Shroud thinks single player and multiplayer Game of the Year should be separate categories pic.twitter.com/qI8xT8CayyNovember 9, 2025
During a livestream, Shroud said, “I feel like Game of the Year needs to be two different categories,” explaining there should be one award for multiplayer and another for single‑player because, in his view, “it’s so easy for a single‑player game to win.” He added that the last outright multiplayer winner he could think of was 2016’s Overwatch.
When a teammate pointed out that It Takes Two won in 2021, Shroud replied, “Bro, that’s not multiplayer,” referring to its co‑op focus. (For context, 2023 winner Baldur’s Gate 3 also supports full cooperative play and won Best Multiplayer Game that year.)
However, a separate distinction already exists in practice: The Game Awards have presented a Best Multiplayer Game category every year since the ceremony began. It’s widely expected Arc Raiders will be a strong contender for that prize this year, though rivals such as Marvel Rivals or Split Fiction could challenge it—raising the question of whether splitting Game of the Year would create overlapping awards that reward similar achievements.
Arc Raiders reached a new Steam peak of more than 460,000 concurrent players, surpassing Helldivers 2’s record as the new extraction shooter from former Battlefield developers continues to grow.
