Starfield players blame “wasted potential” on its Game Awards snub

The Game Awards has just announced its list of nominees and Starfield is almost entirely absent. Though even fans of the game don’t seem shocked.

Starfield, somewhat fittingly for a title about space exploration, is a bit of a Paradox. The game was Bethesda’s biggest launch of all time but it’s hampered by “boring” quests and progression bugs.

Following the game’s release, fans of the title felt somewhat forgotten by Bethesda following a lack of updates and communication. Unlike the developer’s previous titles, Starfield feels like it has less staying power which could explain its inconspicuous Game Awards showing.

Starfield has almost no presence at the show outside of its nomination in a single category for the Best RPG of 2023. Fans on the game’s Subreddit don’t seem particularly surprised by this either.

Starfield was NOT nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards.
by inStarfield

In a post going over its lack of a GOTY nomination, players were fairly resigned to Starfield’s relative absence. “I really enjoy and love Starfield,” one fan of the game qualified. “But I’m not terribly surprised.”

“I mean, the game has so much wasted potential, it makes sense not being nominated,” another user replied. This appeared to be the most common sentiment, even from those who enjoyed the game.

“What the game needed most was focus. It’s great to get a wide selection of activities, but they come across more as content fluff when they’re not fully realized,” one player explained. “ It doesn’t matter if we can go to all those systems and planets if there is very little to do there,” another agreed.

It’s not just Starfield’s side content players felt was lacking, its core narrative left a lot to be desired as well according to fans. “The central story is just underwhelming. It felt like just another one of the faction questlines,” one user admitted.

Starfield’s inclusion in the Best RPG category of the Game Awards doesn’t bode well for its chances of a win either. One player pointed out that it’s going up against GOTY favorite Baldur’s Gate 3 and apparently “doesn’t stand a chance”.

2023 has been an unusually stacked year for gaming with heaps of sleeper hits taking enthusiasts and the industry by surprise. Maybe in another year, Starfield would have made more of an impression.