This year's Steam Awards feature some very questionable nominations.
'Tis the season for another Steam Winter Sale, and naturally that also means it's time for the Steam Awards again! Valve's very own awards were introduced in the 2016 Winter Sale and have been an annual tradition ever since. They allow Steam users to nominate nearly any game they like for a variety of creative categories in the nomination phase and then pick their favorite out of 5 finalists in the voting phase.
Sounds simple enough, right? But that's also kind of the problem, as the Steam Awards of the past few years showed. And this year that problem is more severe than ever before! Let's look at the Game of the Year finalists, for example:
- Baldur's Gate 3 (Naturally.)
- Resident Evil 4 (Sure, I can see that!)
- Lethal Company (Some recency bias there, but fine.)
- Hogwarts Legacy (Very debatable, but it does have its fans.)
- EA SPORTS FC™ 24 (...Huh?)
The Steam Awards Are Getting Worse Somehow
Now I don't think it's a hot take to say that EA sports games aren't exactly Game of the Year material. In fact, most people would probably agree EA FC 24's Mixed review average on Steam! But it's not hard to guess why it ended up as a GotY finalist anyway: The Steam Awards are little more than a popularity contest, and EA sports games are just too popular. I wouldn't be surprised if the only reason EA FC 24 isn't a finalist for most other categories as well is that a game can only be nominated for 2 categories at most.
Other categories had similarly odd finalists as well:
- Red Dead Redemption 2 is in the running for the Labor of Love Award despite having been more or less abandoned by its developers years ago.
- Diablo 4, a game that requires an internet connection to play at all times, could win the Best Game on Steam Deck Award.
- Starfield, a game widely criticized for being a largely by-the-books Bethesda game But In Space This Time, is a Most Innovative Gameplay Award finalist.
- The Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award could go to Love Is All Around, a korean FMV dating simulator.
Now, I know that the Steam Awards are just a marketing gimmick, but even by those standards these nominations are a little ridiculous. When games can sweep award categories regardless of whether they even fit into those categories, just by virtue of being popular, then you may as well just go down the Steam Top Sellers list for your award winners!
Valve have purposely been pretty hands-off with the Steam Awards nomination process and left most of it up to the community, but this is a pretty clear sign that at least some curation is needed. When genuinely outstanding and fan-favorite games get passed over in favor of games with more mainstream appeal, it just takes the fun out of the event. Why even bother engaging with it in the first place at that point?
Either way, you have until January 2, 10am PST to cast your votes for this year's Awards. Who knows, maybe your vote could be the deciding one for your favorite?