What does “Game of the Year” even mean?

[NyanNyanNekoChan]

As a PC gamer, my “Game of the Year” contenders often don’t align because release windows differ across platforms.
For instance, I've played both "The Last of Us Part II Remastered" and "Stellar Blade", both arrived on Steam this year and with 2025 features such as multi-frame generation. As a result, I end up counting them as 2025 releases.