A lot of gamers are starting to think that for the Steam Awards 2023, Starfield won as a joke!
Although the Bethesda title won the award for most innovative gameplay, many believe it should not.
But let’s take a closer look at why gamers feel this way and what is really going down.
Steam Awards 2023: Starfield Wins Most Innovative Gameplay Award
Every year, Steam holds their own user-based awards for games released on their platform. Players are able to vote for their picks for each category, and later, after finalists are made, they can choose what they believe is the best choice for the award.
But this year’s Steam Awards 2023 have raised a lot of eyebrows with their final winners. The biggest contention is the open-world RPG Starfield, released in September 2023 for all platforms except Nintendo Switch.
The reason players are starting to raise concern over the awards is due to Starfield winning the Most Innovative Gameplay Award. Now, what we like and dislike as gamers is very subjective. For some people, Starfield is a chill space game that resembles other Bethesda RPGs well enough to sit through.
But what is not subjective is that Starfield’s gameplay is not innovative and is the same as every other Bethesda title. Even if you enjoyed the shooting in Fallout 4 and enjoyed it in Starfield, you cannot argue that it is breaking new ground in terms of gameplay.
Same stealth mechanics, same shooting, same NPC behavior, and the only difference is that it’s in space. However, the fact remains that it still won the award, and gamers are not happy. Out of the 7,999 reviews left on Steam in the last 30 days, only 27% are positive. And overall, the game sits at mixed reviews, with many gamers leaving reviews criticizing the gameplay and story.
This pick for the award leaves many gamers believing it was a joke. Or at the very least, Steam users who voted did not care what they picked and only wanted the gifted emojis and picked the only game they recognized.
Todd Howard Does It Again
After the release of this decision for the winners of the Steam Awards 2023, many people have voiced their concerns over the choices on social media.
When you consider it won against games like Your Only Move Is Hustle, a game that, to our knowledge, is the only turn-based tactical 2D blueprint in existence, it really does stick out like a sore thumb.
But it’s not like this has done much to save Starfield’s reputation. If anything, this is a good thing, as it raises discussion over how the Steam Awards are held. And it’s not like Todd Howard gets to go up on stage and accept a golden valve from Gabe or anything.
However, it is kind of funny. And for some people, this is the most entertaining thing to happen with Starfield since its launch. Also, one time a guy stole a bunch of copies at gunpoint and got caught because he streamed the game a week before release!
This may be Bethesda Director Todd Howard’s master chess move though. Maybe we will see Starfield make a comeback for 2024 the same way No Man’s Sky did.
