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The difficulty of uncovering fresh titles continues to be the video game sector's greatest existential threat. Despite stressful age of company mergers, growing profit expectations, employee issues, broad adoption of artificial intelligence, digital marketplace changes, evolving player interests, salvation often returns to the dark magic of "making an impact."

That's why I'm increasingly focused in "honors" like never before.

With only several weeks left in the year, we're completely in GOTY period, a period where the small percentage of enthusiasts who aren't playing the same multiple no-cost action games every week play through their backlogs, debate the craft, and recognize that they too won't experience all releases. There will be detailed top game rankings, and we'll get "you missed!" comments to such selections. A player general agreement chosen by journalists, streamers, and fans will be revealed at industry event. (Industry artisans participate in 2026 at the interactive achievements ceremony and GDC Awards.)

This entire sanctification is in enjoyment — there aren't any accurate or inaccurate choices when naming the greatest games of the year — but the stakes seem more substantial. Every selection selected for a "GOTY", whether for the prestigious top honor or "Top Puzzle Title" in forum-voted awards, provides chance for wider discovery. A medium-scale adventure that went unnoticed at release might unexpectedly gain popularity by competing with higher-profile (specifically heavily marketed) blockbuster games. When last year's Neva appeared in consideration for a Game Award, I know definitely that many people immediately wanted to read a review of Neva.

Historically, the GOTY machine has made limited space for the variety of releases released every year. The difficulty to overcome to review all appears like an impossible task; approximately numerous releases came out on digital platform in the previous year, while just 74 titles — from recent games and ongoing games to smartphone and VR exclusives — were represented across industry event selections. When commercial success, discourse, and platform discoverability determine what people play annually, it's completely impossible for the structure of honors to properly represent the entire year of releases. However, there exists opportunity for improvement, assuming we acknowledge its significance.

The Expected Nature of Annual Honors

In early December, the Golden Joystick Awards, among gaming's oldest honor shows, published its contenders. Even though the selection for GOTY main category takes place soon, you can already see where it's going: This year's list created space for deserving candidates — major releases that received praise for refinement and scale, hit indies celebrated with AAA-scale attention — but across a wide range of honor classifications, we see a evident concentration of recurring games. In the vast sea of visual style and mechanical design, the "Best Visual Design" creates space for two different open-world games located in feudal Japan: Ghost of Yōtei and Assassin's Creed Shadows.

"Suppose I were designing a next year's Game of the Year in a lab," an observer commented in a social media post that I am amused by, "it should include a PlayStation open world RPG with mixed gameplay mechanics, companion relationships, and randomized procedural advancement that embraces risk-reward systems and includes basic building construction mechanics."

GOTY voting, throughout organized and unofficial versions, has turned predictable. Multiple seasons of finalists and honorees has created a formula for which kind of refined extended experience can earn a Game of the Year nominee. There are experiences that never achieve top honors or including "major" technical awards like Creative Vision or Story, thanks often to creative approaches and quirkier mechanics. Many releases released in a year are likely to be ghettoized into genre categories.

Case Studies

Hypothetical: Could Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, a game with a Metacritic score marginally below Death Stranding 2 and Ghosts of Yōtei, crack main selection of The Game Awards' GOTY competition? Or even a nomination for excellent music (because the audio stands out and deserves it)? Doubtful. Excellent Driving Experience? Certainly.

How good should Street Fighter 6 need to be to earn Game of the Year appreciation? Will judges look at distinct acting in Baby Steps, The Alters, or The Drifter and recognize the best voice work of 2025 without a studio-franchise sheen? Can Despelote's brief length have "sufficient" story to merit a (justified) Excellent Writing honor? (Also, does industry ceremony require a Best Documentary category?)

Overlap in choices across recent cycles — within press, within communities — shows a process more skewed toward a specific time-consuming experience, or independent games that landed with enough of a splash to check the box. Problematic for a sector where discovery is crucial.

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