Gamers Roll Their Eyes at ‘The Last of Us Part II’ Winning Big at The Game Awards

After Naughty Dog’s game won Game of the Year and six other prizes at the 2020 Game Awards, some fans say it was “rigged”

the last of us part 2 II review cliches ellie guitar
Sony

Naughty Dog’s zombie-killing adventure video game “The Last of Us Part II” swept the Game Awards this year, winning Game of the Year and six other prizes.

But fans of the other titles nominated for Game of the Year — including Sucker Punch’s Samurai epic “Ghost of Tsushima,” Square Enix’s remake of “Final Fantasy VII,” Supergiant Games’ hellish dungeon crawler “Hades” and Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” — were audibly displeased about the decision.

Some were quick to say that the awards seemed rigged in Naughty Dog’s favor this year — which really isn’t possible, since the fans ultimately decide the winner of each category by voting (though that didn’t stop some gamers from claiming that the votes were hacked this year).

From the start, even before the awards began, “The Last of Us Part II” was a frontrunner in the Game of the Year race. The sequel to the critically acclaimed action-adventure game released in 2013, “The Last of Us Part II” came out June 19 to largely positive reviews, despite a small group of critics who were offended that the franchise’s protagonist, Ellie, was shown in an openly queer relationship with another woman in several scenes.

Overall, the game took home seven awards, including Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, Best Audio Design, Innovation in Accessibility, Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Performance, awarded to actress Laura Bailey, who plays antagonist Abby in the game.

Naughty Dog has spun its game out into other forms of entertainment — a television series from “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin is in the works at HBO and will be co-written by the game series’ creative director and Naughty Dog studio co-president Neil Druckmann.

Earlier in the week, Sucker Punch’s “Ghost of Tsushima” led the fan poll for Game of the Year but was quickly overtaken by fans of “The Last of Us II.” While many fans of Naughty Dog rejoiced in the victory, Sucker Punch fans were extremely vocal about their displeasure that the game was snubbed at the awards this year.

“The Last of Us Part 2 is a good game but Ghost of Tsushima left me with my ‘boca abierta,’” another fan wrote (note: “boca abierta” translates to “mouth open” or “jaw dropped” in Spanish).

Another gamer who was more of a Bethesda fan was, uh, particularly angry that “Doom Eternal” was left out of the awards circuit this year.

Check out more of the gaming community’s reactions to “The Last of Us” sweeping the seventh annual Game Awards this year below.

https://twitter.com/dustin_dustin21/status/1337228479511707648

https://twitter.com/straightfaceism/status/1337199571861123074

https://twitter.com/shouldertime/status/1337212954840805378

Samson Amore

Reporter • samson.amore@thewrap.com • Twitter: @Samsonamore

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