Giant Bomb GOTY 2019 Discussion Thread

Are we seriously not getting a hitsmas this year? I look forward to that every single year..

It was feeling like I was the only one who has been slightly disappointed in this year's content, it seems that at least some others share my views. Although it could be the vocal minority here on the forum. It would be interesting to know the stats & figures on the content this year versus the past, but that's not information for us to know. I will say that I don't mind the change to the podcasts. I do enjoy them going through the game releases in order and discussing them. I always disliked it when someone would just rave on a game just to get their "piece" in when it was not going anywhere. I would sit there thinking to myself, "Just drop it, no one else played or enjoyed it, so just drop it. Save the praise for your personal top 10s". Sure there was still some of that but it felt like less of it last year. So the change feels a-ok to me, in fact...

I was going to say this. Obviously I have no idea what their year-end schedules look like, but at least from an "outsider-looking-in" point of view, this makes a lot of sense. Do the 3 days of game recaps remotely, during any downtimes from recordings or other office stuff, then do your long day of the final GOTY list podcasting while everyone is together. If East chooses to only stay a week, that would still give GB some bonus time to record the group content that I, and apparently others, are sorely missing. Hitsmas is great to watch, the group being together to play Giant Rom games was a great idea, the winter games have always been a blast, any of the Jackbox stuff with everyone together is so so good, and obviously the scripted stuff was always fun. I know there are some days left here, but it seems that this year's content won't be quite as good as in years past. Maybe the weakest so far? We'll see what they got scheduled though :)

I guess this is my hangup - they don't tend to like either type of game. Just seems a bit odd to hamstring Sekiro for it's lack of variation when they also don't care for the most varied games in the series either. I personally think Sekiro is brilliant in communicating its vision through gameplay in a way that very few games do, but it seems like everyone but Ben didn't even make it to the point where that "clicks".

I've never found these overtly long form GOTY discussions to be interesting content to begin with, regardless of the format. Do people really enjoy listening to multiple 4-5 hr long podcasts on the subject? I've tried to listen through a couple, and i always find myself zoning out after a while. And the overall amount of "Top 10"-lists on the site is so big, it's just starting to feel like noise.

Is choosing a "Giant Bomb official GOTY (in category x)" really a necessity to begin with? Is it something that just HAS to be done, because everyone else on the field is doing it? Kinda like scores for written reviews?

I'd be perfectly fine with a simple GOTY Bombcast/Beastcast or two, with the staff just listing their personal favourites, and bringing up highlights of the year.

Maybe spend the time saved making some Christmas video specials. GBeast wouldn't even have to travel west for a longer period, just to sit in a small space for hours on end.

Regardless of the format they go with in the coming years, i have to say, that this year's Christmas content hasn't really had anything for me personally. I liked the concept of the Feud, but man was the production quality rushed. The "talking head" videos feel completely random. And it's looking to be pretty dry as far as group videos go…

I don’t think the old format was flawless (far from it), but I do feel like this new one is just a lateral move. I hated the needless acrimony and bad faith arguments caused by nonsense process issues (like impossible to define categories and an insistence on strict outcomes but utterly rejecting using any ordered system like voting - which was fine when it was just a few people, but doesn’t work with the sheer number of staff involved now). But the new format is just kind of boring to me, there’s very little point to hearing these surface level recaps of like every single game as far as I’m concerned.

That being said, I can happily not listen to the GOTY stuff. I ultimately don’t think it’s particularly important. But here’s my thing. If this is what they’re doing with their week all together? Just...Don’t? We can go to almost any site on the Internet for “here are ten good games”. We come here for the personalities and the interactions and the goofy stuff. I‘m happy for them to do less stressful work, but if it’s going to be this...It’s not worth it. Use the time to do Specialtacular stuff and maybe just have individual GOTY lists worked on before/after. Play to your strengths.

Edit to Clarify: I was fine with it last year because we still got the Specialtacular stuff, which is what I like. If they cut all that so that they could cram all this same GOTY/Recap stuff into a shorter time frame, I think it was the wrong call. They cut down on the part that’s totally In their wheelhouse and kept the generic GOTY stuff. I know some people do like that, and as I say I don’t mind just ignoring it, but I feel like they almost entirely eliminated the stuff I want to save time. If they’d even cut down equally on both I’d have been happier than with this situation, where other than Feud and maybe Jeff’s WWE 2K20 video, there’s really nothing for me at all (and even the WWE thing I feel would work better non-solo)

I'm the same way. I usually download the first couple and give them a go, then either zoning out while they finish or just deleting them. The past couple of years I haven't even bothered with the final days because it's just SO much. I've wondered if the low amount of insight/analytics into podcasts has anything to do with this. If most people are subscribed and automatically download, I imagine on the backend that a full listen shows up identically to an instant delete.

I know that at least from my personal perspective, I listen to every Bombcast, Beastcast, and Aftermath, but will probably listen to less than half of the GOTY podcasts, and the only video I'll watch is Giant Bomb Feud (if nothing else pops up tomorrow).

@nem: Damn this before and after picture hurts but there was a lot going on this year, Jeff had a kid, Thanksgiving came super late, etc. I would let them break in the office first before just writing them off.

Okay, my view (for what it's worth):

I'm going to be sad if we're done on the cross-coast Xmas content like Hitsmas and the Winter Games. I do feel pretty disappointed. I sincerely do not like being negative like this but... don't want to lie nor stay silent as, much like others speaking out, I don't want this to be the norm going forward. Who knows? Maybe they're saving those videos for next week... maybe...? I'm not getting my hopes up.

I quite like the individual videos if I view them as the equivalent of stocking fillers - although, with that said, Jeff's WWE video is kinda like that present that ended up in a stocking, is stretching the stocking to breaking point and really should have just sat out as a standalone present - but I don't think they're going to go down well if they are replacing the aforementioned 'let's all get together around a fake fire at the holidays and have a good old goofy time playing video games' videos.

I get that the past few years of GOTY content must have been a tiring couple of weeks for the staff, and trying to do that stuff in a week is going to be even more tiring, but would it be possible to pull a double shift during those 5 days (like they do with the cross-coast Unprofessional Friday) and take away 5 full regular days around the holiday period? I imagine CBS probably has some rules and regulations surrounding all of that which would make it difficult, plus I would think that everyone on the staff would have to be happy to take this approach, but... just floating it. As I'd happily miss out on a few quick looks, a UPF and a playdate if it meant for some really fun videos during the holidays. I mean, you go on Infinite and you'll see that GOTY videos (alongside Mario Party) are almost always picked ahead of quick looks and other stuff. That's not just happening for no reason - it's because people love that kinda stuff!

On the actual GOTY podcasts: I don't mind whatever way they want to do it. I do agree that three days of running down the game is less interesting, as it does come across as 'Best of Bombcast/Beastcast gaming discussions' for those three days, but I imagine these podcasts are the most emotionally taxing and stress-inducing things for the whole crew to do. So if this is how they stay sane, and don't have any (or anywhere near as many) grievances with one another that go beyond that room, then so be it. I mean, if the current format is how they started doing the podcasts in the first place then I don't think there would be any requests to change the format, it's just that maybe we have been spoiled with the heated discussions which are, admittedly, a lot of fun to watch/listen to but... not necessarily a lot of fun to take part in, I'd imagine.

Perhaps we could say the same for the group videos but, hey, at least the GOTY podcasts still exist and are still a good watch - they've just changed.

TL;DR: Please don't drop the fun group, cross-coast holiday videos if possible!

Disappointing. The new format of the podcast is bland and boring. And the new "personal" videos are way too "watchmojo"ei for me, i.e. not what I come to Giantbomb for. I wish they'd at least done a couple of group videos, but even the family feud one felt like, at the last minute, they realized they hadn't shot a video together and put something together in a rush. I am a videographer, have been for the past 10 years, and that was rough to watch. You mean to tell me all the standing around waiting for Jan to make the system work couldn't have been cut out?

It's just a shame that the site was basically quiet for two weeks for this.

I miss the old skits. Cowboy Ryan, Dat "Hunk" and CBS sit-coms. Where did the creativity go? I got married this year, and I completely understand making more time for family, but you don't have to sacrifice creativity for that. I hate to say it, but this feels lazy.

OK, here's my take on the quality of podcasts and recap issue this year. I try to be constructive or at least give my two cents as respectfully as possible. Obviously they can do whatever they want and I don't think the new format itself is bad. In theory it's a good idea to shine the spotlight on as many games as possible as a sort of celebration of the games of the year. But it really highlights the lack of diversity in the group's taste and a lack of willingness to dive deep into discussions about videogames as a medium.

I originally subscribed to Giantbomb many years ago for mature and informed discussions about the industry by very experienced members of said industry. We still get that during the E3 Nite shows and (nowadays) rarely on the two podcasts. In general, though, I feel like there has been a shift towards a more surface level, videogame-adjacent entertainment. Compared to e.g. The Game Informer Show, Easy Allies' coverage and just recently MinnMax, Giantbomb does not offer Book-Club-like discussions of videogames (anymore) and is worse of for it, I think. Drew and Austin used to be great at drawing out those type of discussions, but things change in life and here we are.

Most of their video content throughout the year is still good and fun, because they seem like a bunch of good and fun people. But where's the celebration of videogames in 2019 if (e.g.) Yooka Laylee is talked about for a minute and nobody played a significant amount of it. Or mentioning FF14 music if nobody has any attachment to neither the game not the franchise or the type of music in general, I guess. Or why mention Far Cry New Dawn, Crackdown 3 or Left Alive at all if you just want to vent your disappointment again? I thought the point was to get rid of negativity.

My point is, stick to what you know and care about. The discussion about Outer Wilds or Death Stranding was good for the most part, as more than one or two people were engaged in it. I feel like mentioning a hundred or so games and not being able to talk about for more than 5 minutes actually does them a disservice and accomplishes the opposite of a celebration. It just leads to glossing over a Fire Emblem or Ace Combat in a (unintentional) dismissive way.

They could really cut their huge list to maybe 20 games and go deep on those. Because the way the do it now adds nothing of value to the discourse of a game. Maybe find a way to resurface Quick Looks if you want to recap the whole year of games? Or use your super talented video producers to make a supercut of those lesser talked about games (huge timesink, I know).

So all in all, less may be more im the future? Recaps are fine, but make it a little more interesting by using your knowledge and passion and not just acknowlegde things on a list for 10 or so hours.

This GOTY is what pushed me to finally unsubscribe from premium after many years. I wanna support MinnMax now, as their format appeals to me more at the moment, but I'll still follow you, I suppose.

As side note: I haven't watched all the short individual videos because they seem really strange? Like they have a very different tone than anything else. Especially looking at Vinny's videos you sort of can tell that he uses his radio/presenter voice. Like overly smiling and stuff. Or am I seeing and interpreting things. These videos feel like CBS snippets in a way.

Anyway, Outer Wilds as GOTY is a good choice. Peace!

I see this sentiment a lot, but honestly don't get this excuse. I have a wife and 3 kids, but I still go to work and perform the way I did before I had kids. Having a personal life is not an excuse to half ass your work. That Feud video was pretty embarrassing, the content was good, but the quality of that video was....every aspect of it audio/framing/editing/lighting was wrong, it's like they did it on purpose otherwise how else could it be so bad?

Really feel the creativity is gone from this site. You look at the variety of content before, with Big Live Show, TNT, TANG, ILoveMondays, Travel Vlogs, Interviews, Articles, Reviews etc. Now everything seems to be either a podcast or a stream of the crew playing some random games for a couple hours.

IMO which doesn't matter, I would just separate the GOTY stuff and not make the east travel to the west, not only do they get to spend time at home with their family after work. I think the East crew would do some pretty inventive stuff based around the concept of a year end recap/award show. It's probably just Dan's enthusiasm for games and Vinnys supportive nature to all his good/bad ideas but the whole East crew have such a fun and lighthearted chemistry together and feel like the West crew just dampens that.

I am never this guy online or in person, ever. Really. But dude the lack of content is strange considering the prerecorded podcasts and stuff.

I am not too bothered because Giant Bomb is nice but it isn't my life, however this is some pretty lackluster stuff. The only group vid so far was poorly produced and when the category stuff was broken (round two), they should have redone it with a new question. Instead they rolled with it cause you could tell they didn't manage time well.

Here's to this year and next everyone.

I don't know what's going on with Giant Bomb.

But this is some lousy content.

I quit.

The lack of group videos this year has genuinely been the only time I’ve ever been disappointed with my subscription to GB. I really was looking forward to some lighthearted fun with the entire crew just being themselves, and there’s barely any of that this year.

@bluntmcgee: I echo everything you said. You pretty much nailed it.

I've never supported a Patreon before, but I'm really tempted to maybe put my "subscription" money towards MinnMax. I've been a fan of that team from GI for a long time, and I really like all the different things they're trying.

I've been a GB subscriber pretty much since they made the switch to premium content, but this year has been a bit lackluster. This GOTY has been quite a disappointment between the extremely short video content and the massive recap podcasts for days 1-3. I'm glad I'm not the only one who had the same thoughts about the Giant Bomb Feud video. It had some great aspects, but seemed so poorly produced and rushed.

Every now and then the crew is really dismissive of a game that I enjoyed, and it sucks. Hearing them trash mechanics that they don't understand, story that they didn't pay attention to, and good characters that they didn't like is extremely frustrating. They make sweeping generalizations about things that, quite frankly, they're not even in a position to discuss given the limited time they've spent with a game.

It also calls into question all the other games they've dismissed and/or trashed in the past that I haven't tried for myself. Were they really that bad, or were Jeff, Brad, etc just being their usual hyperbolic selves?

In the context of these yearly recaps and moving away from the traditional awards/deliberations, if the goal is to reduce negativity in the discussions, then why bring the game up at all if they're just going to talk shit? Like the old adage, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

With that in mind, I'll just say that I like the artwork for the podcast and staff top 10 thumbnails. Regarding literally every other piece of GOTY content...I'll keep my thoughts to myself.

I used to love listening to the Bomb Crew's arguments for GOTY but i would always check the Summary articles/videos FIRST to see you won, and THEN go to the podcast to see how they came to that decision. Now i have to scrub through 4-5 hours of video to just find out what their final verdict is(Not very optimal if i'm trying to avoid spoilers for a particular game).

This whole format reeks of laziness, IMO. I wouldn't mind if they just copy pasted the data from their GOTY doc into an Article along side the podcast. Also, as someone who's dabbled in video editing, i know that longer videos take a lot longer to render and upload so why not upload a video for each category? That's what they've done for the last few GB @Night streams(each panel of guests has its own video).

I'll say I'm pretty disappointed with the GOTY videos so far, but even it doesn't get better,this is probably the only big event they've ever done so far that's just kinda a complete dud. This year was extremely strong for me on a personal level when it comes to premium content, and I expect next year to follow suit. I just hope they take some of the constructive criticism flying around, and take it to heart. I appreciate them trying something different, I just don't think that it worked all that well.

It's embarrassing to call Giant Bomb lazy, tbh. The group videos were the highlight and I miss them but if it makes sense for them to change things to better fit the lives of those involved; I support the people I've enjoyed for these years. I can definitely respect it if internet content isn't for you anymore but equating the lack of Hitsmas this year to a personal failing sucks.

This year has been a big fat nope followed by a question of does anyone in charge value quality content. First time in a while I've questioned if I need to let my sub lapse.

I was genuinely looking forward to this from the end of last year.

To have that long wait come to so little is just disappointing and depressing.

I don’t mind the GOTY format change at all, but I sure do mind the zero content of the entire GB staff other than a very bad feud style thing. Like, what’s the point of flying if that’s all y’all are gonna do?

So I have an impulse to defend the GOTY format and content because frankly some of the vitriol and whining from the community has been embarrassing, and reminds me of why I don't post to these forums that often anymore. Any accusations that the team is being lazy is ridiculous, worthless, and should be completely ignored.

That said, the recap podcasts are very long and a lot of games brought up on them come and go with very little conversation, which to me doesn't seem to reach the goal of "shine a light on the games of the year and have a chill talk about them". I think a sort of meet in the middle approach might be for each staff member to bring a rough draft of what their top ten will be, which is maybe 10-20 candidates that they haven't nailed down yet, and use those lists to create the recap list, instead of making a list of all notable games from the year. The idea is that that way it's kind of the best of the year they're talking about, every game has a good discussion to go along with it, and it's still probably a pretty damn long list.

I'd also say that they don't need to fill 5 days with podcasts. Like, if they did that and only had 2 days of recap instead of 3, they don't need to come up with another day of awards. They could just do four days.

Regardless of the sub par GOTY stuff the real tragedy, Is the video content has not been up to a high enough standard. Obviously one week together is not enough to get high standard content and two weeks seems to be too long for the east team to be away from family. So it is a bit of a pickle.

The GOTY podcasts have always just been something for me to play in the background while doing other stuff, so I don’t really care about the format change.

The lack of group videos has been a bummer though. I haven’t disliked the solo videos, but none of them have really given me any laugh out loud moments like Hitsmas or Rock Band. Hopefully the second group video will be something similar to those two.

I feel bad about my 'laziness' comment earlier. I've always enjoyed GB content and value them enough to keep my Premium Sub going(in spite of the fact i haven't watched a ton of content this past year).

In regards to the GOTY format, i think i would rather they just do the multi-part podcast where they discuss the games that came out this year at length(what they liked and didn't like about them) and then decide the awards off camera. I don't need to hear the same talking points about a particular game twice.

But they've always done the deliberations for transparency's sake. I'm fine with the current format as every game gets it's due.

They don't need to have a million group videos with the entire group. I'd be happy with one big group video UPF style - mixing a few different games. One Hitsmas video with a core 4 of them (Jeff, Brad, Dan, Vinny) and one other video (Rock Band, Rocket League, Fighting Game whatever) with some of the other members. That would split their time so they're not all having to do huge long shifts or whatever. I don't know the behind the scenes logistics so it's not necessarily for me to judge their practice. I wholly get their wanting to do what is best for them.

However, at the end of the day, the content they produce is their product that their subscribers pay for and quite frankly it has been very poor this year (I'm discussing video stuff only - not the podcasts). If you go through any of my posts going back to 2008 you'll see that I am generally supportive of everything that the staff and site does and have faith in their process.

This year though, this GOTY stuff has been a real bummer. It's a shame because they are also doing their free premium trial. If this was my first engagement with the site, this GOTY showing is a very poor display of what GB are good at and I would have no interest in subscribing.

I'm not cancelling my subscription as I do still love the site (despite the fact that I don't consume all that much of the content other than the podcasts and occasional video series) but I do hope that they actually take the constructive feedback on board and don't just dismiss it out of hand as 'the internet'. The majority of the feedback in this thread seems to have been done in a positive and respectful way from subscribers who have legitimate concerns for the state of the website going forward.

It's fine, I've been using it as background noise so far. But it really feels like they honed in on the most boring parts of their past coverage, even forgoing their better categories for the most sterile ones.

The best part for me has been the Outer Wilds talk, which I went back and listened to today (only just beat the game a few hours ago). A game that nearly everyone on staff played, and all had more in-depth thoughts to share about it. I understand why that discussion is a rarity (not just in this year's content), but seeing as the recap days were so much of one person talking at the panel, instead of with them, I would have preferred them using their new personal videos to talk about 90% those games instead.

Hell, just pre-record the recap podcasts as East and West and release them during the "GOTY Production" period, they're basically "Best of Bomb/Beastcast 20XX" already. Anything if it means they can spend more of that one week doing the group videos, as the whole crew together playing games is so rare and creates content that you can come back to years later and not feel like the moment has passed (I only just got around to 2018's Hitsmas and it felt like it coulda come out this week).

And a small note on the personal videos, while they're solid asides, the reason I love the "silly" categories is the insane conversations that arise from picking winners. I've enjoyed them, but can't help wishing "Best Skin" had a full-panel discussion.

I hope they can take some of the feedback they've been getting to help them work out the kinks of a one week schedule next year. At the very least, I think they'll focus a bit more on the group videos again because the overwhelming feeling surrounding their absence has just been sadness.

I think I like the long list form of the GOTY talks but everything else, to me, has been very disappointing.

I don't mean to be so crass but I honestly don't give a shit about the Top X games put up (guests specifically but in general too). It isn't a knock against them but it's just not very interesting or has any impact on me whatsoever and they're all largely the same. I miss the goofy and silliness that came with the GOTY stuff. I didn't need so many top-x-lists. Seriously.

I also feel like the quality of the Business Feud video was pretty poor. Sadly enough, it's the one video that features all the staff together.

If the premium sale came a little bit later or after this GOTY stuff, I probably would have moved on. Kind of felt the same early in the year and over the summer. But $35 is at least a good price.

After finishing listening to the Day 4 podcast I've just come to realize that there will be no "Best moment or sequence" and no "Hottest Mess" category. This makes me really sad. Only having 4 categories and the top 10 as the real meat of the podcasts is kind of a let down, especially when you consider virtually no video content with the entire team together.

But wow, "Best moment or sequence" has been around since basically the beginning of the GotY discussions and always offers some of the best discussion. I mean remember Vinny getting super emotional last year when describing Florence during the category? Stuff like this is what really makes GotY so special and so much of that is missing. Also the fact that the community starts debating "Hottest Mess" months before the GotY podcasts even starts I think helps to drive home the feelings the community has to some of this stuff. The GotY stuff has always been an amazing time capsule for their respective years. This might be the first one where going back it wont't feel that way.

I hope I'm wrong with my assumption, but it seems like tomorrow is just going to be the Top 10 debate and nothing else.

@nicolasvh: I truly hope they don’t dismiss people’s concern this year as “the internet “.

That would concern me.

This thread isn’t filled with hate or anger, just disappointment and some ideas for next year and things we all seemed to enjoy from years past.

Just retool for next year and adjust. Day 4 was a lot of fun! 5 is probably going to do good too.

I’d say cut 1-3, do video content then a few awards day 4 and 5.

@mackdack: I was okay with one day of just reading a list of games. It feels like something I can skip and it was a way to celebrate games for those who wanted less conflict.

But this year, they just shit on a bunch of those games anyhow, and it was something like 13 hours of podcast. WHO IS THE AUDIENCE FOR THIS???

I’m kinda in a Giant Bomb funk over this year’s end-of-year content, but I’ll also throw in my tongue-in-cheek grievance over Bloodstained’s music being dismissed and Toejam & Earl’s music not being nominated (maybe it comes up before that category ends)...

Seems like today is only gonna be the top 10 rankings. I imagine there will be even more angry comments by the time the day is over. This is probably not what OP had in mind.

I figured the video stuff would be light due to the one week thing. It sucks, but I understand. A very late Thanksgiving tossed a wrench is the proceedings.

I thought the day one deliberations were a bit rough, but they have been pretty good to great since with some great discussions.

The guest lists have also been amazing this year, and folks are seriously missing out on some incredible points made.

Mostly because we like it and think it’s a better representation of our year with video games. It helps focus the conversation and gives us time to actually talk about the games instead of just jamming in all the little “let’s talk about this game before we cut it” things into the old format. Once I realized that the games we were cutting were leading to more interesting and passionate discussion than the categories it was a pretty easy change to make.

Not interested in building more content specifically around who can argue the loudest, even if the answer, more often than not, was me

This stuck out to me in Jeff's explanation of the new format and i just don't feel like the new format switched this up enough.

Like this format where every noticeable game gets talked about, leads to a humongeous amount of 'let's talk about this game before we cut it' moments. Except it doesn't get cut from a list, but it will just.. stop getting talked about apart from the 2 minutes spent on games one or two might have seen once in a quicklook but don't care for. I think there was one game that got 15 seconds of talk? Why would you include games people have no feelings about and hardly know anything to say about? That strikes me as such a Gamespot / IGN objective of 'WE NEED TO COVER EVERYTHING THAT WAS IMPORTANT' (except for the relevant games that they forgot about like Katana Zero, Ace Combat 7 & Planet Zoo). The attempt to be extensive mostly showcases how many games they have not spent much or any time with, while spending time on the games they actually know & care about leads to better content & discussions. Why not have 80% of the content revolve around those games instead of 20%? I doubt anyone listening to this years podcast ended up buying yooka laylee or left alive because they got a quick mention here. I think Jeff doing 2 runs of Noita would have done way more for smaller games that members actually like than the current insistance to try to namecheck everything.

When we look at whether this format is better at cutting out negativity, i'm not sure it does that much neither. We'll still have to see how the award portion goes naturally, but up until now i still see a bunch of negativity happening around the eventual list-contenders. Like you have smaller games like Heave Ho & Dicey Dungeons get showered with praise by anyone that played it, as they are not perceived as list-contenders at this point, while the Control segment was 1 minute of 'man this is very good' and 29 minutes of 'UGH I HATE HOW THEY DID THIS, FUCK THESE CHECKPOINTS, If only they... This could've been great but.... and similar remarks. Same goes for games like Sekiro, Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium. People actually care about these games and know that they will have to be defended / attacked in the awards portion of the GOTY awards and therefore those bring out the positive & negative emotions from the getgo they get discussed. Unless the entire list is done away with or you have a crew that doesn't really care what ends up on that / doesn't care about the games released, you're not going to stop those strong emotions from clashing with eachother.

Folks need to go back and watch the 2017 videos if they are still confused about the directional shift in how they approach these talks. Those debates got flat out toxic towards the end and you can tell they all had it being in that room together.

It is absolutely not healthy to have that type of discourse, and I commend the hell out of Jeff for stepping up and making the change.

I'm not saying someone can be upset at how they do it now, but it makes you an absolutely shitty person if you rather them subject themselves to 20 hours of podcasting that is nothing but yelling.

Gosh, why did you have to remind me of the Florence moment with Vinny... my eyes started welling up thinking about that and I've yet to play the game!

I wouldn't worry as I can't see them spending all of their time on the Top 10. I do think there will be a 'Hottest Mess', 'Best Moment' and 'Worst Game'. Or at least two of those. We'll soon find out!

Just my 2 cents, since I barely post here anymore:

• my favourite categories have all been cut and not replaced by anything fun
• East & West didn't really do much together this year
• three days of recap are total overkill for someone who listens throughout the year

I could say more, but don't want to pile on. Hope there's a way to submit feedback or a poll or something, because it kinda feels like there's a misunderstanding of what people want from GotY.

Been a fan since the launch of the website and I will echo some early sentiment that I think calling the team's output "lazy" or that they don't care about the quality of content is absolutely ridiculous.

I think it's clear they're just experimenting with different Game of the Year formulas due to being exhausted by the prior ones. I think the three days of recap is a bit much, and would greatly prefer two days of recap, three days of awards. But I also understand the sentiment that they want to celebrate games as opposed to just smashing them against one another and belittling excellent pieces of work.

As for videos, I would be fine with just one or two group videos because assembling those seems like a tremendous amount of work. Vinny wants to spend time with his kids during the run-up to Christmas, not in an editing booth. Important to remember that the work on those videos doesn't end when they leave SF, a lot of work still has to be done in New York by Vinny and Abby, and of course in SF by Jan and Jason. That work is on top of still having to produce content for the rest of December.

Ultimately, GotY this year has been slightly disappointing, but I'm fully confident next year will be an improvement.

@drdarkstryfe: it’s hilarious that the excuse for the new format is they were unable to act like adults instead of getting into petty fights for hours on end.

Anyway, I agree creativity is gone from the site. They’re glorified Twitch streamers now. And who the hell is watching Jeff for 2 and a half hours talk about how bad the faces are in a WWE game? I’ll pass...

This could have been solved if there were actual rules instead of discussions where it was people trying to wear each other down. Based on Day 4 anyway, it seems like they agreed not to have any arguments that went nowhere at least.

I know that podcasts are inherently the easiest content that they can produce, but I also wonder if trading the 15 hours of recap podcasts for a 2 hour video featuring the entire staff wouldn't have been better use of time. If they're going to rethink everything anyway, there's no reason to have a week of podcasts either if the format itself doesn't work.

If the crew isn't in to the debating anymore, no problem, find something new to do. Whatever this is just isn't all that enjoyable to listen to. Hope they figure something fun out for next year!

I find it baffling that reasonable discussion is allowed on the main website, but the mods are removing ANY criticism whatsoever on the reddit page.

I will say this year has been a let down, but I appreciate Marino putting up the discussion times, so I can listen to exactly what I want to and skip all the tripe. The entire affair's just seemed lazy, but I appreciate that Jeff runs the show and has just had a kid. I guess I just expected more

I find myself watching even less GOTY vids this year than the last, maybe ill watch all of day five

Liked the awards system better, i hope they have more of those in the future and just commit everyone to some kind of ruleset of what each category is before they start debating if that is creating problems

Oh man, this year has been really bad. Feels like the guys are on autopilot and dont really care what happens to the site... I hope they can somehow get it together again, but I kinda have lost faith at this point on the whole site.