Because the ones that we hear about are the ones that are good enough to have even made it out of Japan. If a game was bad, it wouldn’t be localized to an English-speaking audience, and we wouldn’t even know it exists.
It’s the same sort of thinking as asking why (insert media here) was better in the past. The answer is simple - good songs, games, movies, etc. tend to be more memorable, and so we remember the good ones and forget the bad ones. To put it briefly, there’s survivorship bias.
There are some genres that were effectively created by the Japanese gaming industry (Nintendo and others). Pokemon and monster hunting/battling. Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest and JRPGs. Hell, I’d even say visual novels (like Steins;Gate and others). Japan has been hugely successful at exporting these genres that were already domestically successful. And so they became the reference standards.
But if you were to look at racing games, or flight sims, or dozens (if not hundreds) of other categories, you’d see that they’ve failed to break into these genres with any significant effect. Not because they don’t have the technical skills, but rather, they don’t fall into their niche.
If you factor in every Japanese game in existence this statement will crumble really fast. Your examples are both Nintendo games and they have particularly high quality standards and a focus on fun gameplay (ignore the water temple in Ocarina of Time).
Those are both Nintendo, not merely ‘Japanese’. However you may feel about Nintendo’s legal proclivities, they are a longtime major player in the industry and, despite the gimmicky nature of the last few consoles, produce a very consistent, high quality with a brand perception in the ballpark of Disney. Those two things make them the default choice for any content-conscious parents or grandparents buying for kids, which has historically been the bulk of the market.
//edit: I guess that is half the explanation- the other half is the now large population of gamers with very warm, nostalgic feelings for Nintendo IP after the massive impact it had on their youth.
If you are interested in the historical vote split for past awards, just go to the article linked in my post and look under the "Awards and ceremonies" section. Then look for the awarded games between 2014 (the year that The Game Awards launched) and now.
It becomes even more impressive when you remember how many amazing games came out in 2023. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pikmin 4, Street Fighter 6, Alan Wake 2, The Talos Principle 2, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, Final Fantasy XVI, Hi-Fi Rush, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Lies of P, Pizza Tower, most of these would win GOTY if they had come out this year instead.
No fuckin way, been itching to play ds3 ever i beat ds1 for the… 5th time or so 😂 my top 5 must try are: ds3, elden ring, no mans sky, bg3 and maybe ghost of tsushima
Aside from all of the praise that BG3 gets, I haven’t played a linear story-bssed game with such length and depth for YEARS! I got to around 70 hours of game time in my first play through, and I wasn’t remotely bored, ever. For any major game to achieve this almost seemed impossible in this generation.
“Linear” is not a word I would use to describe it, hah. I’m pretty sure you can go back to the start, make different choices, and play another 70+ hours of content you’ve never seen. Which is even more insane.
that’s the thing that set it apart. AAA games don’t do this because it’s a ton of extra work and most players won’t even see it. this is only achievable by a creatively independent studio that respects the medium as an art form. if you think in pure bang-for-buck value, it’s literally insane to even attempt to do what they did.
I just wish I could get more into it. I’ve removed it and reinstalled it several times, but I just can’t get as interested as I wanted to be. I love RPGs and the fantasy genre, but turn-based? Not so much.
I don’t even like turned based games. I don’t like most high fantasy. But holy moly, what a ride BG3 is.
I’m just gonna be pissed of their mixed support of modding (due to wotc) kills the modding community. If Skyrim and Rimworld can have a whole universe of fan content, BG3 should too.
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