Summary
The Game Awards has now revealed its nominations for Game of the Year, and though there’s always intense debate surrounding which games did and didn’t deserve to make the cut, this year’s conversation is spicy due to the inclusion ofElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
A clarification to The Game Awards' FAQ pagewas the first hint that Shadow of the Erdtree was eligible, as it was claimed that remakes, remasters, and DLC could be crowned Game of the Year. That was enough to get fans speculating,as long debates about whether DLC should actually be eligibledominated social media in the run-up to the nominations reveal. Now that we know Shadow of the Erdtree is in the running, debates have turned into anger.
Cyberpunk 2077 Fans Are Upset Over Shadow Of The Erdtree’s GOTY Nomination
While a lot of gamers out there are fuming about Shadow of the Erdtree’s nomination, fans ofCyberpunk 2077seem to be angry for an entirely different reason. Rather than take issue with DLC being eligible, many fans (such as Twitter user SynthPotato) feel that this meansPhantom Libertywas snubbed back in 2023, as the expansion was placed in the “Best Ongoing Game” category during the awards.
The main argument is that if Shadow of the Erdtree is eligible for this year - and that DLC has always been eligible - then Phantom Liberty should have been nominated for Game of the Year last year,as explained by Twitter user GeoffThew. There are even some claiming that games such asSuper Mario Bros. Wondershould have been dropped instead. A lot of people admit that it probably wouldn’t have won, as it would’ve been up againstthe juggernaut that is Baldur’s Gate 3, but claim that it absolutely deserved to be nominated.
In fact, lots of fanbases are now actually looking back to see which DLC or expansions should have been nominated if indeed these were the rules from the start. For example, there are lots of fans ofThe Witcher 3(such as Twitter user Gintoxe) now irritated that Blood & Wine wasn’t nominated for GOTY back in 2016, whileFinal Fantasy 14 fans like DJPrincessKare also wondering why the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions weren’t nominated either.
It was always going to be a contentious set of nominations this year, with titles likeBlack Myth: Wukong,Stellar Blade, andDragon Age: The Veilguardall at the center of their own culture wars, but The Game Awards and Geoff Keighley definitely haven’t helped themselves by angering Cyberpunk 2077 fans with this Shadow of the Erdtree nomination. Lord help us all if Shadow of the Erdtree actually wins.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
WHERE TO PLAY
Phantom Liberty is the first and only major story expansion DLC for Cyberpunk 2077. Return to the game as V as she attempts to protect the NUS president, and meet Solomon Reed, voiced and portrayed by Hollywood star Idris Elba.
