Gamers are all talking about the ‘Xbox tax’ – but is it even real?

AWARD season is upon us, and this means that fans get excited about seeing their favourite games potentially winning awards.

However, not every game can take home a prize, and in a year like this one with so many excellent games, many will miss out on nominations they normally would have picked up.

Bethesda

Starfield only picked up a nomination for Best Role Playing Game.[/caption]

This has led to a number of theories about why certain games get picked over others.

One of the most popular theories that is popping up all over social media is the ‘Xbox tax’.

This is basically the idea that people on the juries and in the media are biased against Xbox, and thus speak about Xbox games more negatively.

The conversation has started again, as Xbox’s biggest game of this year, Starfield, only received a single nomination at this year’s Game Awards.

Starfield received great reviews at launch, with a tasty 83 rating on review aggregate site Metacritic.

Usually, this would be more than enough to be nominated for the bigger categories like the coveted Game of the Year award, but it has been overlooked this year.

Three of the nominees, Resident Evil 4, Alan Wake 2, and Baldur’s Gate 3, are available on multiple platforms, with the latter confirmed for an Xbox release in December.

In the mix, there is also one PlayStation exclusive, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and two Nintendo exclusives, Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

When it comes to biases, each individual writer or judge will have their own preference in terms of which console they prefer.

While in the past there was a strong bias for PlayStation over Xbox, this is mostly due to the fact that PlayStation used to have a lot more quality exclusive games.

PlayStation also used to be the home for handheld gamers with the PS Portable and PS Vita, whereas Xbox had no handheld alternative.

However, in recent years Xbox has found its own niche in gaming, with the Series S and Xbox Game Pass being an excellent choice for budget gamers.

While Starfield was overlooked for a number of awards, another Xbox exclusive Hi-Fi Rush managed to get nominations in a number of key categories.

If you want to read more, check out the big winners and losers at The Game Awards 2023.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.