Bethesda’s 1 Unfair Strategy Makes Todd Howard The Single Greatest Winner of Shadow of the Erdtree DLC Being ‘Game of the Year’ Eligible

2024 has been a landmark year for the video game industry with several hit titles that will vie for the title of Game of The Year. And with the recent discovery that DLCs and Expansions are also allowed to be nominated for the category, we might see a big market shift in the coming future.

While this move might seem like a long-overdue recognition of the creative effort behind DLCs, it may give studios like Bethesda an advantage. Todd Howard and Bethesda are known for churning out DLCs and other post-launch content for their games and this puts them in prime position to profit.

Todd Howard And Bethesda Might Have Just Gotten Incredibly Lucky

Bethesda’s reputation for delivering numerous high-quality expansions makes it uniquely positioned to benefit from this rule change. Unlike most developers, Bethesda is known for making DLCs that add new stories and expand the existing ones of its base games.

NEWS: The Game Awards has confirmed that expansions, DLC, remakes and remasters are all eligible for awards, including Game of the Year🚀

Agree or disagree?😎

(I believe remakes definitely deserve a GOTY nomination and win. All remakes we got recently were much better than most… pic.twitter.com/ZLlBvO8tMu

— Rino (@RinoTheBouncer) November 16, 2024

Titles such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 have demonstrated Bethesda’s ability to sustain player interest for years. And if DLCs are GOTY eligible, the studio can leverage its proven formula.

The FAQ page of The Game Awards recently revealed this crucial detail about the eligibility for Game of The Year which will most likely be a big deal in the coming years.

The Game Awards aims to recognize the best creative and technical work each year, irrespective of the format of that content’s release. Expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all categories, if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination. Factors such as the newness of the content and its price/value should be taken into consideration.

While this decision might stem from a desire to reward creativity and technical excellence in all forms, it creates some complications. This broad inclusion risks diminishing the spotlight on the works and efforts of smaller studios.

Unlike big studios like Bethesda which have a long post-launch support cycle and active community backing, many indie projects have limited time and resources to make their mark.

We Are Definitely Seeing a Shadow of The Erdtree Nomination For GOTY

As for the immediate impact of this new discovery, it means that Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will be in contention for Game of The Year 2024. While there’s no guarantee that any DLCs or Expansions will be nominated, it’s safe to say that Shadow of The Erdtree will be there.

FromSoft dropped the DLC in June this year and it immediately found immense critical success. Shadow of The Erdtree came with so much content that it could almost have been a different game altogether.

And as the nominees for The Game Awards 2024 get closer and closer to being revealed, we will no doubt see Shadow of The Erdtree in contention for Game of The Year. But the viability of DLCs and Expansions for GOTY is still being debated by fans.

Should there be a completely different category altogether for Best DLC? Will this new rule mean that Todd Howard and Bethesda are about to dominate the future?