Steam Awards 2023 winners called a “sick joke” as players want voting system changed

an image of Steam Awards 2023Valve

The winners of Steam Awards 2023 are out but players have been left perplexed by the results, with some going as far as to call it a “sick joke”, and many want the voting system changed.

Although the Steam Winter sale is one of the best times for PC gamers to grab their favorite games at discounted prices, players aren’t impressed with the yearly awards that have also been handed out during the sale.

Many were left confused with Red Dead Redemption 2 and Starfield’s Steam Awards wins this year in particular. While Baldur’s Gate 3 has won the Game of the Year award on Steam, many of the other results have left players scratching their heads.

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Steam Awards 2023 winners called “ridiculous”

A user posted the winners of Steam Awards 2023 on Reddit and the community immediately started criticizing the current voting system. One player said, “RDR2 WON LABOR OF LOVE???? THEY OFFICIALLY ABANDONED IT IN 2021 AND HAVE LEFT IT TO DIE SINCE.”

Another user agreed and added, “this really shows that Steam awards need a change. How about the nominees are just the winners? You actually have some rather decent nominees, while the final winners are always just a dumb popularity contest.”

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Some players also feel Steam needs to work on their award titles as “Labour of love is badly phrased.” “People have to actually read the description to understand that they are asking for the most supported game” they continued.

To RDR2 being declared as the winner of “Labour of Love”, a player said, “Meanwhile, Deep Rock Galactic gets nominated like every year, because that’s a game which really deserves this title, never wins. Just sad.”

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The recent reviews of Starfield on Steam are mostly negative. When it won the award of “Most Innovative Gameplay”, a player got tempestuous and said, “I want to know how Starfield won for innovative gameplay. What the f**k was so innovative about empty f***ing planets and loading screens everywhere?”

One commenter simply said, “This is some sick joke lmao.”

It remains to be seen if Valve will take note of this criticism for next year’s awards.

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