The Nebula Awards, the prestigious awards for science fiction and fantasy works, have decided on their 2019 winner for Best Game Writing in the category's second year. And just like in 2018, the choice is being seen as a controversial decision. This year's winner is Obsidian Entertainment's open-world sci-fi game The Outer Worlds.
The Outer Worlds, which was lauded for its open-world gameplay and criticized for its writing, won over a batch of nominees which included Disco Elysium and Outer Wilds. As such, there's some discussion in both the fantasy/science fiction community and the gaming community regarding Nebula's award process.
Nebula has been criticized for its new Best Game Writing category before, too. In 2018, the category's debut year, Nebula awards the Best Writing award to Netflix's interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Also in the category was SIE Santa Monica Studio's God of War. Nebula's awards are voted on by all members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America and has no requirements for having played the games.
While the choice is controversial, that shouldn't take away from Obsidian's accomplishments with The Outer Worlds. Obsidian earning a publishing partnership with Take-Two's Private Division, followed by the studio's acquisition by Microsoft, allowed it to make its biggest game since Fallout: New Vegas a decade ago. The Outer Worlds is certainly the first example of Obsidian once again reaching its full potential.
The Outer Worlds is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and will launch June 5 on Nintendo Switch.