Genshin Impact and free-to-play gacha lead the pack as gamers’ favourite games this year

THE Game Awards has entered its final round of voting for the Players’ Voice award, and it’s filled with controversy.

Gaming’s biggest award show, The Game Awards, will be streamed live on Thursday, December 12, 2024, and most of the awards are decided by a jury.

However, the one award that is decided by the public is the Players’ Voice category, and it’s now entering its final round of voting, and the top five games as voted for by players are pretty controversial.

Gamers were originally outraged by the announcement that DLC could be nominated in any TGA category before it was revealed that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree earned a nomination for Game of the Year.

Despite the upset this caused, Shadow of the Erdtree has now made the top five in the player-voted category.

The other controversy surrounding the awards is the number of free-to-play gacha games that have made up the top five.

Three out of the five finalists are gacha games, namely Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves, and Zenless Zone Zero.

People have speculated that these games have done so well because they often give away in-game currency when they win awards.

However, they also all have large player bases, and it makes sense that a lot of people would vote for them.

The final round of voting is open now and will close on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.

The winner after round three of the Players’ Voice award will be announced during The Game Awards.

You’ll only get one vote in this round, so make your decision wisely.

Here are all five games in the final round of Players’ Voice voting:

• Black Myth: Wukong
• Genshin Impact
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Wuthering Waves
• Zenless Zone Zero

Player’s Choice

I think it’s likely that free in-game currency played a part in seeing three gacha games make the top five.

Personally, I don’t think ongoing games like Genshin Impact should be allowed in Players’ Voice, but it’s common practice at this point.

This is gamers’ main chance to show people the games they love, and we’d like to see some more variety in the finalists.

If you want to read more about awards, check out our The Game Awards winners’ predictions.