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Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is one of the biggest games of the year, and we were big fans, even if it didn't stray enough from the established Insomniac formula for our taste. Still, it seems we weren't the only ones surprised to find that, despite being nominated in seven separate categories, Sony's latest PlayStation exclusive didn't bag a single statue at The Game Awards.
Getting the nomination nod for Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Audio Design, Best Performance, Innovation in Accessibility, and Best Action/Adventure Game (not to mention the Player's Voice Award), Spidey came up short in every category.
It was surprising, but what wasn't were the memes, which came thick and fast as the PlayStation faithful took to Twitter and Reddit to vent their spleens. Admittedly, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was up against some pretty stiff competition in an unusually strong year of games and may have just been a victim of poor timing. Commercially, Spidey was a success for Sony, selling past five million copies as of the last we heard.
Graceful as ever, Insomniac thanked fans for their support and nominations and congratulated the winners. Senior creative director Bryan Intihar echoed the sentiment, thanking players for their support and the developers across the industry who continue to inspire the team.
What do you think? Was Marvel's Spider-Man 2 snubbed? Was there a category you think Peter and Miles deserved to win? Clamber into the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via ign.com]
Comments 71
It wasn’t snubbed. There were better games this year.
Atleast it got nominations unlike certain other games (Notably Starfield/Hogwarts). Even Zelda with its 96 metacritic walked away with just the one award whilst BoTW walked away with 3 awards with a lower rating. Just shows what a year 2023 has been for gaming and finally some stiff competition for the usual suspects.
Also I'd say the ones making these memes are not the "PlayStation faithful".
Class act by insomniacs.no im not talking about the iconic rap duo kid and play.the competition was set high. 🕷spiderman is still amazing.word up son
@playstation1995 Popsicle and Wedge were the real stars of that flic
It should have won something. I don’t know a single person who has played Baldurs Gate 3 or Alan Wake 2. Definitely some snobbery going on because it’s Marvel. Same with Fortnite. How can Cyberpunk win ‘Best ongoing game’ when all CDPR have done is fix a game that was released in a broken mess at launch?
SM2 was great but it doesn't mean it was worthy of any of the awards. End of the day BG3 is one of the best games ever while SM2 isn't even the best SM game.
@ItsBritneyB_tch They don't hand out awards based on who you personally know who plays games. Cyberpunk had one of the best expansions in gaming this year that's why it won.
@DennisReynolds Disagreed, the story was amazing and genuinely better than the first. Web swinging is easily the best its ever been, but the gameplay during stealth is immensely toned down when it comes to creativity.
I thought Marvel's Spider-Man 2 getting as many nominations as it did was highly disagreeable to begin with.
Discourse on Twitter is wild right now, people comparing the cinematic action gameplay to Baldur’s turn-based mechanics to make it seem ‘bad’ as if both games were the same genre and combat was the sole thing that makes up a game, I don’t even know why people are being so bitter towards Baldur’s since SM2 wouldn’t have won against Zelda or Alan Wake 2 either imo.
@Nepp67 Nah i thought the story was pretty weak and rushed, it also lacked the heart of the first game.
Baldur's Gate 3 might have been game of the year and an exemplary example of its kind, but its gameplay style is not for me. Spider man 2, on the other hand, might not re-invent the wheel, but I had a blast from start to finish and one of the games I've actually platinumed.
@DennisReynolds The expansion may be really good but Cyberpunk has never been an ongoing game, more like ongoing development, giving it that award was a joke as they were basically rewarded for finishing the game 3 years after launch.
@DennisReynolds Could you elaborate?
At the very least, Yuri Lowenthal deserved to win best lead performance.
@Nepp67 As i said i thought it was rushed. It takes ages to get the suit, he has it for a day or two before going evil and then its a 3rd act time for Venom who does the plot for Web of Shadows but somehow worse, the pacing is just really bad and it feels like they just wanted to zip through the black suit story as fast as they can.
@IOI Ongoing game means a lot of things now.
I definitely don’t think it deserved GOTY but I thought it had a good chance of winning best action/adventure. I think it was definitely snubbed from not being included on the best action game ballot tho.
Edit: I’ve also seen a lot more people talking about Spider-Man fans complaining than I’ve actually seen Spider-man fans complaining
Eh it is what it is. No point getting worked up about it.
Here's to more spidey adventures in the future.
Let's be real here. The game clones are getting stale. While Spiderman was more Spiderman and that's fine. It didn't stand out because it had nothing stand out about it. The discourse around the game fizzled in a week or so. I think that's because, nothing specifically stood out.
Sometimes when you double down on the same thing over and over again this is the end result. Ubisoft and dare I say even Naughty Dog know this all too well. I even think Tears of the Kingdom and Starfield made it in the discussion out of obligation.
These iterative in nature titles are losing their appeal with me for sure and highly doubt I'm the only one who feels so. There were just better games that really had some buzz and lasting discourse around; such as Re4, Alan Wake, and, Bg3. Hell even other good games got snubbed like Lies of P, and Remnant.
Seems like it was just the case of great games overshadowing good games and in all honesty that's how it should be.
@somnambulance well said. Spider-Man 2 was a great game, but other games that didn’t win like Lies of P, Remannt 2 and Final Fantasy XVI were better. Yes, XVI did win one award but Spider-Man 2 was a very safe open world adventure. Nothing new, nothing groundbreaking, no “wow!” moments (venom mission was super cool but not a surprise). It was just…a good game. Insomniac thankfully is professional unlike the CoD devs who flipped out over one joke.
Just because it didn't win an award doesn't mean the fun you had with it didn't happen. It just wasn't AS good as other stuff. Now it probably would have won a woke Game of the Year award it there was one.
I dunno why people care so much. I really enjoyed Spider-Man 2 and that’s all that matters to me. It not winning any game of the year awards hasn’t lessened my enjoyment of the game.
Maybe if Spider-Man had Olimar it could have won.
Well as someone who really enjoys TGA at the same time I wouldn't put too much stock into it. While it's certainly fun to discuss why a game did or didn't win it ultimately doesn't really matter. I mean if a mediocre walking sim like Alan Wake 2 can walk away with 3 awards then it's clearly not worth taking all that seriously
@DennisReynolds Yeah we've certainly played different games here then. Unless you were just bumrushing through the story the development of Venom and Peter turning evil from the symbiote over time were very well done.
@DeathlySW Exactly. I’m sure Insomniac is aware Spider-Man 2 isn’t GotY in comparison to things like Alan Wake 2, Tears of the Kingdom, or Baldur’s Gate 3. But it IS a relatively solid, if safe, open world adventure that reviewed relatively well and will likely outsell two of three other games in that list as well. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a successful title and it made a lot of fans happy and even if it’s not as artful as Alan Wake 2 or dense as TotK or BG3, that’s ok. It wasn’t trying to be that type of game, but it succeeded in being what it wanted to be.
Xenoblade Chronicles fans: "First time?"
I still don't get how XC3 didn't at least win Best Soundtrack
it didn’t deserve any awards . the games a hard 8(.5) like its predecessor . they played it too safe and too much downtime not being spider-man & bad side missions
@DennisReynolds oh REALLY ? 👀Oh that’s surprising coming from you , what’s the best spider-man game to you ?
dare i say web of shadows
I thought it was a really great game; don't know what people are grousing about. Will buy and play the DLC as soon as it's out. It would have gotten my vote for Sound Design I suppose but BG3 and Totk were better obviously.
They think they had it bad, imagine how the devs of Hogwarts Legacy felt
@Nepp67 You're already well into half way before you get the black suit leaving little room for the black suit arc and Venom, that ain't good. Its not like i'm alone in this as the story has been one of the most criticised things about it and for good reason it just ain't that good. The story also has strange things like Peter rarely getting a win and needing Team Miles for everything or Miles leaving innocent people to die out of his thirst for revenge but never once being called out over it or feeling remorse for his selfish act.
@nomither6 Marvel's Spider-Man is still king for me. Web of Shadows is extremely overrated by fans in my opinion and is a pretty bad game outside of combat the only thing it gets right.
@DennisReynolds I've just started playing cyberpunk now it's pretty much finished and appears to be how the devs intended it to be and it's an absolutely stunning game. I was playing it off and on all day yesterday and I got totally lost in it. On a personal note I'll take cyberpunk over the spiderman games and not because I think they are inferior but because I just prefer games like cyberpunk. Best £10 I spent.
@Northern_munkey Its easily one of if not the best city in gaming, walking around doing nothing special and just taking it all in is so good.
I loved the game. It not being awarded doesn't change how much I enjoyed it. Why do we need validation of the things we enjoy?
I thought it had a fair shout at the accessibility award, but I wasn't expecting it to win anything else.
None of the choices shocked me really, though I had to look up the definition of "Ongoing Game" when Cyberpunk won that.
It just was'nt that good so it didnt win any awards whats not to understand?
Haven’t played it yet, but from what I’ve read it’s not goty material. Miles Morales already was fun but too repetitive and I understand SM2 is basically the same game for the third time in a row. Game of the years should bring more to the table.
I don't think many people prior to the ceremony would have predicted Forza Motorsport winning more awards than Zelda and Spiderman 2 combined.
I'm not sure why these awards are so serious to some people. It's just a celebration of our favourite hobby
@ItsBritneyB_tch I've played about 300 hours of Baldur's Gate, since launch. My friend has Alan Wake 2. Neither of us own Spiderman 2. It's not snobbery- there's just more interesting games out right now. And I was a fan of the first game, and even got the plat for it.
Who cares the awards are meaningless anyway voted by a bunch of YouTubers and streamers who don't even need to play the games they are voting on at least the dice awards or baftas have more credibility
@DennisReynolds I think the city is pretty cool, but it feels quite lifeless to me. I was playing last night and noticed a severe lack of cars on the roads; I would have thought such a densely populated city such as NC would have quite a bit of traffic (enough to make the city feel alive at least while not getting in the way of our own driving). To justify it, I told myself maybe most people in NC are too poor to own a car.
I'm still annoyed that my favourite film didn't win an Oscar but my friend's favourite film did.
I think that's fair. It's a great game but doesn't excel in any particular domain, other than perhaps "next-gen" feel with how fast travel works etc.
Having said that, the game awards show itself was irritating, nigh on completely gross. I hope it turns into a trailer sizzle reel, and does away win the "awards" all together.
Long live the BAFTAS
It's just the way these things go sometimes. At least it got some nominations. Hogwarts Legacy got zero nominations somehow. Best to just not take these things seriously.
It's a fantastic game, got the platinum last night. 37 hours played since launch. It's selling well that's reward enough.
Tough year. MANY great games missed out. Consider that Zelda a shoe in for GOTY back in the first half of the year and discussed like it would sweep the awards won just ONE award with a 96 meta/open critic. Spider-man 2 was still a great game.
@Korgon Hard to see many categories where Hogwart's Legacy could have been nominated over other games. Maybe music? Though that's always subjective the Grammys nominated a completely different list to TGAs. It will end the year as the best selling game, that should be award enough. Still a really good game, just not top 5 for the jury.
Spiderman not winning an award this year was not snobbery, @ItsBritneyB_tch. It was simply not as good as the other games it was up against. There is no shame in that. Sometimes there will be better games. In other years, it may have fared better.
Not personally knowing anyone that has played the likes of BG3 does not mean that it is not a better game. Many, many films have won Oscars without me ever having seen them. That does not mean they are not worthy winners, or indeed, not better than the other films I have seen that year.
Spiderman may have been the best game you played this year, but that does not mean it was actually the best game to release this year. After all, if the only game you played this year was Lord of the Rings: Gollum, would that mean it was the best game to come out...? 😜
It doesn't matter. At the end of the day enjoy what you like and have fun with it.
SM2 is one of the only games ever that I've pre-ordered and made the effort to actually get around to playing. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it was a little buggy and too short. Really don't give a monkey's what awards it gets or doesn't get. It was probably MY GOTY....
These fans shame playstation.
Can't it be like the Oscars where just the recognition implicit in the nomination is prestigious?
@DennisReynolds A expansion is not the same as a ongoing game. In that there are lots of other games that deserve it more.
If you look at the amount of free content BG3 is getting for free now Cyberpunk is lucky it didn't release earlier.
I don't like free to play games but even those deserve this reward more Cyberpunk is a payed expansion and they fixed a broken game. If they would choose it should been brought under in a different award.
In the end its just a popularity award show that is as real as the reviews with metacritic. In the the Spider-Man game sold really well and I think lots of people liked it but it's just not special enough with the contenders of this year.
Spider-Man 2 and Tears Of The Kingdom both felt like glorified expansions/dlc. Neither deserved GOTY.
Let me just say that this year was a damn good year for games and even the favorite one that was expected to win by a sweep, Baldur's Gate 3, got hit in the left field by a newcomer, Alan Wake 2.
What matters is that SM2 is good enough to get 7 nominations despite not making any claims of being the game of the century, 25 years in the making, etc.
It was not snubbed, it just was a mid super hero game and there were better games than it.
I'm sorry but it was far from game of the year bring on the hate lol lol
It didn't deserve anything other than maybe Best Performance so I am glad. Next time, try to do something better than an 8/10.
@Sakai Even as a primarily Xbox gamer and a fan of Forza I don’t get how that has happened.
@ItsBritneyB_tch I don't know anyone who plays Fortnite. Must not be popular...
Anyone who's "miffed" needs to grow up. Just because it didn't win anything in what's essentially a popularity contest doesn't take anything away from the game. It was my personal GOTY and in no way does this change that. This game will sell 10s of millions, I'm sure that's probably more important to Insomniac/Sony anyway 🤷🏾♂️
I mean it was good and one orlf 3 games I've got the play on and I liked it alot more then miles morales and more then the first game but
I can see why it didn't win awards tbh. It does everything very well but I wouldn't say it does anything amazing 👀
7 nominations is awesome it not winning isn't that big of a deal
Awards aren't for fans, they're for creator recognition. IDK how much creators care but fans should not care at all. What's the diff if your favorite games win or not? I certainly don't care.
Really solid game. Didn't deserve any awards.
I mean it never had a chance. Baldur’s Gate 3 absolutely demolished the competition. Even Zelda only won one award. And everyone was expecting it to take home the majority of categories a few months ago. But then Baldur’s Gate came out of nowhere and Tyson haymakered everyone in the side of the dome.
Its the greatest spiderman game I've ever played, they just get better and better. To me Spiderman 2 is exactly what a spiderman should be, a cross between a child game, with some adult themes. Thats exactly what a comic is.
But what comes with that is the game isn't the best, its good. Unfortunately or not spiderman 2 didn't deserve any rewards because we have had far better games in those departments this year.
Thats not a bad thing. Spiderman 2 did what it set out to do and to be the best spiderman game.
Just because it didn't win one, doesn't mean it didn't get any recognition. It did, it got seven nominations, everyone who worked on it should be very proud of that.
Fun fact: Marvel's Spider-Man received 7 nominations in 2018 and failed to win an award then as well. That's consistency.
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