They will, and it will win. And I'll be supremely disappointed. But it's been their GOTY since, what? June? All other games never stood a chance. The way they talk about Mario, Zelda, Nier, Horizon, Persona 5, etc. makes them seem like well-liked games, but there're always tons of caveats whenever any of them come up. That doesn't happen with PUBG, for some weird reason. It's as if the game was faultless, or any fault could be simply disregarded with a reminder that it's in Early Access (which somehow, at the same time, doesn't mean anything anymore, it seems).

Yeah. Really not looking forward to GOTY discussions this year :/

I go back and forth on this. On one hand, judging a game that may change fundamentally before release doesn't seem like the right thing to do, especially when it may be a much stronger game and played more by the staff upon final release? Do you _have_ to judge the game when it first enters early access, or can you wait until the final release? If so, how do you make that call.

On the other, it is playable AND (more importantly) being sold. If it is able to be sold, it should be eligible to be judged (and if it ranks lower as a result of it being unfinished so be it), especially in an era when ostensibly finished games can undergo similar changes through patches/DLC. It gets especially weird when you consider things like Street Fighter V - that game essentially launched in early access in all but name, but there was no question of it being eligible.

There's no right answer IMO. It almost comes down to a judgement call to some extent, though that has the downside of being somewhat arbitrary - e.g. is this game essentially content complete and just being polished -> it should be included vs. is this game rapidly iterating and/or adding substantial new content -> it should wait until the final release. I half wonder if you have to go by the dev. date to avoid a whole bunch of inconsistencies - does e.g. something like Rainbow Six: Seige which (AFAIK) has been reworked into a much stronger game come back into consideration, or does the early access banner imply some sort of different treatment?

It takes Best Music and Best Styyyyle for me, but I can see it falling outside of the overall Best 10. I'm almost stupidly strong on Persona 3/4, but I don't think the narrative of P5 hits anywhere near the same high notes of those. It's far too focused on the central narrative thread, rather than providing a vehicle for the characters to experience that[1], and there's almost no breathing room around that. As a result, I'm far less invested in the characters, and that main story thread just feels exhausting (it just isn't interesting enough to demand that close of attention IMO). That's compounded by the fact that some of the later dungeons just become tedious due to their puzzle designs. In a year this strong, I can see that being enough to push it out of the Best Game list, and I don't think that I would even by that bothered by it.

[1] In Persona 4, and to a lesser extent P3, I felt the narrative was a means to explore the characters. In P5, I feel like the characters are a means to drive the story, and I don't think that's a change for the better.

It will be top 3 if it doesn't win - and i guess it deserves to be since the whole crew had fun playing it, so it is the ultimate consensus choice. One of the few games that has got them to come together and play Mondays for weeks at a time. Usually when they start a feature like that they are bored within a month.

I feel the complete opposite, besides Mario it is easily the most fun I have had with a game this year. I was showing someone the beginning of the game a couple months ago and it gave me a huge itch to play it all over again; if I already didn't have time to play loads of other good/notable games from this year I probably would (and the fact that I am only on 666 Moons in Mario and want to get 100% in that game too.)

It definitely will be. They pretty much said so on the GB podcast.

If the current version they're floating as the 1.0 release were to be considered," then it shouldn't be in their top 10.

There's my hot take.

Do they have a best of "Early Access" category? I can't remember. If they don't, they probably should, considering the abundance of early access titles these days.

PUBG 1.0 is releasing on PC later this month, making it eligible either way.

GOTY tends to be less about what is the best crafted and complete experience and more about what effected the most people on staff. Super Mario Maker and Hitman being pretty good examples, both good games that were lacking in a lot of key areas but GB got a lot of mileage out of them. Theres nothing wrong with that, it's the sites top ten not an objective analysis of what's good decided by science. (like the ranking of fighters series)

Personally I dont think it should qualify if it doesnt come out this year and think it's kind of funny that Bluehole seem to be scrambling to get it out just so it'll win a few accolades.

I think they should even if it doesn't leave Early access. Having said that if they do, they should also consider Deadcells as well.

The vast majority of games are evolving post release anyway, so why not consider it? You can buy it, you can play it, surely you can give it awards.

yes and it won't win.

They should not give it any official ranking on the list aside from an honorary mention if it doesn't officially release. Here's why: What happens the year it actually releases? Does it get a spot that year as well? Does it get a new ranking? What about other games going forward that get significant updates or multiple releases. Are they then qualified to be on the top ten list for multiple years depending on if the crew really happens to enjoy it in a year that wasn't it's official release?

Keep it simple. If it released it counts. If it doesn't then it has to wait. Waiting til next year doesn't change their enjoyment they had with it. And if they cool on it by then, then I suppose that brings up the question of if the game is really that good or just a fad. They waited forever for Kerbal Space Program. They can wait for PUBG.

Note this is also why the best game of last year award exists. If they fail to properly recognize it in the appropriate year they .ca always give it some credit later.

If they feel it deserves an award then give it a ranking in a best early access title award. Given how some games never come out of early access or change drastically for better or worse it feels a bit precarious to start letting early access titles into a ranking restricted by year of release.

I’m in the “Early Access” doesn’t mean anything camp. If a publisher/developer/manufacturer allows you to exchange currency for a product, it is available for sale and therefore released.

Whether it’s in its final form or not shouldn’t really be a consideration anymore as games are constantly being updated. Hell, Steam downloaded an update for Portal the other day. Portal! A game that was released ten years ago.

I think it would be crazy if they didn’t discuss PUBG. There was a whole series of streams devoted to it and it was one of the biggest selling games this year. I think almost everyone who will own it on PC already does, so next year’s sales are going to be predominantly Xbox related and therefore, nowhere near as high as this year.

2017 was the year it was successful and should be the year it’s discussed at GOTY.

I really hope they do, it would be super dumb not to.

I still think Mario will win though.

Disqualified or not, I don't think it was one of the top 10 games of the year. Not even close for me. In fact I would go so far as to say that PUBG is a BAD GAME.

Knowing that it will be included and will definitely make top 3 if not win, makes me look forward less to the GOTY deliberations this year :(

It's a soulless husk of a game if I've ever seen one.

I'm with you on this one. It might be fun and popular and has blown-up in an unexpected way for the developers but it's a buggy, un-optimised, laggy, de-synching mess of a competitive FPS game.

Most fun team-game of the year? Maybe. I've put in a lot of hours and had some hilarious and fun moments (and some crushing 2nd places). Most streamed game on Twitch 2017? Yes. GOTY? Nope. There are so many better games out there this year across all platforms, that are leagues ahead in all aspects of game production, that it's a really tough year to name something that clearly stands out from the rest.

If it gets anywhere near the top 5...well...that would boggle the mind. I hope the GB crew ignore the hype and popularity and think about what it really means for a game to be named game of the year. I don't want to listen to someone force their opinion on others until they back-down but it might be, 'one of those years'.

I say this is the straw that breaks the camel's back and forces the rules to be restated to reflect the new reality where some games are just perpetually in development. What is the real meaningful distinction between an Early Access game and anything else on Steam?

@sochexum: I spent a decent amount of time watching (and listening in the background while I played other stuff) to the streams of this game. I never watched a full stream and would skip ahead sometimes, but it was enjoyable to listen to the staff's reactions as shit went down in the game.

I decided to buy it and try it. It was an absolute piece of shit. I played four matches and returned it, the only game I've ever returned on Steam.

Whether they include it or not really shouldn't matter as I don't think it should win any category other than maybe best multiplayer game. I don't think it has any right winning any other category or honestly even being nominated.

I understand why people don't like PUBG but it's by far the most fun I've had with a game this year and the last 5 years really. My brother and I play it together and we have a great time. I believe most people who don't like the game don't have friends to play with because playing solo all the time can be rough. I don't think people realize that GOTY isn't about the most technically sound game. It's about what game the staff had the most fun with and what game had the biggest impact. Last year we got Hitman, which was a beautiful mess of a game. It resonated with the staff and they created content with it throughout the entire year. Just don't dismiss a game because you don't care for it.

I don't think they will, but they should. The idea of a release date is clearly outmoded but from how Jeff has talked about it earlier this year it seems like he at least feels like the only way to make the change would've been to declare it a year in advance, and so I'd expect to see a rules adjustment starting next year and then "pubg presents: giant bomb's game of the year" or somesuch this year.

I think it will be counted, and will be on the list, though that may be with an asterisk on the understanding that if the game hasn't hit 1.0 upon the release of the list it may or may not be counted. It may mark a reversal of policy from previous years, but PUBG is the perfect example of the problems with that policy and will cause some shift as a result (though that shift might be "we'll make a ruling before GOTY next year"). As others have said upthread, 2016 was *the* year for the game despite it being early access, and has (at the moment) a clearly-defined release date that falls within the year. It's definitely a challenge to established precedent, but the question of when a game is "done" is increasingly blurry.

As long as it wins best multiplayer experience and not best game, its hot trash when considered as a finished game. Jeff was hot on complete packages last year and PUBG is not a complete package its a multiplayer beta with a single game mode that the developers already stuck loot boxes on. It could also win best early access category.

I hope this game does not get GOTY. Its a FUN game but the execution does not warrant a GOTY award.

I think they said it would qualify last podcast since it's coming out in december for xbone.

So I read on some Resetera post that PUBG's 1.0 release for PC is suppose to now come out in 2018 (Not an OP, just an additional post in the IGN GOTY nominee thread). The poster said it was a fact but didn't provide a source in his post to back it up. I was looking up for sources and everything says its still coming out late this year. Anyone have any information about the 1.0 PC release coming out in 2018?

I hope it does get GOTY, even though I don't like the game. It's the game they've played the most, enjoyed the most and put the most content up about this year.

I think it's delusional to think this game won't make the list.

- It could very well be their overall GoTY

- It is univerasally liked on the staff

- It is the game that they have played the most on the site (which is consistent with their trend in picking and Mariomaker the L2 years)

- There is no distinction between EA and 1.0 for games on steam generally and for this type of game especially.

- Adhering to an old policy just because it's "the official policy" rather than changing it to react to changes in the industry would be really silly.

Pretty sure they said they were going to move forward assuming that it would make it's date, which means it's eligible for GOTY. If it doesn't, they'd asterisk it and fuck the consequences.

They've been moving in the direction of talking about a game the year it's released since 2015ish. I think that makes sense. A game could maybe unfuck itself if launches busted OR it could go the other direction (ala MGSV). Games, even ones that have an "official" release, are already so fluid that it seems silly to disqualify great games like Dead Cells, which feel complete already, when games like Battlefront II are eligible even though they're changing daily AND still busted.