Highlights
- Due to a lack of submissions, the “Best Nintendo Switch Game” award at Gamescom has been cancelled. This is the first year since the Switch was launched that there will be no category.
- Big triple-A titles like Little Nightmares 3, Dune: Awakening and Star Wars: Outlaws lead the nominations at Gamescom this year.
- Nintendo’s absence from the Gamescom Awards suggests that the Switch is nearing the end of its life cycle and a successor is in the works.
It’s clear that the Nintendo Switch is in the final stages of its life cycle. Nintendo has already confirmed that a successor is due, the rumor mill is churning, and while Nintendo’s offering still contains some great games, it lacks the big triple-A punch.
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Now, ahead of the annual awards ceremony, Gamescom confirmed to TheGamer that the “Best Nintendo Switch Game” award will be abolished because there were “too few entries”.
Today, Gamescom organizers announced their nominations for the annual Gamescom Awards. There were a number of general categories such as Best Graphics and Best Sound, as well as platform-specific awards. These awards included Best Xbox Game, Best PC Game, Best PlayStation Game, and Best Mobile Game, but the Nintendo Switch was conspicuously absent.
In a statement to TheGamer, the show’s organizers said: “This year there were too few entries for the ‘Best Nintendo Switch’ category. The awards committee has therefore decided to cancel the category.”
There were too few entries for the “Best Nintendo Switch” category this year. The awards committee has therefore decided to abolish the category.
It is the first year since the launch of the Nintendo Switch that the platform does not have its own pricing category, and the first time since 2011, when platform-specific pricing was still divided into console and PC categories, that Nintendo is not represented at all.
Last year, Nintendo had a big presence at Gamescom: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom took home four awards – Best Sound, Best Gameplay, Most Epic and Best Nintendo Game – and Pikmin 4 took home the prize for Healthiest Game.
This year, things are looking a little less like big triple-A titles. Little Nightmares 3 and Dune: Awakening lead with four nominations each, closely followed by Star Wars: Outlaws with three nominations.
Both 11-Bit Studios and Bandai Namco lead the way with three games each nominated. 11-Bit’s nominees are The Alters, Creatures of Ava and Frostpunk 2, and Bandai Namco’s nominees are Little Nightmares 3, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero and Unknown 9: Awakening.
Gamescom
Gamescom is the world’s largest event in the games industry and takes place every summer in Cologne. With over 300,000 visitors, the who’s who of developers, publishers and media are often represented here.
