For the past few years or so, PlayStation has been dominating the gaming industry and The Game Awards. However, that was not the case this year as none of the nominations related to Sony or PlayStation won any awards. The biggest shocker was Spider-Man 2 walking away with zero trophies despite having seven nominations. Most importantly, it lost the Game of the Year to Baldur’s Gate 3. Well, let us see why PlayStation had nothing to take away from The Game Awards 2023, shall we?
Contents
- PlayStation Hits a Dry Year in The Game Awards 2023 after Years of Domination
- The Last of Us is the Only Saving Grace
- While PlayStation Fans Rejoiced Exclusion of Starfield from GOTY Sony Lost Everything
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Does Not Win a Single Award Despite 7 Nominations
- Heated Debates between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Spider-Man 2 fans
PlayStation Hits a Dry Year in The Game Awards 2023 after Years of Domination
Up until now, Sony has been one of the most successful publishers for The Game Awards as they have won 2 out of their 12 nominations for The Game of the Year. In fact, for the past few years, the company has been doing so well that the 2016-2022 TGA shows were named “Sony Shows” by the fans due to the number of nominations and awards Sony racked up during these years.
However, all of that ended this year as The Game of the Year award went to Baldur’s Gate 3 which is not a part of Sony Interactive Entertainment. In the past, Sony Interactive Entertainment has published award-winning games such as Spider-Man, God of War, and Horizon. That is why, they were so prominent in the awards.
There has been a lot of animosity between Xbox and Sony fans throughout the decades and this debate boils over as the Awards roll around. The back and forth turns in favor of the side that has the more awards. This year, Sony has one thing to show for it and that is The Last of Us.
The Last of Us is the Only Saving Grace for Sony
The Last of Us is one of the most successful franchises of all time both in terms of gaming and now, for OTT. The show was nominated for Best Adaptation and won. The actors, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal nailed the chemistry between the two prominent characters, Ellie and Joel. Among the other nominations, we had Castlevania, Gran Turismo, The Super Mario Bros, and Twisted Metal so the show had quite the catalog to beat.
The show followed the source material down to a tee and the chemistry between the actors was beautiful to watch on and off screen. The show absolutely deserves to be in the top spot, and we hope 2024 brings in another good show that we can enjoy that faithfully follows the source material of a certain game. Nevertheless, The Last of Us TV show was the only good thing happening to Sony despite all the nominations it got.
At the same time, the Awards show drew a lot of flack not only from Sony fans but also creatives who wanted to speak out in favor of directors of games who didn’t get the time to speak about their life’s work. You can find out all about that here. PlayStation fans earlier were making fun of Xbox fans mocking them for Starfield not making the cut. However, it wasn’t good news for Sony either.
While PlayStation Fans Rejoiced Exclusion of Starfield from GOTY Sony Lost Everything
Console owners and fans can get a little agitated when someone makes fun of their preferred choice. That mockery increased even more as PlayStation fans “trolled” Xbox fans since Starfield was excluded from the Game of the Year list. However, the Game Awards had other plans as the title went to Baldur’s Gate 3 instead of Sony’s Spider-Man 2.
The suffering did not end there for Sony fans as Xbox Game Studios also took two other awards while one of the most underrated games of the year, Hi-Fi Rush took home the award for Audio Design. While Xbox Game Studios took all of these awards home, Sony took none, which flamed the fans. However, nothing angered the fans more than Spider-Man 2 having 7 nominations and not winning a single one.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Does Not Win a Single Award Despite 7 Nominations
The biggest disappointment for Sony and Spider-Man fans would undoubtedly be the game not winning a single award despite 7 nominations. However, it was not just Spider-Man that ended up on the wrong side of the Award ceremony, it was other PlayStation productions as well. Gran Turismo 7 missed out on Best VR/AR Game while rival Nintendo took the award for Best Action/Adventure.
On release, Spider-Man 2 was praised due to its fluent gameplay and how PlayStation executed having two Spideys in one game. However, a lot of fans pointed out bugs that were not game-breaking but took away the cred that it had built up to be the Game of the Year candidate. In addition, the amount of content it had could also been one case why it did not end up at the top.
Heated Debates between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Spider-Man 2 fans
Social media was on fire as Baldur’s Gate 3 came out victorious in The Game Awards 2023 as GOTY winner. Fans took to X to write about their opinions about the game. It was a mixed reception as some fans thought it was well-deserved while others criticized the system for neglecting Spider-Man 2 and the like.
There were also people who remained neutral and believed that as long as they enjoyed the game, it was enough of a reward.
Gaming has changed from appreciation of a good game no matter the maker to “Console Wars” as journalists call it these days. However, regardless of which studio or publisher wins awards, it is good to know that there are still people out there who appreciate titles that creatives have worked so hard on for years on end.
