Arc Raiders Shroud debate Game of the Year 2025

"RIGGED!" Shroud's Arc Raiders GOTY Snub Ignites Gaming's Single-Player vs Multiplayer War

Sportsdunia Desk

Published - Nov 18, 2025, 12:51 PM

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Arc Raiders Shroud debate Game of the Year 2025

Summary

A debate has emerged after Shroud shared his thoughts on Arc Raiders’ Game of the Year 2025 chances.
The discussion drew mixed opinions from players and the wider gaming community.
The controversy reflects the bias towards multiplayer games.

One of the biggest names in the world of gaming, Shroud, has sparked a debate about the representation of 'Multiplayer Games' at the Game of the Year Awards. Shroud, one of the most followed global gamers, recently took his stance for the recognition of Multiplayer titles and asked his followers to vote for Arc Raiders. His words portrayed that he is a strong proponent of the idea and felt Arc Raiders deserved to win the Game of the Year title. His comments on the GOTY 2025 intensified after the nominations were revealed, and Arc Raiders did not make it into the final list. The streamer didn't hold back and went on to call the awards rigged, drawing reactions.

Shroud’s Stand: Why He Backed Arc Raiders for GOTY 2025

The controversial remarks from Shroud began to surface last week. Initially, the streamer urged his fans to vote for Arc Raiders as the GOTY 2025 during one of his streams. In the process, he even asked his followers to do whatever it takes to stop another game, 'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33', from winning the title of Game of the Year. Shroud highlighted this as a battle for acknowledging multiplayer titles, which were otherwise treated as minorities in award shows like GOTY.

Arc Raiders is a multiplayer extraction adventure game developed by Embark Studios. It was released on October 30, 2025 and has already sold more than 4 million copies globally. You can play this game on PC, PS5 and Xbox. Despite being new, it has become extremely popular with a concurrent player count of 700,000. The former Counter-Strike athlete asked his viewers to vote for Arc Raiders, saying:

Dude, we've got to make sure that this game (Arc Raiders) wins Game of the Year, by the way. Do not let that Expedition game win Game of the Year. Do not let it! Absolutely, do not! We all have to band together to make this game win. Us, multiplayer gamers, are the minority. Okay? We are the minority being the multiplayer gamers, but I believe we can win. I believe. Just need to tell everybody. I've never voted for anything ever. But I think I'm going to vote this year for this game.

Shroud stirred controversy when he abused one of his viewers for being accused of 'berating' single-player titles. Shroud expressed his disgust about single-player titles winning GOTY every time. Shroud expressed his frustration on stream, saying:

“'Hey, bro, Expedition 33 is Game of the Year, actually play the f**king game before berating it. F**k a** b**tch, s**k my b*lls.' I didn't even berate it. I just think single-player games always win Game of the Year, and it's bulls**t. F**king, like, what? A couple of million played that game? Cool, bro. Where's the tens of millions? Where's the Marvel Rivals 50+ million people? F**king s**k my d**k!”

This reaction from Shroud divided the community. Expedition 33 has been seen as a ‘genre-breaking game’. Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG which has taken the community by storm with its engaging storyline and real-time combat mechanics. Other popular Twitch creators also didn't take a liking to Shroud's comments. One such popular Twitch streamer, Asmongold, said Shroud's statements made him so 'mad'.

This made me so mad. I love Shroud but this made me mad.

Another popular streamer xQc explained why Arc Raiders is not a good option for GOTY 2025.

Well it's kinda difficult to make a multiplayer game more than just what it is to play the game. Like story and like that more cuz they are not confined by the multiplayer whatever the life service thing. It's not the same at all, they can do more than they usually do.

Shroud Questions TGA Legitimacy for a Second Straight Year

Shroud, who is no stranger to making nuclear statements about GOTY awards, as he called the awards rigged even in 2024. Shroud's statements about the awards cannot be overlooked, since only 2 multiplayer titles: Overwatch ( 2016) and It Takes Two ( 2021) won the GOTY award in the last decade. In 2025, after Arc Raiders failed to make it into the final list of nominations for the GOTY, Shroud didn't hold back and questioned the legitimacy of the award show.

Arc Just came out too late, yeah but it laid the biggest wave. Our if every single game, Arc Just made the biggest wave being one of the best multiplayer games in the past 10 years. So if it's not nominated even if it's late that would be surprising. That's basically saying you don't know the gaming industry pretty much right, or you don't care or you are paid off. But hey no award show is legit, so does it really matter?

While reacting to the official nominations for GOTY 2025, Shroud asserted the nominated games are biased and ‘paid off’. The Game Awards has a committee composed of representatives of companies such as Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony who approve the nominations.

Biased paid off Nintendo. The world is just now ready for AI in video games, but not yet; they are just not ready. But hey, they nominated it for something. I genuinely thought they wouldn't nominate it for anything because they would be afraid of backlash. Well, once again, another year, another year, another RIGGED YEAR. That's crazy!'

Shroud mocked the ones at the Game Awards who made the list of nominations for not playing the most popular multiplayer game, 'Arc Raiders'

"I'm so shocked, I'm actually so shocked. Maybe you guys are right, maybe it ( Arc Raiders) just came out too late. Maybe if it came out in the summer it would actually be there. I believe it wasn't nominated for sound design either, that's pretty crazy. I don't think anyone at the Game Awards probably played the game, which is okay.

The Game of the Year awards often pick winners that don’t always have the same level of impact or legacy. For gamers, it really comes down to the emotions a game can evoke while playing, and that's something Expedition 33 nails. On the flip side, multiplayer games have their own unique appeal that keeps players hooked. Ultimately, it’s up to you to pick what you enjoy and not get rage baited by what popular streamers say.