Both games have been received with acclaim by critics, especially the innovative Galactic Racer. Their releases have been well-timed to stand out for consideration at The Game Awards in December, too. But Star Wars has a checkered history at TGA — and gaming awards in general. And while Zero Company and Galactic Racer are better placed for success at the awards than almost any other Star Wars games of the last two decades, they might still struggle for recognition.
Part of this story is the general sniffiness of gaming awards bodies around licensed games. This prejudice doesn’t exist without reason; for the majority of video game history, the majority of licensed games have been trash. But there also seems to be general resistance to games based on outside properties, perhaps born of the young medium’s protectiveness of its originality.
In the early days of gaming awards, these instincts led to licensed games being condescendingly cordoned off in their own play area. If you look back on the history of the Spike Video Game Awards — The Game Awards’ predecessor — you most often find Star Wars games restricted to the Best Game Based on a Movie category. (Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy won that award in 2006.)
That category no longer exists at The Game Awards. But licensed games often find themselves siloed in other ways. With the exception of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games and not a whole lot else, licensed games are more likely to be nominated in the genre categories than put up for craft awards, never mind Game of the Year. This has been the fate of Star Wars games during The Game Awards era. In 2019, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had to make do with a Player’s Voice nomination from fans. 2023’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor managed one nomination in Action/Adventure and one in performance (in an admittedly very competitive year). It was the same story for Star Wars Outlaws the following year.
We are a long way from the halcyon days of 2003, when, at the inaugural Spike VGAs, both Star Wars Galaxies and Knights of the Old Republic were nominated for Game of the Year, and Rogue Squadron 3 got some love too. Between them, Zero Company and Galactic Racer constitute the best field of Star Wars games since that year. They have the critical support, and it’s a slightly soft year, increasing their chances of breaking through in the top categories.
Will they, though? Probably not, although for once, I don’t think this would be down to snobbery about the license. These two games expose a different kind of prejudice shared by TGA’s jury. They both belong to genres that, historically, never break through in Game of the Year, and seldom outside of their genre-specific categories: strategy and racing. For whatever reason, the jury tends not to consider these genres as existing on the same creative plane as role-playing games or action-adventures.
Zero Company and Galactic Racer are sure to be nominated in their respective genre categories, Best Sim/Strategy Game and Best Sports/Racing Game. They both face strong competition, in the form of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave and Forza Horizon 6 respectively. But I think Galactic Racer might win — Forza Horizon 6 is excellent but formulaic, whereas the Star Wars game has novelty value and is genuinely innovative.
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The real test will be to see if either game can break through in the general craft categories or Game of the Year. GOTY seems like a very long shot. Zero Company is a plausible dark horse, especially as more and more people finish its campaign and marvel at the way it delivers big story beats and deepens a certain corner of Star Wars lore. But it’s part of an extremely crowded field of games jostling for just one or two nomination slots, and it has that genre disadvantage.
What would be more realistic, but still really exciting to see, is Zero Company breaking through in Best Narrative, and Galactic Racer in Best Game Direction or Best Audio Design. I’m crossing my fingers, because both games deserve the recognition. And because Star Wars fans, bless them, could use a break.
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