This coming Monday, the Game Awards 2024 will announce its list of nominees, selected from ballots submitted by video game publications, including a ballot from us here at Polygon. Today, Geoff Keighley and company have issued a clarification on nominees’ eligibility. Although previously, the rules did not explicitly forbid video game DLCs and expansions from nomination, some may have erroneously assumed that DLCs wouldn’t be in contention for these awards.
In the update posted today to the FAQ on The Game Awards website, there’s a new question: “Are DLCs, expansion packs and remakes/ remasters eligible?” Here’s the answer:
The Game Awards aims to recognize the best creative and technical work each year, irrespective of the format of that content’s release. Expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all categories, if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination. Factors such as the newness of the content and its price/value should be taken into consideration.
We aren’t sure whether or not Shadow of the Erdtree will get a GOTY nomination, nor other nominations — previously, we might have predicted seeing Elden Ring in “Best Ongoing Game” (the place that the parent games for exceptional DLCs and expansions tend to get nominated, thereby serving as a way for those additions to be recognized). Now, it could end up anywhere. As for the DLC itself, we loved it.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested that voters for The Game Awards might not have been aware of this rule. According to a source at The Game Awards, voters were informed prior to submitting their ballots.