Winners at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards are decided by a blended vote between a voting jury of select media outlets (90%) and the general public (10%). However, one prize is decided solely by fan vote: the Players’ Voice Award. While voting for all other categories has been open since the announcement of nominees on November 14th, the Players’ Voice Award polls opened today.
How Players’ Voice Voting Works
The Players’ Voice Award will go to a single game out of a pre-selected pool of titles. The group consists of 2022 releases and ongoing games that are still considered relevant. Voting takes place in three rounds, with the total number of titles available to vote for growing smaller each time. The first round’s thirty will be narrowed down to ten, and then five in subsequent voting periods. The first round begins today, the second on December 1st, and the third and final on December 5th. Fans can choose ten titles in the first round, five in the second, and one in the showdown. The thirty games eligible for the award are:
- God of War Ragnarok
- Elden Ring
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Tunic
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Apex Legends
- Grounded
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy XIV
- Fortnite
- Genshin Impact
- TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge
- Multiversus
- Overwatch 2
- Splatoon 3
- Pentiment
- Cult of the Lamb
- Vampire Survivors
- Marvel Snap
- No Man’s Sky
- Bayonetta 3
- Valorant
- Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
- Sonic Frontiers
- Minecraft
Unique to the Players’ Voice award are visible percentages for nominees. As of the time of writing, Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, and Sonic Frontiers are tied for first place at 8%. Stray is second with 6%. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 follows at third with 5% of the votes.
Last year, Halo Infinite won the Players’ Voice award despite not releasing until the day before The Game Awards ceremony. When voting began, only the game’s multiplayer beta was available. Whether a conscious choice or just how release schedules worked out, no unreleased titles are nominated this year. Stay tuned to Final Weapon for more info on this year’s The Game Awards!
