The Game Awards revealed the list of nominees for game of the year and, among the titles that confirmed their favoritism when competing for various awards, we also had those releases that were completely ignored and snubbed by the awards. Games that everyone believed would accumulate nominations, but ended up being forgotten by the judges.
While games like Alan Wake 2 e Baldur’s Gate 3 lead the nominations and compete in eight categories each, there are those absences that are more than felt by the public. Considered one of the most anticipated games of 2023, Starfield was left out of the main categories and is competing for a single award.
But Bethesda’s RPG wasn’t the only one to be left off the list. Even with 31 categories, TGA 2023 left out other major franchises that many people already took for granted in the awards. And there were even highly praised titles that received nominations, but not in the categories expected.
5. Starfield
Let’s start with the aforementioned Starfield. The Bethesda game was one of the most anticipated of 2023, mainly because it is a new franchise for the studio in decades. The idea of taking the player to explore galaxies with complete freedom expanded the open world concept to a new level, even more so when you could go to any planet and customize the experience to your liking.
But all this grandeur doesn’t seem to have excited the TGA 2023 judges, who limited the game to a single nomination. There was an expectation that he would be one of the leaders in nominations, but he ended up being ignored in categories such as Game of the Year and Best Director. In the end, it was only remembered as Best RPG.
Whether due to the slower pace that kept many people away, due to the limitations that space travel presents or for any other reason, the fact is that Starfield almost missed out.
This snub from The Game Awards carries even greater weight when we remember that Starfield is also Microsoft’s main bet of the year. Released exclusively for Xbox Series
4. Diablo 4
Another game that experienced similar neglect was Diablo 4. Activision Blizzard’s RPG is one of the most iconic franchises of the genre and its launch has been very popular since the Beta periods. And, unlike what we saw with the previous chapter, it arrived on PCs and consoles in a much more consistent way and without those connection and content problems that marked the third edition.
However, even so, the game ended up with just two nominations and in slightly smaller categories. It was only remembered for Innovation in Accessibility and Best Multiplayer, leaving out what would be the most obvious nomination, Best RPG.
There are some reasons that explain this absence. The first of them is that 2023 was an excellent year for the genre, with titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, Sea of Stars e Final Fantasy 16 easily earning a place among the finalists. With the rest of the vacancies more contested, the demonic franchise ended up losing its seat to its own Starfield e Lies of P.
Furthermore, the very Diablo 4 There are some problems that may have influenced the jury’s vote. The main one is that the game left something to be desired in terms of content, something done to add volume to future expansions. A decision that ended up taking its toll at TGA 2023.
3. Assassin’s Creed Mirage
The new Assassin’s Creed Mirage it’s a great game. As we said in our review here, it renews the franchise in style, rescuing the spirit of the series’ Golden Age. With a reduced campaign, refined gameplay and incredible visuals, it is everything that the most nostalgic fans wanted to see. But it seems like these people don’t choose the TGA nominees.
The Ubisoft title does not appear in any of the 31 award categories, being completely forgotten by the judges — which can be considered an injustice.
Just as in the case of Diablo, one of the reasons for Mirage being left out also seems to have been the heavy competition. In its genre, Action and Adventure, the nominations are very heavy. Four of the five competitors are also competing in the game of the year, which already shows how complicated the situation is there.
At the same time, the question remains whether the new Assassin’s Creed shouldn’t have come in instead of Star Wars Jedi: Survivorwhich had a much more troubled launch, with performance issues and several bugs affecting the experience.
2. Hogwarts Legacy
Here is a delicate case. Hogwarts Legacy is the game of Harry Potter without Harry Potter, which suffered an intense boycott campaign at the time of its release because of author JK Rowling’s transphobic statements. Although this did not impact the game’s great launch, it may be that this rejection appeared among the TGA judges.
It’s difficult (not to say impossible) to say this with certainty, especially because there are other reasons why the game didn’t receive any nominations. It would also have to fight for a spot in Best Action and Adventure Game at the same time that, in more artistic criteria, it isn’t anything that remarkable.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Perhaps one of the most striking absences from TGA 2023 is that of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The FPS franchise is a guaranteed presence in practically all editions of the event, but ended up being ignored this year. And it’s interesting to see this happen precisely at a time when the series has become the center of discussions about Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.
A possible reason for the ignore could have been the release date. According to The Game Awards regulations, only games released until November 18th can compete for the award — which would allow COD compete. The problem is that, to do so, Activision would need to send the game early to the judges and that’s where things could have gotten tangled.
As the vehicles that nominate their favorite games had a deadline to send their votes to the event organizers, it is very likely that this conflict of dates may have harmed Modern Warfare 3. Here in the FreeGameGuidefor example, the game’s test code arrived only after that date — and this reality may have been repeated in other cases.
Furthermore, the game has also been the target of a lot of criticism. On Metacritic, a website that aggregates reviews of vehicles from all over the world, the new Call of Duty It has an average rating of 53, a value considered well below what the franchise usually presents. Among the main justifications given is the lack of engaging campaign and the lack of significant news for the sequel.
The Game Awards will reveal the winners of the 2023 edition at an event held on December 7th.