Lowest scored GOTY nominees.

[Azzanation]

Mnementh said:

Azzanation said:

Issue with TGA is they arent brave enough to give games that are niche the Award. They are too focused on outside preception and popularity of a title that weights in on the award.

Good examples below
Half Life Alyx (93) VR Title. Shafted to the VR sub genre.
Forza Horizon 5 (92) Racing Title. Shafted to the Racing sub genre.

Instead of rewarding games the overall GOTY, its easier to place these unique games in sub categories to allow them to place a more common game in the awards.

Its all to increase viewership.

I agree, certain genres like racing or fighting have difficulties to earn a GOTY (not only in TGA but most GOTYs), even if the game is really great as these genres are sometimes seen as inferior. City Skylines or simulators like that might fall in the same category, pretty hard for them to get a general award. Generally speaking, if a game has narrative elements it might fare better at general awards than a game without it.

Indies might struggle too, although that became better in recent years.

I agree, it seems games with a strong narrative focus are more of a chance which is probably why we also see games with strong narratives in the GOTY categories more often than not. Even games like "It Takes Two" has a strong Disney narrative focus behind it. Games like Alyx and Horizon or any form of Simulator, RTS or Fighter type game which are more gameplay focused get snubbed into subcategories. Smash Brothers should have won a GOTY and it won Fighting GOTY but not overall. Again the narrative example.