As if PlayStation couldn’t widen the gap between itself and its main competition, the Xbox, even further, this year’s Game of the Year race tilted even more towards its favor after IGN asked its readers their opinions on the best games of the year so far.
According to IGN, fans voted for these games as their Game of the Year for 2024:
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
- Helldivers II
- Black Myth: Wukong
- Astro Bot
- Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Stellar Blade
- Warhammer 4oK: Space Marine 2
- Hades 2 (Early Access)
- Rise of the Ronin
Of the 10 games listed above, 6 are exclusive to the PlayStation 5 and 4 of them are first-party PlayStation titles. The only multiplatform games are Hades 2, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, Dragon’s Dogma 2, and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, which means that there isn’t an Xbox exclusive that stood out in the eyes of fans.
If it’s any consolation, Starfield: Shattered Space, the game’s first expansion, will be out on September 30. If the recent reception to its newest updates is any indication, Bethesda Game Studios’ first new IP in years could give Xbox owners a much-needed conversation starter.
And, oh, there’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle coming to Xbox Series S and X on December 6 as well, although most people are probably looking forward to playing the timed Xbox exclusive game on the PlayStation 5 Pro next year.
It’s also worth noting that IGN has had the same poll running since the beginning of the year, which is partly the reason why Helldivers 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth have far more votes than anyone else.
As for the actual Game of the Year award, we can’t really say for sure to which game it will go to but it’s currently a three-way battle between Black Myth: Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Astro Bot. However, if you base it exclusively on a game’s Metacritic score, Astro Bot is the leading candidate. The PlayStation 5 exclusive title quickly became the favorite to win GOTY this year as soon as it came out, earning praise from everyone, including a particularly happy Sony executive. Astro Bot is now an important part of Sony’s future and arguably the new standard bearer for games that focus on quality over playtime or length.
Having said that, it is quite ironic that PlayStation 5 exclusives are dominating the GOTY conversation in what was supposed to be a relatively quiet year.
Given that many of today’s best games are exclusive to PS5, Sony has every reason to feel confident in the sales potential of the PlayStation 5 Pro, especially now that industry experts are starting to agree that it holds far more value than initially expected despite its high asking price.
The Game of the Year award will be awarded in December at The Game Awards, hosted none other by Geoff Keighley, who, by the way, is getting a ton of flack for his perceived bias towards the PlayStation brand.
