As December approaches, seemingly everyone is considering what might get crowned Game of the Year — and that includes PC storefront Steam. From now until Dec. 1, fans can nominate Steam games in a variety of categories. Some are what you’d expect, while other categories play with the format a bit more.
Beyond basic Game of the Year, Steam users can vote for a Sit Back and Relax award for the most zen game, Labor of Love award for long-term live-service games that keep getting better years after release, and my favorite, Best Game You Suck At. “This is the game that rewards persistence, and is not for the faint of heart,” reads the description for the latter category. “It’s the toughest game we’ve ever loved.”
For 2024’s Steam Awards, fans deemed Soulslike action game Black Myth: Wukong the GOTY and Best Game You Suck At. The mythical monkey game was the most common nomination, with Black Myth: Wukong also taking home the Outstanding Story Rich Game award. The Most Innovative Award was claimed by Liar’s Bar, the multiplayer game where players try and call each other’s bluff at bar games. After winning these distinctions, the games in question all earn a banner that gets displayed on their respective storefront pages. Participants who nominate and vote can also win badges for their Steam profiles.
Unlike, say, The Game Awards nominations or individual publication awards, Steam’s awards are all decided by players — which leaves a lot of room for shenanigans and unusual fan-led campaigns. The Game Awards, meanwhile, are decided primarily by a panel of judges and only minorly impacted by fan votes. In the past, this has meant that some nominations — like Starfield‘s Most Innovative award — have been considered by at least some Steam users as “troll” nominations. This structure also means that games that might never be considered at establishment awards like TGA might have a genuine chance of winning something on Steam instead. I hope you’re all ready to vote Megabonk for GOTY! Surely Hollow Knight: Silksong will be a shoo-in for GYSA? We’ll know soon enough.
On Dec. 1, nominations will close and voting will officially open. The event will be celebrated with, you guessed it, a Steam winter sale.
