Genshin Impact and free-to-play gacha lead the pack as players’ favorite games this year

On By Littum

THE Game Awards has entered its final round of voting for the Players’ Voice award, and it’s filled with controversy.

Gaming’s biggest awards ceremony, The Game Awards, will be streamed live Thursday 12 December 2024, and most of the prizes are decided by a jury.

Black Myth: Wukong is the only game on the final list to escape controversy

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Black Myth: Wukong is the only game on the final list to escape controversyCredit: Game Science
Games like Genshin Impact are known to give rewards to players when they win prizes

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Games like Genshin Impact are known to give rewards to players when they win prizesCredit: HoYoVerse
Elden Ring got controversy as a DLC and not a full game

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Elden Ring got controversy as a DLC and not a full game

The only award decided by the public is the Players’ Voice category, and it’s now entering its final round of voting, and the top five games voted for by players are quite controversial.

Players were initially outraged by the announcement that the DLC could be nominated in any TGA category, before it was revealed that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree earned a Game of the Year nomination.

Despite the disruption this caused, Shadow of the Erdtree has now reached the top five in the player-voted category.

The other controversy surrounding the awards is the number of free gacha games that have made the top five.

Three out of the five finalists are gacha games, namely Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves and Zenless Zone Zero.

People have speculated that these games have done so well because they often give away in-game money when they win prizes.

However, they also all have large player bases, and it makes sense that a lot of people would vote for them.

The final round of voting is open now and closing Wednesday 11 December 2024.

The winner after round three of the Players’ Voice award will be announced during The Game Awards.

You only get one vote in this round, so make your decision carefully.

Here are all five games in the final round of Players’ Voice voting:

  • Black Myth: Wukong
  • Genshin impact
  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
  • Rolling waves
  • Zenless Zone Zero

Player’s choice

I think it’s likely that free in-game currency played a role in seeing three gacha games make the top five.

Personally, I don’t think ongoing games like Genshin Impact should be allowed in Players’ Voice, but that’s common practice at this point.

This is players’ biggest chance to show people the games they love, and we’d like to see some more variety in the finalists.

If you want to read more about awards, check out our The Game Awards winners’ predictions.

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