The main problem with the Steam awards is that they don't respect the actual release dates. For example, Red Dead Redemption 2, a 2018 game (or a 2019 game if you go by PC only) was named the Steam GOTY in 2020.
Steam also had little to offer in the years that were heavy on Epic exclusives and great games like Kena or Control, resulting in it being hard to think up a nominee.
Moreover, if I remember correctly, they also bar prior winners from their "most supported game" type category, which makes no sense because some games, like Euro Truck Simulator 2, get regular content and technical updates to this day. On the other hand, The Witcher 3 recently won in a category despite having been untouched for years.
Edit: Fixed a typo.
Yeah the dates thing is an issue but it is because they take the Steam release of the game. That and they take from the last award to the next one not a calendar year. So RD2 was a 2020 game awards on Steam.
But yeah it feels weird I agree.
The most supported one I understand but the idea is to not have the same game every year even if it has been supported plenty otherwise Terraria would still be there....
The Witcher case I do not know.... But the issue there is like any public voted stuff people don't always vote based on category but they vote what they like. Or maybe they only played that game of the category so they vote that one etc...
Some places might play with the numbers around behind the curtains and choose another one if it doesn't make sense... but that also doesn't feel right.
Hitman VR won the VR title despite being a bad port to the best of my knowledge. Because people without VR saw it as an option and said that sounds cool then picked it.
The main problem with the Steam awards is that they don't respect the actual release dates. For example, Red Dead Redemption 2, a 2018 game (or a 2019 game if you go by PC only) was named the Steam GOTY in 2020.
Steam also had little to offer in the years that were heavy on Epic exclusives and great games like Kena or Control, resulting in it being hard to think up a nominee.
Moreover, if I remember correctly, they also bar prior winners from their "most supported game" type category, which makes no sense because some games, like Euro Truck Simulator 2, get regular content and technical updates to this day. On the other hand, The Witcher 3 recently won in a category despite having been untouched for years.
Edit: Fixed a typo.
Yeah the dates thing is an issue but it is because they take the Steam release of the game. That and they take from the last award to the next one not a calendar year. So RD2 was a 2020 game awards on Steam.
But yeah it feels weird I agree.
The most supported one I understand but the idea is to not have the same game every year even if it has been supported plenty otherwise Terraria would still be there....
The Witcher case I do not know.... But the issue there is like any public voted stuff people don't always vote based on category but they vote what they like. Or maybe they only played that game of the category so they vote that one etc... Some places might play with the numbers around behind the curtains and choose another one if it doesn't make sense... but that also doesn't feel right.
Hitman VR won the VR title despite being a bad port to the best of my knowledge. Because people without VR saw it as an option and said that sounds cool then picked it.