Players’ Voice GOTY Results Narrowed Down to 10, Round 2 Voting Now Open

Results from Round 1 are in and The Players’ Voice for Game of the Year has been narrowed down to 10 nominees. Separate from the Game Award for Game of the Year where winner is determined by both player and jury vote; Players’ Voice award is 100% players’ choice and there will be no acceptance speech. Nonetheless, 5 out of the 6 nominees for TGA’s GOTY have been chosen for the Players’ Voice line-up. After last year’s “Sonic Frontiers vs. Genshin Impact“ controversy it appears the Game Awards chose not follow the tradition of showcasing a live-scoreboard on their website like previous years.

Below are the ten nominees for the Players’ Voice Game of the Year 2023:

• • Alan Wake II
  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
  • Genshin Impact
  • Hogwarts Legacy
  • Honkai: Star Rail
  • Lies of P
  • Marvel’s Spiderman 2
  • Resident Evil 4
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Genshin Impact is last year’s Players’ Voice Game of the Year.

Genshin Impact’s nomination this year is notably compelling. When Genshin Impact was announced as 2022’s winner, Geoff Keighley iterated that ‘bot votes’ were removed during the tally. Sonic Frontiers‘ early 77% lead during the final round sparked heavy suspicion of those numbers being artificially inflated. Voters reported technical issues with The Game Awards website, where selecting “Sonic” was allegedly required before players could vote on their actual preference; cementing the rumor of bots votes even further. Oddly enough, there were also issues in earlier rounds where reportedly Sonic could not be selected at all. Altogether, this led to an outcry from Sonic fans already on a voting campaign over being snubbed for the “Best Score & Music” nomination. Fan-bases for both Sonic Frontiers and Genshin Impact developed a rivalry online in the final hour of voting.

Early real-time numerations from 2022 showing Sonic Frontiers in the lead.

After Genshin Impact was given the title of Players’ Voice GOTY, Sonic fans doubled-down on their campaign to defend Sonic Frontiers. Allegations of racism, harassment, doxxing, and sensitive material sent from Sonic Fans to Genshin Impact players erupted. Notwithstanding, accusations of bots voting for Genshin Impact came from unbelieving Sonic Fans despite Genshin Impact’s 60 million active player-base at the time.

Genshin Impact is also nominated for Best On-Going Game for this year’s Game Awards.

Round 2 voting for this year’s Players’ Voice GOTY is now open until December 2nd.

Round 3 begins December 4th at 9:00 am PT/12:00 PM ET

Source: www.thegameawards.com