would work best, but then again, we don't get GOTY-worthy DLC like Erdtree very often, so it's whatever.

With how many remasters/remakes are being made nowadays, I'm surprised they don't have their own category as well lol.

This would be nominating deleted scenes on a DVD for an Academy Award.

Which studio paid Geoff for this?

One more reason not to watch this.

I hope that Diablo 4 horse skin for 25$ wins GOTY.

…Because there aren’t enough original triple A games released this year to fill out an entire programme of backslapping.

Sign of the times.

Expansions can be good, sometimes as good as if not better than the base games, but these award shows already have a bad habit of making sure a few games take up many of the nominations. Just look at when GoW : Ragnarok and Horizon 2 came out they both took up like half the slots in the categories and were both from the exact same company.

If two years later Elden Ring is just picking up yet more awards over the new games.

It's just devolving into the FROM software, Sony, Kojima and whatever indie game had the multimillion budget awards

@fenlix While I'm inclined to agree that Shadow of the Erdtree is excellent... this is such a weird ruling. I get remakes (to an extent) as film also allows those to be Best Picture. But, allowing remasters? That be like if Terminator 2, The Godfather, or The Wizard of Oz got a 4k remaster and now became eligible for best picture. We'd be laughing at the Oscars if they allowed that. I get DLC acts somewhat different than a sequel, but in essence it is still just more of the same game that won last year... same mechanics, same hook, same engine, even the same story just more of it... just such an odd decision especially when games like Dragon Age Origins Awakening, Xenoblade 3 Future Redeemed and many other grade A expansions have been subbed in the past.

EDIT: Also when I say remakes should be allowed, I'm referring mostly to games like Resident Evil 2/4 Remakes, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth etc that completely reimagine the original titles with new combat mechanics, new art-styles, new story elements, new everything for the most part. They hardly count as the original anymore.

Dorito Pope finding a way to crown Fortnite or some other old GAAS trash who’s “sponsored” him enough, time to bring these awards back to their roots like the first VGAs in 2003 giving GOTY to Madden.

@LavenderShroud Reviews are helpful when the reviewers aren't bias. Has IGN given anything less than a 7 of 10 for a buggy mess?Has Nintendo Life given less than an 8 of 10 for any recent Nintendo game?

For those that aren't well off enough to buy any game that looks interesting to them reviews can be helpful. And they've saved me from wasting money in the past. For instance when I find out a $60 game is just 10 hrs I know that's not a good value proposal for me personally. Or if a game I was excited about isn't what I thought it would be, like FF XIII which I almost bought an xbox for then eventually got on sale for the pc and had a hard time finishing it even though I really enjoy the series.

@Cheez I have definitely enjoyed FFXIII over numerous highly reviewed games. It all comes down to one’s own opinion. But I do agree with your point on price compared to time. I always forget about that because I typically play JRPGs that that awhile. So I will agree if a review points out that a game is way too short for the full price.

Reminder: don't ever take The Game Awards seriously. Watch it for the previews and only if you have nothing better to do.

Also, since the topic of reviews has come up: reviews are opinions, nothing more, nothing less. Reviews can tell you what someone else thinks of something and cannot ever replace your own experiencing of something. Consensus of reviews does not mean you will agree with the majority. In other words: try things that interest you for yourself, reviews be damned.

My hope is that this urges more devs to put greater care into their DLC offerings moving forward, and for more to consider doing so, particularly when fans have been begging for it (e.g. Hogwarts Legacy). With that said, not every game needs DLC either.

Game Awards Show is not for gamers, more for creators and definitely advertisers.

At the end of the day, The Game Awards is about two things that cater predominantly to the devs and publishers… recognition and marketing. The fan voting does allow for community engagement, but these shows are really built around marketing and hype.

Lol they had to add DLC to the lists just so they had enough games to even offer. That is the state if gaming right now. Plus they're trying to trademark "game awards" so only the official agenda pushing people can hold them.

Too bad for them though that gaming journalism is dead thanks to pushing woke ideologies that we gamers reject. Flop after flop and they still haven't learned. We get our information from peers, on X, not people paid to repeat lines like "a return to form for Bioware" that was in EVERY SINGLE review of the game.

Well actually, they learned a little as there's no Dragon Age on the list. So that's good.