Summary
- Xbox has never won Game of the Year at The Game Awards and Xbox Game Studios has only had one game nominated for the prestigious award in its 10-year history.
- Xbox's rivals PlayStation and Nintendo have multiple Game of the Year nominations and have games nominated for the 2023 award, while none of Xbox's published games made the cut.
- Despite the lack of nominations for Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft's recent acquisitions, including Bethesda and Activision Blizzard King, may increase its chances of future nominations and potentially winning Game of the Year.
Xbox has never won Game of the Year at The Game Awards, and in the event's 10-year history, only one game published by Xbox Game Studios has ever even been nominated. The Game Awards 2023 nominees were recently announced by Geoff Keighley, and while Xbox has representation in some of the event's other categories, none of the games it published in 2023 have been nominated for the coveted Game of the Year prize.
The Game Awards 2023 GOTY nominees are Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This means one game published by Xbox rival PlayStation has been nominated (Spider-Man 2) and two games from Xbox rival Nintendo have been nominated Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder). To make matters worse, only two of the nominated games are even playable on Xbox at the time of this writing (Alan Wake 2 and Resident Evil 4), though Baldur's Gate 3 is coming to Xbox by the end of the year.
In any case, this means that The Game Awards 2023 solidifies a 10-year streak of Xbox not winning a Game of the Year award. At the time of this writing, EA, CD Projekt Red, Blizzard, Nintendo, PlayStation, Activision, and Bandai Namco have all published games that have earned GOTY awards, with EA, Nintendo, and PlayStation having multiple GOTY awards under their belts. Both Nintendo and PlayStation have the chance to win GOTY again this year, but Xbox doesn't have a game nominated at all.
Game Awards GOTY Nominees and Winners
|
EVENT |
GOTY NOMINEES |
PUBLISHERS |
|
2014 |
Dragon Age: Inquisition, Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls 2, Hearthstone, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor |
EA, Nintendo, Bandai Namco, Blizzard, WB |
|
2015 |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Super Mario Maker |
CDPR, PlayStation, Bethesda, Konami, Nintendo |
|
2016 |
Overwatch, Doom, Inside, Titanfall 2, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End |
Blizzard, Bethesda, Playdead, EA, PlayStation |
|
2017 |
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, PUBG, Super Mario Odyssey |
Nintendo (x2), PlayStation, Atlus, Krafton |
|
2018 |
God of War, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Celeste, Spider-Man, Monster Hunter World, Red Dead Redemption 2 |
PlayStation (x2), Ubisoft, Maddy Makes Games, Capcom, Rockstar |
|
2019 |
Sekiro, Control, Death Stranding, The Outer Worlds, Resident Evil 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
Activision, 505 Games, PlayStation, Private Division, Capcom, Nintendo |
|
2020 |
The Last of Us 2, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Doom Eternal, FF7 Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades |
PlayStation (x2), Nintendo, Bethesda, Square Enix, Supergiant Games |
|
2021 |
It Takes Two, Deathloop, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village |
EA, Bethesda, Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, Capcom |
|
2022 |
Elden Ring, A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 |
Bandai Namco, Focus Entertainment, PlayStation (x2), Annapurna, Nintendo |
|
2023 |
Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder |
Epic Games, Larian Studios, Nintendo (x2), PlayStation, Capcom |
Xbox Has Only Had 1 Game Nominated for GOTY at The Game Awards
Xbox has never won Game of the Year at The Game Awards, and in fact, it's only even had one shot at the big prize. In 2021, Xbox published 3D platformer Psychonauts 2 to rave reviews. The game was nominated for Game of the Year alongside It Takes Two, Death Loop, Metroid Dread, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Resident Evil Village, ultimately losing to It Takes Two. This marks the only time to date that an Xbox Game Studios-published has even been in contention for a Game of the Year award.
While Xbox Game Studios has only ever had 1 game nominated for GOTY at The Game Awards, Deathloop was nominated in a year when publisher Bethesda was technically owned by Microsoft, so some might choose to count it among Xbox's GOTY nominations. Even so, that would only bring the count up to two games. Xbox has some heavy hitters on deck for 2024, including Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 and Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed, both of which are expected to be published by Xbox Game Studios, and so they could potentially break Xbox's losing streak at the big event.
Even if games published directly by Xbox Game Studios continue to fail to make the cut, Microsoft's acquisitions should ensure that the company has a much better chance at something from a studio under its umbrella getting nominated and potentially winning. Not only does Microsoft now own Bethesda and all its studios, but it has also acquired Activision Blizzard King and all the studios associated with them as well. Needless to say, Xbox should have a much more significant presence at The Game Awards moving forward. It will take years for it to catch up to its chief competitors, though, and only time will tell if it ever takes home Game of the Year.