The Game of the Year category at one of the annual awards will certainly not be one of 2024’s biggest successes.

It had the biggest single player launch on Steam, and even now, a month and a half after its release, it still has around 300,000 players. What game are we talking about? Black Myth: Wukong, released on August 20th for PlayStation 5 and PC, was developed by a Chinese studio, Game Science. The game broke several records, leading many to hope that it would be at least one of the nominees for Game of the Year (GOTY) at the Golden Joystick Awards.

However, this was not the case: Black Myth: Wukong did not make the shortlist. Gamesradar has reported that voting for the Golden Joystick Awards is now open, with nominees in more than 20 categories. And in the Game of the Year category, Game Science is not on the list, with Astro Bot, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Dragon’s Dogma 2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Helldivers 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth all on the list. Many people have taken to social media to complain about this, with some saying that the awards gala is just a joke and that the sales figures speak for themselves.

It is believed that the Golden Joystick Awards did not nominate Black Myth: Wukong because of the political situation and that the West has an agenda against Chinese-developed games. IGN also allegedly rigged the voting to keep Game Science’s game out of the running. Several fans pointed out that Black Myth: Wukong received a lot of negative votes within an hour, causing it to drop to third place, but it has since climbed back to first place.

Whatever the case, the game has certainly divided the audience, as we don’t see much consistency with Black Myth: Wukong.

Source: Tech4gamers, Gamesradar