At long last, the nominees for Game of the Year for The Game Awards 2023 have been announced. And to some surprise, Starfield is not included.
Despite being one of this year's biggest releases, Bethesda's sci-fi RPG was not included among the six Game of the Year titles. As revealed on The Game Awards website, the six GOTY contenders are:
- Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games)
- Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)
- Resident Evil 4 Remake (Capcom)
The decision to not include Starfield on the list naturally brought up some debate, especially as the list features a remake of a 2005 game. While there's no denying that Resident Evil 4 Remake is a worthy contender -- as evidenced by its 93 score on Metacritic -- there's some debate as to whether it is fair to include a remake on a list versus a brand new IP.
For comparison, Starfield was still met with generally favorable reviews but sits at just an 83 on Metacritic.
As for the other games on the list, there's really no debate to be had. Baldur's Gate 3 was met with rave reviews (a 96 on Metacritic) and is considered by many to be the new pinnacle of RPGs. Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the web-slinging action-adventure from Insomniac Games lived up to the hype and scored a 90 on Metacritic.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder scored a 96 and a 92, respectively, on Metacritic.
The only other game you could possibly argue to be replaced with Starfield is Remedy's Alan Wake 2. The long-awaited sequel scored overwhelmingly positive reviews and sits at 87 on Metacritic.
As a whole, Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 are both tied for the most amount of nominations at this year's Game Awards, both nominated for eight different categories. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 received nominations in seven different categories.
The Game Awards notes that nominees for most categories are chosen by an international jury of over 100 global media and influencer outlets. Winners are determined based on a blended vote between the voting jury (90%) and public fan voting (10%). Fans can vote for the games they think deserve to win over at The GameAwards.com. Voting closes on Wednesday, December 6 at 6:00 p.m. PT.
Fans can then tune in to see the winners when The Game Awards streams live on Thursday, December 2023. Most major video and social media platforms, including YouTube and Twitch, will be streaming the show for free.