Microsoft played this well, and Sony just wasn’t nearly as much of a player this year, when in the past, of course, it’s won GOTYs and loads of other awards. Not so in 2023.
The biggest Sony story is probably that Marvel’s Spider-Man, despite being nominated for seven awards, lost all of them. I don’t think that’s quite a reflection on the game but rather the insanely stacked nominee list this year, but it happened all the same.
In terms of actual wins, given that Alan Wake 2 and Baldur’s Gate swept so many categories, it was hard to squeeze much of anything out. Square Enix’s Sony exclusive FFXVI won best score (a category that was stupidly glossed over by Geoff). The Last of Us won Best Adaptation, which was not a shock, given its stack of Emmy nominations. And most anticipated game has shifted from Tears of the Kingdom to FFVII Rebirth. A Rebirth showcase was indeed a highlight, but that only has 3 month PS5 exclusivity window.
The only of Sony’s exclusive mega-franchises featured was God of War Valhalla, which looked like perhaps a story expansion for a minute, but instead it’s a soon-to-be launched free roguelike combat mode. Interesting, perhaps, but not a huge deal. And on top of that, God of War actor Christopher Judge found himself in hot water over a joke aimed at (the now Microsoft-owned) Call of Duty team, which did not go over well in many circles.
Sometimes the timetables just don’t line up, and you don’t have much to reveal when your competition does. Sometimes your big, very good game debuts in a year with a lot of big, even better games. And this year The Game Awards were mostly dominated by two multiplatform games, so Xbox tried to inject what they could do the non-awards part of the show. Sony, for its part, didn’t. That may change in 2024, and everyone is just one big showcase away from mega-hype, but this was interesting to watch unfold.
