Madden beat Vice City, KOTOR and other all timers for the 2003 game

Although The Game Awards didn't start until 2014, their Game of the Year line goes back to 2003 via the Spike Video Game Awards. In its first year, its GOTY was awarded to Madden NFL 2004, and 22 years later, a new generation of games is trying to figure out how and why it happened.

Not just a new generation of players, actually. I was born in 1989, so of course I was a Fully-Fedged Gamer™ in 2003, and I'd also like to know how Madden was considered the best game that year, given its stiff competition. That competition included GTA Vice City, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Knights of the Old Republic.

How did Madden NFL 2004 win Game of the Year in 2003?

It was a strong year, but somehow, whoever was responsible for making these decisions at the time overlooked all of these all-time classics and decided that the latest installment of a football game we get every year was the best game released in the previous 12-month period. I'm not sure if that decision was questioned at the time, but now that the prize has been rediscovered, the gaming world wants to know how it was done.

Madden 2004 splash screen with Michael Vick in action

Surprisingly, one of the main reasons for those looking for explanations is that Madden 2004 was actually very good. I don't doubt that for a second. As someone who battled in FIFA's trenches from 2001 to around 2013, I can confirm that there were entries in the annual series that would probably make it into a ranking of my all-time favorite games.

Here's looking at you, FIFA 06.

However, there is no year in which an entry in an annual sports game series will win Game of the Year. Especially not in 2003, when these games faced competition from titles that are considered some of the best games ever made. Another excuse I see is that, given that this was Spike's first ever Game of the Year, the brand that would eventually evolve into today's Game Awards was still finding its feet.

Madden's Game of the Year Win opened the show

It turns out that Spike not only gave his first GOTY to Madden, but it started the show with it. Imagine watching this year's Game Awards and Geoff Keighley got us all warmed up for the three-hour reveal by handing out Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for the biggest prize of the night.

A strange decision, but learned quickly. Neither Madden nor any other sports game has been awarded Game of the Year since. In fact, while there will be those who argue for different games every year, there is no standout year like there was in 2003 where almost everyone looks at the winner and says, “…huh?”

GTA San Andreas won the award in 2004, although not as good as Vice City (I said what I said), Resident Evil 4 took home the award the year after that, and then Oblivion was crowned GOTY 2006. Every mainline GTA game has been awarded Game of the Year since San Andreas, which makes GTA 6's potential eligibility quite interesting. GTA 6 is currently scheduled to launch on November 19, 2026, meaning it would have to wait until the 2027 Game Awards to possibly continue the 23-year-old franchise.