When Black Ops 6 was released and we got our hands on the new title, it felt so different from what we’ve seen from CoD in the past couple of years. The mind-twisting Campaign introduced new elements and fun mechanics that went too far from the CoD formula at times, and the Zombies mode gave us a glimpse of the good old round-based experience filled with easter eggs and mysteries to uncover. But as it turns out, Call of Duty is just what it used to be for TGA, even if Black Ops 6 sets massive records.
Call of Duty had the chance to win one of the four prizes it was nominated for in The Game Awards this year: Best Action Game, Best Multiplayer, Best Audio Design, and Best Innovation in Accessibility. Now while the multiplayer and audio design awards were a bit too controversial for Black Ops 6 to win, it really did have the chance to bring it home with the other two.
So with Modern Warfare 2, Vanguard, and now Black Ops 6 all losing in almost the same categories, it’s safe to assume that all these games suffer from a common issue and that’s half-baked content delivery. When we’ve got nearly no footstep audio in the game, SBMM kills the fun out of Multiplayer, and accessibility features tend to create bugs rather than help the player, it’s evident that even if the game reaches the final stage, it will fail to win an award.
Despite losing to Wukong and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, it’s worth mentioning that Black Ops 6 is the only Call of Duty since the start of TGA in 2014 that has been nominated in 4 categories in total. However, the Call of Duty that has ever won a single award at TGA is none other than Modern Warfare 2019.
Back in 2019, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare won the Best Audio Design award, topping some of the best games of that year including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Death Stranding. It is frustrating to see Call of Duty not claiming any TGA prizes before and after MW 2019, but it’s fair to say that Black Ops 6 is a big step in the right direction.
