The Game Awards announced its list of nominees for its awards, including the Game of the Year Award, Nov. 14.

Its 2024 nominees for Game of the Year include “Astro Bot,” “Balatro,” “Black Myth: Wukong,” “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree,” “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” and “Metaphor: ReFantazio.”

The inclusion of “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree” has proved controversial online, according to video game blog Destructoid.

The Game Awards was founded in 2014 by its host and producer Geoff Keighley, a Canadian video game journalist and television presenter, according to their website.

Neil D’Souza, programming lead of game-developing club Gaming for Real at the University of Wisconsin, and alumnus Milo Koenig, former staff member of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Games, spoke about The Game Awards, the controversy surrounding “Shadow of the Erdtree” and downloadable content, or DLCs.

D’Souza and Koenig said that the awards is an event comparable to other large award ceremonies such as the Oscars, though primarily concerned with games.

In recent years, The Game Awards have also become a large source of gaming advertisements and news, D’Souza and Koenig said.

While The Game Awards’ quality has dwindled over the years, it continues to be an enjoyable event people look forward to, according to Koenig.

D’Souza said that The Game Awards’ cultural relevance, though it has been increasing emphasis on advertisements, has weakened the effectiveness of the awards itself.

“The Game Awards ceremony is definitely cool for trying to bring a [large-scale] ceremony … to the games industry … [but have focused on advertisements] as opposed to the actual game developers,” D’Souza said.

The controversy behind “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree” rises partially from it being a DLC game.

DLC refers to additional video game content that players can download and add to a video game after its initial release. DLC can be used by game developers to provide new characters, storylines, challenges and more to their products.

According to D’Souza and Koenig, the quality of DLC varies but the style of the product is not inherently harmful to the gaming industry. Factors influencing the quality of DLC include price, quality and quantity of content, release date relative to the release of the full game and the developing conditions relating to the DLC’s release.

DLCs can be abused to make money in exchange for a weak product but also can support games with smaller communities by providing developers with necessary income to continue their work.

They can also enable the creation of unique forms of content, such as very short and low-priced video games.

According to Koenig, most DLC is executed well, especially when it adds enough content comparable to the “base release” of a game. DLC fails when it results from rushed deadlines on the behalf of a company or releases almost immediately after a game’s initial launch.

“If [developers] already have DLC the moment a game comes out, it’s pretty clear [they] couldn’t finish it in time,” Koenig said.

D’Souza and Koenig agree with the “Shadow of the Erdtree” DLC being included as a contender for the Game of the Year Award.

According to D’Souza, DLC like “Shadow of the Erdtree” should be included in Game of the Year Awards if they are heavy in content and heavily relevant in the year’s gaming culture. He also suggested that DLC having its own category in The Game Awards would be welcomed but not a mandatory addition.

Critics of including “Shadow of the Erdtree” believe it is unfair for “Elden Ring” — which already received multiple Game of the Year awards — to receive yet another distinction through its DLC.These critics worry “Shadow of the Erdtree” winning the award could lead to a climate where the same developers win awards every year.

Regarding the future of DLC in the gaming industry, both D’Souza and Koenig said that it will likely remain an important fixture for years to come. Koenig said he was optimistic about DLC’s future as gamers hold it — and its developers — to a higher standard.

DLC is useful for developers who want to add to a product but lack the finances to do so. DLC also helps developers who hope to improve the game in response to feedback and criticism.

“No matter how you change [a game], you have to be conscious of the people who have already bought it and how [changing it] makes them feel.” D’Souza said.

As for how fans of video games can impact the trajectory of DLC, they can selectively engage with downloadable content they believe is of high quality.

The Game Awards will take place Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcasted on platforms such as YouTube, Twitch and X, according to The Game Awards website.