These are the games with the most GOTY awards for every year since 2003.
http://gotypicks.blogspot.ca/

2003 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
2004 - Half-Life 2
2005 - Resident Evil 4
2006 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007 - BioShock
2008 - Fallout 3
2009 - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
2010 - Red Dead Redemption
2011 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2012 - The Walking Dead: Season One
2013 - The Last of Us
2014 - Dragon Age: Inquisition
2015 - The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (so far)

Now compare that to the highest on Metacritic for each year
2003 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
2004 - Half-Life 2
2005 - Resident Evil 4
2006 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
2007 - Super Mario Galaxy
2008 - Grand Theft Auto IV
2009 - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
2010 - Super Mario Galaxy 2
2011 - Batman: Arkham City
2012 - Mass Effect 3
2013 - Grand Theft Auto V
2014 - Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
2015 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

It's strange to note that only three times (2004, 2005 and 2009) they were the same. Another important note is that Nintendo had the highest critically acclaimed game 5 times in the time span, compared to 0 in terms of GOTY awards.

All of them are good games, go figure .

Yeah, all of them are good, well, almost, but anyway:

2003: agree with GotY
2004: -
2005: -
2006: with Metacritic
2007: Metacritic
2008: GotY
2009: -
2010: Metacritic
2011: Metacritic
2012: uhh... Neither
2013: same... but I'll take GotY's
2014: Metacritic
2015: also not really a choice I'd go for

So, no Nintendo in the GOTY lists? They're all of them good games, of course, but that seems very wrong.

GOTY awards go to multiplats for the same reason that mainstream titles generally win the Oscar. Awards are only partially about the quality of the work. They are also indicative of each publication's audience. Gaming publications are a business.

How many people will keep reading if the GOTY each 365 is a game they haven't played (and can't because it's exclusive to a console they don't own)?

"Dragon Age: Inquisition" is a perfect example. It was one of the best games that most of the gaming world had access to - and a bestseller. Those two qualifications weigh just as heavily into GOTY lists as quality.

You also have to consider that many GOTY awards are given out by publications that follow one platform alone. Those games on many platforms are obviously going to get more overall awards.

There could be a myriad of reasons for this anomaly..... one being that metacritic is basically a compilation of review "scores" and then the game of the year award is not necessarily even supposed to be given to the highest rated game.

Take for instance, Street Fighter. It may be a perfect game by all fighting game standards and based on the sum of all its parts score 10s across the board. It however will NEVER win game of the year, but could very well be the highest rated game of its particular year.

One is pure stats and the other is stats heavily guided by opinion and type.....

Nintendo makes great games, but it's been a while since they've made something goty worthy. And by that I mean a game that stands out above all others.
Zelda and mario are great but we've played them before so they're not as memorable.
Imo splatoon could have had a chance this year if it came our with all its content.

The Walking Dead Season One only has 6 reviews.

It's not strange at all.

Many people, when they're talking about "Game of the Year," they search their memory and generally ask themselves, "which game did I enjoy the most this past year?" The answer to that is sometimes different than, "which game was I the most impressed with from a technical, objective standpoint?"

Let's say you played Skyrim for a review. You put 50 hours into it while on the job. You loved it but, for a review, you deducted points for graphics, glitches, fetch quests, and things of that nature. However, you were having a blast with it and ended up putting 200 more hours into it and the deductions you made in the review actually bothered you very little.

You liked Batman a lot, as well, and you gave it a higher score because it was more technically impressive and more polished, though obviously it had a lot less content and was more linear.

But the one you kept going back to and playing? The one that pulled you in and reminded you why you loved gaming? Skyrim. Between the two, from a personal standpoint, it was a more enjoyable game.

So, when you think back over the year in gaming, which gets your GOTY vote?

I don't know about anyone else but I'd vote for the game that gave me the most entertainment, review scores be damned. I know the intent here is to point out the discrepancy as a flaw with GOTY voting but, in my opinion, it's really just another reason why review scores get way too much emphasis.

nintendo games are old, well known franchises. They are great -perfect games quality whise, but often they are all a litte bit to similar to stand out as goty.

Also they are always graphics whise not on the same level as the competition. 

GOTY is a comparison between games, but metacritic is a score for each game itself.