What will be Giant Bomb's GOTY 2016?

@df: I'm sticking with DOOM, but I think Hitman has a much stronger shot that I originally gave it credit for; especially now that Jeff seems to be on board with it.

Dishonored 2 does not seem like its lived up to its potential. I bet Titanfall 2 lands somewhere around #8 though.

This sounds about right. DOOM seems to be the one game they unanimously agree on. The other four, it seems slightly mixed depending on which member you ask, but most of them seem to think very highly of all those games.

If some weirdo put a gun to my head and made me narrow it down to the top 3, I'd put everything on:

1. DOOM
2. Hitman
3. The Witness

With the year being effectively over (I really doubt The Last Guardian or Final Fantasy XV are factors here) I reckon Hitman could take it. Originally I thought it was going to be DOOM but I think Hitman will take it over that for a few reasons. DOOM came out early in the year and nobody is playing it anymore. Hitman is still being played, because of it's model but also now both Brad and Jeff are starting to play the actual game whereas previously it sounds like Brad only played it for videos on the site.

I think The Witness will absolutely be on there and I think Titanfall 2 will probably end up on the list, probably rather high too as Jeff is so into it and it'll likely be his personal game of the year.

A tough question. Since I don't personally care too much about GOTY awards and the like I don't know how GB is deciding this. I also missed a lot of discussions about the games released early this year.

Do they nominate, and how? Do they vote? Does Ryckert's love for Stardew Valley count as much as Jeff's love for Titanfall 2?

Most of GB seem to really like Hitman, with Brad and Dan being the most prominent fans, so Hitman could be a good bet. But I also feel that it can be overruled.

Going to say DOOM, possibly fighting it over with Overwatch. Brad, Dan and now Jeff have really warmed up to Hitman, but I think Dan still really hasn't played the game properly himself and Jeff only started it now with Extra Life, so no idea if he'll even keep to it, even if he seemed to like the game.

But what I really want to know is what will this year's skits be themed like? Virtual Reality nonsense, perhaps?

The real question is what game and/or category will Brad stubbornly filibuster for until he gets his way this year?

It will be Overwatch.

1. Overwatch
2. DOOM
3. Hitman
4. Titanfall 2

Followed by some combination of

• witness
• stardew valley

and a serious bloodbath for the remaining few slots.

its going to be one of these

- Titanfall 2
- Doom
- Overwatch
- Hitman: Season 1

I think that your top 3 will be some order of: Titanfall 2, Doom, and Hitman. It will be interesting to see how they organize that top 3 this year. Feels like the first year in a while where there was any big fight at the top, where all three games kinda deserve that recognition. I think that you will have The Witness and Overwatch on the outside looking in but still in the Top 5. Gears will be somewhere, then you will have personal staff favorites like Stardew Valley (Dan) or Oxenfree (Alex) that could get in like Invisible Inc.

I'm hoping Titanfall 2 will be up there. Love that game.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be Titanfall 2 because Jeff actually is enthusiastic about the actual game, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be DOOM.

My hopes are for Hitman.

Its kind of a loose process. They'll compile a list of games that should be considered for the top ten and then slowly cut it down in stages. Usually they go around the table and each person choose one to be eliminated. If someone wants to defend it they can make a case, otherwise it usually gets removed. Sometimes games will return to the list after being removed. Sometimes games stay on the list for no reason other than someone hasn't suggested cutting it yet, so order of removal doesn't mean anything. When they get close to ten people start taking stands for various games. Not always the prettiest phase of GOTY. Eventually they settle on 10 and just need to fight over order. They record a podcast of it and it's amazing. You should check it out when it gets posted at the year end.

I think Hitman personally Brad and Dan been hard on it all year and now the others are coming to it so it will be fresh in their minds.

It's 100% going to be DOOM.

Huh. I knew DOOM would be up there in the polls but not by that much. I honestly thought all the Hitman hype was taking over.

Thanks for the description! I think I'll grab the one from 2015 since this concept sounds compelling.

DOOM still has a good chance, despite being released early in the year. They can dismiss it pretty quickly though since they didn't like the multiplayer (beta) and probably never spend that much time with SnapMap.

Hitman is a great contender because it launched its episodes throughout the year, which means it had plenty of exposure here on the site and it got everyone interested in it pretty late in the year. What will Brad do vs DOOM here?

Titanfall 2 can go all the way because of the Gerstmann GOTY effect AND it seems more of the staff played the game this time around compared to the first game (where it was foolishly casted aside quickly in favour of Advanced Warfare).

Everything else is kinda meh. I think Alex and Dan still play some Overwatch, but they kinda stopped talking about it pretty quick. The Witness might be a dark horse if they remember it because it was released early in the year. And games like Stardew Valley and Uncharted 4 might make the list, but not in the top3-5 or so.

Hitman or DOOM. Hitman's been regular in it's releases to remain fresh in the memory. That might trip The Witness up.

I'd like it to be Titanfall because it's an amazing campaign AND multiplayer, but I think they'll choose Doom.

I think Hitman has the edge. Even Jeff is playing and enjoying it. Also, fuck The Witness. Most bummed I have been about the end of a game in a while.

I gave it a 10 at www.playstationcountry.com. Might've overshot it but I reviewed it after 20 hours when I wasn't quite sick of the line puzzles. That ending was definitely a little limp.

Fuck I hope its not Doom. And people thought Shadow of Mordor was a shallow ass choice for GOTY.

Not that it matters in the absolute slightest. Everyone knows what games they like and more than anything I just like listening to the guys be passionate about something, even if I disagree. Will LOVE to hear genuine reasons why it could be Doom over something like Hitman or Overwatch

Loved the puzzles and the island and all that jazz, but I was disappointed to find that it lead to basically nothing. They made an interesting and compelling world that I wanted to learn more about (nature of the island, statues, etc.) and then went nowhere with it. It would be like if the ending of Portal was just that you died. Still all the snark from Glados and the messages scribbled on the wall, but no payoff. That's how the end of the Witness made me feel; like I ran on a treadmill for 20 hours. Put the work in, but don't actually get anywhere. The Witness is a mental exercise machine masquerading as something deeper.

I'm still feeling pretty strong about DOOM with Titanfall 2 next up

I feel like Titanfall 2 and Hitman are becoming more competition to DOOM as the year continues. Not super sure now.

Jeff's opinion tends to dominate these talks and I don't recall him being all that into Doom. I think Titanfall 2 has a better chance at taking it for this reason.

@tesla: jeff was super into DOOM.

I think Inside will make it onto the list of considerations at least. Ultimately Doom and Titanfall 2 for certain.

unless Final Fantasy XV or the Last Guardian really knocks their socks off (it could happen!)

I'm predicting a top 10 including Doom, the Witness, Overwatch, Hitman season 1, Stardew Valley (cause no way Dan lets that one slip by), Owlboy maybe, Ratchet might sneak in there, Uncharted, Inside and maybe one of the first 2

I think the big fight this year will be DOOM vs. Titanfall 2. Both games are fantastic, but DOOM exceeded everyone's expectations.

Doom is obvious number 1 so any speculative list starts at 2.

2 and 3 are Titalfall2 and Hitman.

4 is Picross 3D 2

I feel like Doom will lose out because, while the single player was viewed as spectacular, the multiplayer didn't leave the boys particularly enthused. I still believe that it will be a solid 2nd place; but I'm not convinced that it's a lock for 1st. It also feels like once they were done with the campaign there wasn't much discussion made about it unless it specifically came up in a conversation on air or in the news. This as opposed to:

Hitman, which feels to me to be the more likely candidate of the likely candidates. The enthusiasm for the game only seems to build each time that it gets discussed; and the continued support has made it a game that many of them seem to play on an ongoing basis rather than solely within the time frame of the episodic releases. If nothing else the discussion has INCREASED in recent weeks as more of the staff has played it.

I expect Stardew Valley to end up at third. There seems to be a general level of respect surrounding the title that, combined with Dan's enthusiasm for it, could yank it into third position by an eyelash.

I really get the vibe it's gonna be Doom. They were tepid with quite a few of these other titles from what I gleaned.

Overwatch. Unless it's Last Guardian. The latter is unlikely but we haven't seen it yet so there's some chance

No Man's Sky or Street Fighter V are pretty much the front runners here

Hitman definitely seems a stronger contender now that Brad has put some real time into it off camera but I still think Doom is the favourite. IMO Hitman offers more than Doom but that's also leaves it in a position where there are more things about it that can be criticised. Doom focuses on a handful of mechanics and executes on all of them just about flawlessly which I think will help it pull ahead.

Except the multiplayer, which makes up 1/3 of the content of the game. It is one of those weird things where they shouldn't have even bothered with it and just gave us the campaign and Snapmap.

It says enough that Jeff wanted to play Doom & Titanfall 2 multiple times when they launched, while Hitman only got touched during Extra Life. Titanfall doesn't seem to have the wider vote, but Doom certainly has.

I could see it being DOOM against Titanfall 2. Jeff seems to have fallen in love with Titanfall 2.

I should probably get Titanfall 2. I've heard so much praise for it and it's one of the few multiplayer experiences that when I watch it makes me wish I had it.

I was one of those who was sure DOOM was a lock for the top spot but since Titanfall 2 dropped and Hitman has been getting more play, GOTY is up for grabs now. It's going to be real interesting because I see Brad being torn apart inside with how many games he'll likely be championing.

He adores DOOM, Inside, The Witness, and Hitman.

If Jeff continues to play Hitman, I can see him supporting it over DOOM in the end because of how badly he thinks of the latter's multiplayer.

Dan and Vinny would also probably side with Hitman over DOOM.

I'm sure the top 5 will be some order of DOOM, Hitman, Titanfall 2 (Jeff is obsessed with it), Overwatch, and The Witness.

Inside and Superhot will probably be in 6 and 7.

Last three spots will be fought over by Gears 4, Forza Horizon 3, Uncharted 4, Watch Dogs 2, Stardew Valley, Oxenfree, and Firewatch. Hell, maybe Thumper gets the VR bump and Alex fights for it to get the 10th spot.

Hitman, it's literally been a game of a year!! A full year! Especially now with Jeff jumping on the Hitman bandwagon, it's gonna be ranked high!

I don't buy the arguments that Doom's underwhelming multiplayer will somehow hold it off the top spot. It's not 'best value package of the year'.

I went back and listened to the 2015 GOTY-talk for the first time.

tl;dr

Jeff's opinion dominated GOTY 2015 but not necessarily because of his leadership status. A well thought of system presented in a non system situation and an analytic cleverness can be the explanation for the domination.

Simplified short version

It all started pretty good and the elimination process had some drama, trading, threats, syndicates (if that's a word) and so on, all the good stuff. It felt fair. Then it was time for the ranking of the top 10 and it turned to the worse. They had some problems deciding how to start with this difficult task that ranking is. But luckily Jeff had a plan for how to do this, he managed to ask the correct questions in the correct order and soon they had this "temporary/raw list" where Super Mario Maker happened to be #1. This wasn't without debate I might add but since it was only "temporary" the staff settled with it, for now. They continued to move around some titles, mostly the 6-10 places and that lower part of the top 10 was settled, and in a sense locked in. In another but similar sense this also locked in the top 5. Super Mario Maker was still in a "temporary" #1. SMM was most of the time not contested directly and had a robust wall of Metal Gear Solid at #2. Everyone liked MGS, so it could "sweep the floor" for SMM. When the discussions started about SMM being #1 it was already too late, it almost felt predetermined. Brad - who was strongly against (as GOTY) SMM - fought a war that couldn't be won, with little to no real help from Vinny and the others. SMM won the moment it got #1 on that "temporary" list.

Comments, theories, conclusion

Jeff knew exactly what he was doing when he started that preliminary list. He knew which games and in what order to do it, and what games to not directly stand against each other. This system got skewed real fast because it forced the staff to vote for Game A VS Game B in cases where they hold Game C higher than both A and B. But not higher than Game D that someone else wanted to put in between A and B. This lead to people dropping the "vote", making it easier for some games to make it, and harder for others. So, if you ask the questions in a certain way and order you can certainly get your personal fav up to number one. In this case Metal Gear Solid was used to defend SMM. MGS was much more effective at fending off (down) the other games than SMM itself. Then SMM only had to fend off MGS, which was pretty easy due to Jeff's and Dan's passion about it.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I'm not really interested in game rankings and GOTY. That's still true, but I am however at least slightly interested in the process of it, how the ranking is done. Not that I have strong opinions about the process but I find it quite fascinating to study.

Some random bullet points

• If they want to do it "better", they need a moderator and/or a system that everyone agreed on beforehand.
• Temporary lists can sometimes be awful. It's much harder to change a temporary list afterwards, when it has been set. Sometimes even impossible.
• Ranking is incredibly hard and there is no optimal solution.
• Selective stand off between only certain games got skewed real fast. The order you start doing this matters.
• A more throughout and less skewed solution for top 10 would be to stand all 10 games against each other. A vs B, A vs C, A vs D, A vs E etc, and then count the points. Sure, it will be nearly 100 stand offs but it can be done pretty fast. Downsides are less discussion and the fact that it's voting which seems to be frowned upon.
• Jeff is a mastermind.
• Not everything Jeff said about SMM was true and he couldn't be contested. Automatic and music levels and other "no input" levels are still (even today nov 2016) popular and you get them a lot. 100 Mario Challenge is still bad and the in game curating tools are still missing. Brad, Vinny and Jason's opinion about shit levels would probably still hold true if they tried 100 Mario today. That's at least my experience after more than 11,000 played SMM levels and some stream watching. About 1/32 levels are star worthy, 4/16 are OK, and that has been about the same since launch if you ask me.
• Brad had very good arguments but they came to use too late. If they were used earlier SMM would probably never have won.

The Future - GOTY 2016

If GB GOTY 2016 will be done similar to 2015 I have to bet my money on Jeff's personal favorite of the year. As I see it that game has the highest chance of winning.

DISCLAMER

I tried to focus on the actual process of the 2015 GB GOTY and not on the games that I may like or dislike. I'm not bashing on Super Mario Maker or any other game on that list. My grammar is not great, and I tend to make up some words when I lack correct ones. Hopefully it's at least somewhat understandable, granted that anyone care this being posted almost 1 year late. Also, I'm not a fan of this forum's word processor. I may or may not edit and fix some errors made in this text if I ever look at it again.

Hasn't it worked out that Jeff and Brad take turns picking the winner? Jeff got Mario Maker last year so figure whatever Brad loves this time for an early sneak peak.

@rocketblast0063: Damn, well thought out analysis. I agree with you in that I don't really have a strong opinion about their process or believe it needs to be "right". I enjoy the hell out of their game of the year talks, and I think Jeff's opinions rise to the top for the reasons you listed as opposed to some kind of authoritarian "I am the boss" kind of situation.

I didn't want to see SSM win, but Jeff basically steamrolling Brad felt like karma for losing out on Saints Row 3.

That's a debt that can never be repaid.

Definitely DOOM, which I'd be happy with. However, after finishing Titanfall 2's campaign last night I think I'm leaning a bit towards that...

Doom is pretty cut and dry, but I can see Dan and Brad making a strong argument for Hitman, I suspect it will top Brads list. Personally I don't think it was a particularly amazing year for games.

Put my vote in for DOOM. But goddamn, its been a good year for video games.