Updated Tuesday, December 6: Yesterday, it looked as if "Sonic Frontier" would win the 100% fan-voted "Player's Voice" award at this year's Game Awards. However, that lead disappeared overnight, and what seemed like a good story about an enthusiastic fan base took a turn. Even as I write this article, lifelong enemies are being made on the Internet.

The current Player's Voice Award voting results are no longer available on the Game Awards website (opens in new tab), but last I checked, "Genshikai Ibunroku" had jumped into a tie with "Sonic Frontier". Unless the voting data shows up again (or the site is just overloaded), we won't know until Thursday's Game Awards broadcast whether Sonic fans or Phantom fans will win; Geoff Keighley, you smartass: you knew this would happen, didn't you?

I say this in jest, but there were several responses to my article yesterday (below), reminding me that this is serious stuff to some people. A genuine effort is being made by many Sonic fans who think Frontiers deserves recognition. I jokingly turned the Phantom fans into villainous Sonic spoilers, but they are serious about supporting the game they love in this fight.

It's not the lighthearted battle one might expect, given that it's over a relatively minor award; a currently popular post on the Genshin Impact subreddit (opens in new tab) accuses Sonic fans of using bots to vote.

"I get it, you're mad because the 2020 mobile mess game is going to win the 2022 Player's Choice poll," wrote r/SonicTheHedgehog's head moderator (opens in new tab). 'Nonetheless, the posts have become so repetitive and in some cases damaging that we have decided to put a sonic-style block on them and not allow any new posts on this matter. Several comment threads have also been locked."

The mods also instructed "travelers from r/Genshin_Impact" to stop trolling or be banned, and similarly instructed sonic fans to stop "spreading harmful lies about Genshin fans."

On Twitter, a Sonic supporter spread a rumor that Genshin Impact was bribing players to vote for him using in-game rewards. After pointing out that the bribery claims were untrue, industry analyst Daniel Ahmad joked that he made a "terrible mistake" by getting involved (open in new tab).

Take care, my friends. My original article from Monday, when Sonic Frontiers was still leading the Player's Voice poll, is below.

Original article (Monday, December 5): most winners of Geoff Keighley's game awards are decided by a mix of public voting and jury selection - PC Gamer is one of those judges - but one award, called Players' Voice, is entirely up to the public vote. Currently, the winner of that public vote is by far "Sonic Frontiers.

Sonic Frontiers, which came out on top in the first two rounds, has garnered a whopping 48% of the vote in the third and final round of the Players' Voice Award voting (open in new tab); in second place is "Genshin Impact" with 29%, and in third place is "Elden Ring" with just 13%. The third place went to "Elden Ring" with 13% of the votes. God of War: Ragnarok" is in fourth place with 8%, and "Stray" is in last place with 2%.

"Sonic sweeps please," wrote Evan Bader, Sega's senior PR manager, on Twitter (opens in new tab) earlier today.

Sonic Frontiers is not among the TGA's overall annual game awards jury selection nominees; nominees in the GOTY category include Horizon Forbidden West, A Plague Tale, Xenoblade: Requiem, " Xenoblade Chronicles 3". Elden Ring will almost certainly win this category. I had previously thought that Ragnarok might have a chance to pull the upset, but if the public and jury votes are anything like the Player's Voice vote, it will be one step closer.

The Player's Voice Award, on the other hand, will probably go to "Sonic Frontiers," which has not been nominated for any other game awards. This discrepancy shows why the Game Awards should not be decided solely by fan votes. The Game Awards (opens in new tab) say that they mix jury and public voting to avoid "social manipulation" of the winners, and the Sonic fan lobby has given "Sonic Frontiers" (opens in new tab) a higher It gave it a Metacritic User Score, and seems to be pretty good at adjusting its enthusiasm.

However, another interpretation of Sonic Frontiers' nomination snub is that it is simply underrated by mainstream critics. Our anti-sonic bias has been exposed. (4]

The gap between fans and professional critics is actually not as great as I thought: PC Gamer's review of Sonic Frontiers was less than enthusiastic, but there are plenty of favorable critics. According to Gene Park of The Washington Post (new tab opens in new tab) said that Frontier's controls, soundtrack, "evocative" storytelling, and Sonic Adventures-style structure are a boon for longtime Sonic fans.

"Sonic Frontier won't win any awards, and it doesn't have to," Park wrote in November. For Hedgehog fans, "experiencing this game is like receiving a lifetime achievement award."

That last statement may be true, but unless "Phantom of the Phantom" fans rally soon (and today the gap between the games has narrowed a bit), it looks like "Frontiers" will win at least one unimagined award after all.

It seems that even non-Sonic fans are getting into the Sonic sweepstakes. As one voter said on Twitter, Elden Ring and others will get a lot of attention in the main awards, so why not vote for another game in the one category where your favorite can win?

Voting for the Player's Voice Award (opens in new tab) and other game awards is open for two more days. Winners will be announced at the 2022 Game Awards this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.