Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Game Awards Nomination Sparks Renewed Debate Among Fans

The full list of Game Awards 2024 nominees has dropped, and one release in particular has been sparking plenty of discussion on social media and elsewhere.

Since the nominees were revealed Monday morning, fans have been discussing whether Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree deserves to be on a list that also includes Metaphor: ReFantazio, Black Myth Wukong, Balatro, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. They mainly point to it being an expansion pack that can only be accessed by completing the main game, making it less of a standalone experience than comparable ones like The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.

“As amazing as Shadow of the Erdtree was, it getting a GOTY nom just kind of rubs me the wrong way. Yes, it was expansive, but it wasn’t the first DLC for a game to be giant. Witcher, Xenoblade, Cyberpunk, etc. Would’ve rather seen an actual game,” one fan wrote on Reddit in what has become a common sentiment online. Others simply memed the decision.

The Game Awards has made it clear that Shadow of the Erdtree falls within its official selection criteria. Its website includes a statement issued today reading: “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.”

Certainly, there’s no doubt that Shadow of the Erdtree is one of the biggest releases of 2024. We awarded it a 10 in our review, writing, “Erdtree’s absolutely jam-packed with secrets, valuable treasures, challenging boss battles, and horrific monstrosities to face off against, as well as cool new weapons, spells, Ashes of War, Spirit Ashes, talismans, and more to play around with and use to find even more novel ways to tackle its memorably brutal battles. Add on some very interesting lore revelations, not to mention the same spectacular visual design and stellar music that accompanies its larger-than-life bosses, and you’ve got what is certainly one of the best DLC expansions I’ve ever played.”

It’s also not light on content, clocking in at a cool 51 hours for a completionist run on IGN’s sister site HowLongtoBeat. It came in second in our community GOTY Face-Off, surpassed only by fellow nominee Black Myth Wukong.

“I’m a bit ‘eh’ about DLCs being nominated, but SOTE is my favourite release of the year and is a very substantial gaming experience so I’m fine with it (not that I played the others lol),” one fan wrote. “Obviously it couldn’t function as a standalone game in its current state, but on the other hand, everyone’s been saying that Fromsoft could have easily released it as a sequel, it took almost 2.5 years to make, and it cost $40. It’s not really setting much precedent for a typical 6-12 months, 5-10 hour Fromsoft DLC to be nominated in the future. Like, they will still be lower down the list for being too iterative or not expansive enough.”

Still, some remain skeptical, calling for The Game Awards to add a “Best Expansion” category to account for highly rated releases like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Plenty of others feel that other well-received releases such as Animal Well have been snubbed to make room for Shadow of the Erdtree.

One way or another, Shadow of the Erdtree figures to take home some hardware when The Game Awards streams on December 12. In addition to Game of the Year, it was also nominated for Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best RPG. Astro Bot and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth led the with seven nominations apiece.

Stay tuned for lots more GOTY coverage as 2024 comes to a close, and make sure to check out our list of the best video games of 2024 so far.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.