Elden Ring DLC Not Eligible for BAFTA's Best Game Award

"Full games" only

by Khayl Adam 4am

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree PS5 PS4 PlayStation

At this point, it's possible the whole Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion probably taking home Game of the Year at Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards thing may have gotten under our skin. We're all FromSoftware fans here, but at the end of the day, DLC does not a full game make. Maintaining some sense of sanity in this world, Shadow of the Erdtree will not be eligible for the BAFTA's coveted Best Game Award, which is reserved for "full games" only.

Finally, order to the chaos. The prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts confirmed to Eurogamer that DLC and updates are eligible for consideration as part of its Evolving Game category but are ineligible for Best Game. Last year, Baldur's Gate 3 unsurprisingly took home five awards, including Best Game, and is up for consideration for Evolving Game; well deserved, as anyone who has followed Larian's unbelievably generous free post-launch support can attest. Clear, concise, and logical.

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Sadly, the BAFTA's aren't revealed until April, missing the end-of-the-year hype train that has become Geoff's exclusive province. And let's be honest with ourselves: we all know Keighley's got the goods.

Does it really matter if Shadow of the Erdtree takes home Game of the Year at The Game Awards? Is anything of meaningful value lost or gained? Try to cope and not to seethe in the comments section below.

[source bafta.org, via eurogamer.net]

Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the richest, most succulent PlayStation stories. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.

1
QiaraIris
4:06am

As it should NOT be. Good job, BAFTA!

It was an awful dlc and easily fromsoftware's worst, so it was never in a position to compete with full games anyways.

3
Jayslow
4:16am

They are henceforth known as the Based Academy of Film and Television Arts.

4
breakneck
4:20am

@GloriosaDaisy How it got a 94 is beyond my understanding. Also, I remember when Push gave it a 7/10 and the comments section was pissed. This year has generally seen me and critics disagree on some very popular games.

5
Balaam_
4:22am

Good. The dlc is fantastic, as any competent gamer well knows by now, but it should never be included alongside full games. If a particular award ceremony wants to create a dlc subcategory, then by all means.

6
Matroska
4:24am

TLoU: Left Behind won a BAFTA despite being DLC. It was later released as a standalone thing but that was the year after it won a BAFTA. Or is this only for the GOTY award specifically?

7
LN78
4:24am

@breakneck I think PS gave it an 8 but got criticised for calling it "more of the same" - which is precisely what it is!!

8
Andy22385
4:40am

@GloriosaDaisy but yet the chances are it'll win the proper GOTY award. Don't agree personally but it'll likely happen

9
breakneck
4:50am

@LN78 you are correct I had them and EG's 3/5 review mixed up. Both were fair in their critiques but both had horrible comment sections.

10
anoyonmus
4:51am

Idk what this organization is but that is BASED OF THEM.

@Matroska Left Behind only won Story category, not Best Game / GotY category. It was Destiny who won BAFTA Best Game in 2014. You can check it in here
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Academy_Games_Awards

12
Matroska
5:11am

@PuppetMaster Yep, I know. That's why I was asking if this restriction was only for GOTY because I knew Left Behind didn't get that but it did win something. It seems odd to count DLC as a game for all categories but one if they're going to take issue with it being treated as a "regular game".

Common sense prevails at the BAFTAs.

As it should be. Great Dlc, for a game released 2.5 yrs ago.

Shouldn't be considered for Goty

15
Drago201
6:32am

Good let the chaos reign 👏

As much as I love elden ring the dlc should not have been considered.

17
Uromastryx
6:39am

Wouldn't have won anyway, was exactly more of the same, but of course people lost their bananas when people said that, ..truth is hard i know.. areas didnt feel different, barely any new integrations, and of course NO Trophies !!!

18
Sequel
6:42am

Agreed 100%.. and that's coming from an Elden Ring fanatic.

19
Leonhart
6:49am

Good on BAFTA for making SotE not eligible for the award since it is an expansion, not a game.

At what point did we celebrate people making the obvious decisions? But thankfully the BAFTA did.

SotE is DLC... that does not a game make. It may make for an absolutely amazing experience (like ER - which was amazing), but it's not a game... and the award is kinda in the name. No?

Seriously - this will be one-decade and done for Geoff if this wins GotY. And then he can go full-thottle on AotY.... 4 hours of nothing but advertisements; coz I think the whole game award thing is just holding the show back....

21
Ainu20
7:42am

@Matroska The article specifically states that Erdtree is not eligible for the Best Game category, so the overall GOTY. Generally speaking, most award runners allow a bit more freedom in the subcategories.

I personally feel the genre-based subcategories like best RPG, best action, etc. should also exclude DLCs, but the others, like best audio, best narrative, etc. are fair game.

22
zebric21
7:43am

I have the dlc but still playing the main game. What is wrong with it?

23
Mikey856
7:49am

Good on you BAFTAs

24
Nekomichu
47m ago

I love Elden Ring, but if the dlc was a new game named Elden Ring 2 every media would has said that was more of the same and would be ranked an 7 or 8...

Great DLC, but still a dlc, not goty material

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