It's more like a cover, but it usually means anything releasing close to that won't be nominated which is one of my biggest issues with The Game Awards (besides the Forza Horizon 5 snub). It's not "Game of the Year" but instead "Game of the Past 10 Months" and I will always stand by that I think TGA's should be hosted in February instead of December.

Give us a nice show to kick the year off with, I believe Dice GOTY Awards are held around March and stuff like The Oscars is hosted around March too, I don't know why TGA's is hosted in December aside from maybe it's a better time to get advertisers, which is another issue I have with TGA's, so much damn advertising, Lol.

Yes, Xbox would have had few nominations either way this year but I've no doubt that if these awards were hosted in February instead of December that Scarlet/Violet would have been nominated and even Pentiment judging from reviews deserves a Best Narrative nomination and maybe even Art-Style for how unique it is.

I also think Halo Infinite definitely would have got a nomination last year for at least Best Audio, Best OST and Best Multiplayer (at the time). I still think it deserves a Best Audio/OST and it could still be nominated for this year but when something released in the previous year it runs the risk of reviewers simply not considering it for those reasons.

Also, Best Ongoing is always the same damn 5 titles, how about Forza Horizon 5? Flight Simulator? Sea of Thieves?

As it stands, As Dusk Falls carrying XGS this year with 2 nominations only nomination Bethesda even received was Most Anticipated Game with Starfield lol

Has anyone heard of Immortality? Apparently, it was an Xbox exclusive, and I've never heard of it. It's an interactive film.

On mentioning Best Ongoing Game, I would even throw Age of Empires II: DE in there! It gets at least 2 new expansions every year and players are loving it! Sea of Thieves I would say is the most deserving though.