This Year’s GOTY Race Still Wide Open on 5ch — Frontrunners Slammed for ‘Not Staying Relevant’

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A thread on 5ch’s hardware/industry (“Geha”) board lit up over the fact that this year’s Game of the Year (GOTY) contenders still haven’t taken shape. Titles like Pragmata, Mortal Shell 2, and Forza Horizon 6 came up, but were met with a wave of pushback — “it doesn’t stay in the conversation,” “it’s not broadly appealing enough.”

Debate also broke out over how Nintendo’s new titles and GTA6 should factor in, and over the fairness of past award wins, including Breath of the Wild and Astro Bot.

1Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 18:55:59.06ID:ID:hnuyIs6VM
Ah, Pokémon's a no — it's just Pokémon after all.
Seriously, there's nothing else in the running either.
5Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:01:18.14ID:83HBZha+0
Pragmata, maybe?
7Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:01:48.85ID:hnuyIs6VM
>>5
Oh yeah, that exists.

But nobody's talking about it at all anymore.
10Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:03:36.12ID:6wBvJ9cW0
>>5
A game that only pops off at launch like that is too weak a pick.
There's just no game this year that's still generating buzz on an ongoing basis.
6Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:01:31.87ID:vX29wqW50
The one getting talked about right now is Mortal Shell 2.
8Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:02:35.86ID:hnuyIs6VM
>>6
Nah, not even close.
And the first one was a crap game you could finish in a few hours anyway.
24Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:11:42.53ID:/BJBbiYQ0
AI predictions… what the hell is 'Big Walk'?

【2026 Predictions for the 4 Major GOTY Awards】
Golden Joystick Awards
Resident Evil Requiem

The Game Awards
Big Walk

D.I.C.E. Awards
Grand Theft Auto VI

Game Developers Choice Awards
Big Walk
40Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:22:47.00ID:3FmNU4Rp0
>>24
Throw in the BAFTA Games Awards too.
26Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:12:24.09ID:6wBvJ9cW0
Resident Evil isn't even made with winning GOTY in mind to begin with, and it's hard to say the game is still generating buzz right now either.
Nioh 3 is genuinely fun, but compared to From Software's games its systems are overcomplicated — it's far from broadly appealing.
36Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:19:56.28ID:3FmNU4Rp0
>>26
Back when Resident Evil Village came out, it actually beat titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Cyberpunk 2077 to win the 'Steam Awards 2021 – GOTY.' It's also picked up the top Golden Joystick Award multiple times.

https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards/2021?l=japanese
33Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:18:19.80ID:4gIIt6bg0
Forza Horizon 6 is the only one that clears the GOTY bar on both reviews and sales, but there's no way Geoff Keighley is ever handing GOTY to a Microsoft title.
35Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:19:26.06ID:/BJBbiYQ0
>>33
Only Microsoft fanboys think that way — Forza's reviews on Steam are always mediocre anyway.
44Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:28:09.93ID:q3+FGgeR0
The conditions:
・It has to be out on PS5
・It can't be published by Microsoft
53Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:31:49.81ID:kZzK3aEx0
>>35
You'd know in seconds if you actually looked it up — are you confusing it with Forza Motorsport?

FH4: 90% Very Positive out of 303,185 reviews
FH5: 89% Very Positive out of 258,123 reviews
FH6: 83% Very Positive out of 83,760 reviews
61Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:35:48.58ID:/BJBbiYQ0
>>53
Sorry, but the top-tier game battle line starts above 90%, honestly more like 95%.
Sure, there are genuinely divisive games that keep a devoted following even after shedding casual users.
But that's the 80%-ish zone — and Forza's stuck there, working hard just to hold that spot.
55Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:33:17.06ID:zdY6o/9j0
Poko— ah, it's Pokémon, no other option, right? ("Poko" is a nickname for Pokémon used on this board)
58Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:34:21.85ID:LbsBLFb90
>>55
A rip-off game doesn't have that right.
65Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:40:36.08ID:TCOHCwUuM
>>55
Nintendo games are made by studying existing games and polishing them to a high level of completion, rather than through strong authorial vision, artistic identity, or a message.
That means even when they sell well, they rarely get picked for GOTY.
Given the history of the awards, that's basically common knowledge at this point.
66Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:43:03.43ID:+wpiQ0y7a
Seriously, there's nothing in the running.
Does Nintendo even need to go all-out just for there to be candidates at all?
Isn't there anything besides GTA?
68Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:44:27.78ID:oJH9nWMy0
>>66
Palworld and The Duskbloods.
Though Palworld's probably out of the running since Nintendo's been picking legal fights with it.
70Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:45:54.09ID:eBTzwiQW0
For the Japan Game Awards, I went ahead and voted for Ghost of Yōtei.
82Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:53:13.47ID:3FmNU4Rp0
>>70
I voted for Pragmata, a new release, aiming for the 'Annual Work Category – Excellence Award.'

You might ask, 'Excellence Award? Not the Grand Award?' — but if you're aiming for the 'Annual Work Category – Grand Award,' the sensible call is to put your one vote toward either Mario Kart World, Poko-Poke (a nickname for Pokémon), or, as a long shot, Donkey Kong Bananza.
71Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:46:54.46ID:kZzK3aEx0
>>61
I told you Forza's actually 'Very Positive' on Steam since you said it's always mediocre there, and your reply just floored me lol.
So in your world, anything below 'Very Positive' is a mediocre game and only 'Overwhelmingly Positive' counts as a top-tier title?
That's pretty extreme.
75Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:50:07.47ID:oJH9nWMy0
>>71
Ah, so you've never actually played it on Steam.
74Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:49:28.02ID:joWpqMkI0
Everyone likes different genres, so an awards race like this is meaningless.
76Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:50:08.22ID:IzVrkW8d0
If GTA's outside the eligibility window, wouldn't it end up being Wolverine? Sony will probably shell out the money for it.
81Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:53:08.71ID:kZzK3aEx0
>>75
Oh, one of those 'Very Positive on Steam just means an average game' guys.
Yeah, you see those around.
92Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:57:02.20ID:oJH9nWMy0
>>81
95–100%: Overwhelmingly Positive
80–94%: Very Positive
70–79%: Mostly Positive
40–69%: Mixed
20–39%: Mostly Negative
0–19%: Overwhelmingly Negative

The 'Very Positive' band is set pretty wide, you know.
It's a gentle label chosen so it doesn't tank sales.
And people like you actually believe it lol
101Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:01:13.25ID:Y6TVZU6l0
>>92
Love the confidence to call 20% 'Mostly Negative' with a straight face.
133Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:13:38.54ID:kZzK3aEx0
>>92
If 8 out of 10 buyers recommend it, that's plenty good, isn't it?
Big-budget titles cost more and get way more reviews than indies, so they naturally get judged more harshly too.
89Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:55:40.63ID:IzVrkW8d0
>>78
Nintendo's not putting up the money — if they've got cash to spare buying GOTY, running more Nintendo Directs would be way more effective.
96Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:58:43.84ID:KpV2hxdN0
>>89
Then how did Breath of the Wild win? Tears of the Kingdom also picked up category awards.
98Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 19:59:45.88ID:IzVrkW8d0
>>96
Sony probably just couldn't afford to buy that award.
115Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:06:28.29ID:KpV2hxdN0
>>98
Then why didn't the Chinese game Black Myth win it?
123Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:08:44.46ID:IzVrkW8d0
>>115
Maybe there was a publisher working hard behind the scenes to get Astro Bot the top prize?
129Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:10:58.24ID:KpV2hxdN0
>>123
Since you're clearly no expert — what do you think should've won instead of Astro Bot?
Seems fair given its high Metacritic score.
145Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:18:12.03ID:IzVrkW8d0
>>129
I've got no complaints about Astro Bot winning the top award.
Paying to buy the top prize is just standard corporate behavior anyway — same as with Famitsu.
I never assumed the top award was decided purely on the game's quality to begin with.
149Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:20:11.49ID:KpV2hxdN0
>>145
If you're going to say that much, do you have a source that it was bought with money?
Or is this just a conspiracy theory some amateur like you is bitterly fantasizing about?
If you've got nothing, that's what it looks like.
157Anonymous2026/08/24(月) 20:24:57.58ID:jsMdk+CS0
>>145
Even if that kind of thing happens with the top award, I think getting nominated at all is still a fair, legitimate evaluation.
A big-budget title that can't even manage that is straight-up trash.

*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “This year’s GOTY contenders still haven’t settled on anything — seriously, what do you think will win? This year, Poko.”

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