Metacritic scores vs. The Game Awards 2025: A data-driven prediction of who takes home the trophies if reviews decided the winners.
Tomi Š.
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Metacritic Predicts the Winners of The Game Awards 2025
The Game Awards 2025 could hinge on a simple, numbers-driven question: if winners were decided strictly by Metacritic’s aggregated scores, which games would come out on top? Across years, critics’ scores have often aligned with the night’s most prestigious honors, suggesting that a top-rated nominee could increasingly shape the actual results. This article analyzes the current nominations, reviews the Metacritic trend, and presents a data-informed forecast of which titles would win key categories if Metacritic guided The Game Awards 2025.
In this piece, you’ll find: a recap of Metacritic-driven outcomes in recent years, the 2025 nominees, category-by-category predictions, and practical takeaways for players and developers. We’ll also anchor the discussion with credible sources and existing coverage from the industry press.
Historically, Metacritic’s top-rated nominee has often taken Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Specifically, in five of the last eight years the highest-rated nominee on Metacritic won GOTY, underscoring how critical consensus can forecast the night’s biggest prize. The pattern is not absolute, but it remains a strong signal that critics’ scores matter at the ceremony.
Looking back, Metacritic-led outcomes align with what industry observers track across categories, though there are occasional deviations. For example, 2019 saw Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice win GOTY over Resident Evil 2, reversing the prior high-score expectation. The year before, God of War won the top prize ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2, further illustrating that while high scores are influential, ceremony dynamics and jury weighting can shift results. In the last two years, Metacritic’s highest-rated nominees won in roughly half of the categories analyzed by The Game Awards coverage, which suggests that while the score trend is strong, it doesn’t guarantee every win.
The Game Awards coverage and nominee listings are tracked across industry outlets. For added context on how critics weigh games in 2025, see coverage from The Game Awards ecosystem and award trackers. (Note: The original article includes direct links to multiple Videogames Chronicle pages for titles such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, and others, which you can review for deeper context.)
- Metacritic: For a broader sense of how aggregated scores influence award-season dynamics, visit Metacritic’s home page and game-specific score pages to see how critics rate the year’s top contenders. Metacritic’s home page and game-specific score pages to see how critics rate the year’s top contenders.
- Representative title references (as seen in the source material):
If Metacritic-driven outcomes mirror The Game Awards 2025, fans should expect strong showings from Hades 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Split Fiction across multiple categories, with Hades 2 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 positioned as particularly influential across Best Action, Best RPG, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. While awards ceremonies inevitably include voting dynamics and jury considerations beyond raw scores, the pattern of high-scoring nominees correlating with top honors remains a useful compass for readers tracking the year’s most acclaimed titles. Stay tuned to industry coverage as critics’ scores crystallize and the final winners approach confirmation in December.
CTA: What do you think will be The Game Awards 2025 winners if Metacritic determines the results? Share your predictions in the comments, subscribe for ongoing analysis, and stay updated on the latest developments in 2025 game awards coverage.