The Game Awards Players’ Voice Award Round 1 begins today. Read on to learn more about the community voting process and a brief history of the award, including its significance.
The Game Awards Players’ Voice Award Voting Now Open
Voting For Round 1 Now Open
The Game Awards (TGA) opened the voting for its Players’ Voice Award (PVA), featuring 30 of the most popular games this year. In a post on TGA’s official Twitter (X) on December 2, the show revealed the complete list of the 30 nominees for the first round, which includes the following:
● Arc Raiders
● Battlefield 6
● Clair Obsur: Expedition 33
● Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
● Delta Force
● Dispatch
● Donkey Kong Bananza
● Doom: The Dark Ages
● Elden Ring Nightreign
● Final Fantasy XIV
● Fortnite
● Genshin Impact
● Ghost of Yotei
● Hades II
● Helldivers 2
● Hollow Knight: Silksong
● Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
● Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
● Mario Kart World
● Marvel Rivals
● Megabonk
● Ninja Gaiden 4
● No Man's Sky
● PEAK
● R.E.P.O.
● Silent Hill f
● Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
● Split Fiction
● Warframe
● Wuthering Waves
The PVA is the only category at The Game Awards that is 100% decided by fan votes, unlike all other awards, which are determined primarily by a professional voting jury. Only the top ten titles with the most votes advance to the next round, where fans must vote five games from the top ten, then one from the top five to determine the winner.
The voting process began the first round on December 1, concluding on December 2 at 6:00 PM PST / 9:00 PM EST. The second round will subsequently start on December 4 at 9:00 AM PST / 12:00 PM EST, and will all culminate in the final round, scheduled to begin on December 8.
Fans can cast their votes on The Game Awards’ Official Website.
Community vs. Critics
The PVA results highlight the differing perspectives separating critical consensus from pure community passion. The winners of the Game of the Year (GOTY) and PVA have diverged most of the time, which demonstrates a significant contrast between the preferences of the fan base and the industry's professional jury.
Last year, the GOTY award went to Astro Bot, but Black Myth Wukong won the PVA for its sheer popularity. In 2023, however, both GOTY and PVA were bagged by Baldur’s Gate 3, securing a near-unanimous and special victory from both the jury and the players.
Other than this rare occasion, the GOTY and PVA always produced different winners, such as in 2022, where Elden Ring won GOTY, while Genshin Impact won PVA; in 2021, It Takes Two won GOTY, while Halo Infinite won PVA.
This year, GOTY nominees Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2 On The Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Hollow Knight Silksong, and Kingdom Come Deliverance II are also nominated for PVA. It would be interesting to see whether the common trend of different GOTY and PVA winners continues, or whether it will be a repeat of what happened in 2023.
To know more about The Game Awards 2025, check out our article below!
Source:
The Game Awards Twitter (X) post on Players’ Voice Award Round 1 Nominees
The Game Awards Official Website
