Canadian streamer and former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro player is rallying his fans to vote for Arc Raiders as Game of the Year at The Game Awards in December, urging them to stop Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from taking the crown.
“Don't let that expedition game win,” Shroud told his audience. “Don't let it. Absolutely not. We must all come together to do [Arc Raiders] win.”
Shroud Claims Multiplayer Players Are 'The Minority'
Shroud argued that multiplayer players are “the minority”, and that single-player games continue to take the spotlight, alluding to the fact that all but two TGA winners since their inception have been single-player – It Takes Two and Overwatch. But the idea that multiplayer players are a “minority” is patently untrue.
Look no further than the Steam charts: nine of the ten most played games on the platform are all multiplayer, with CS2 reaching 1.4 million players on a Thursday morning.
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Counter-Strike 2
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Dota 2
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PUBG: Battlegrounds
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Battlefield 6
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Apex Legends
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Escape from Duckov
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Delta Force
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Arc Raiders
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Naraka: Bladepoint
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Wallpaper engine
Global online gaming revenue last year, meanwhile, was $27 billion, with a reported 80 percent of players aged 16-24 playing online (via USwitch).
This is why countless publishers have embraced multiplayer, such as Warner Bros. with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Arkane with Redfall, Square Enix with Marvel's Avengers, Remedy with FBC: Firebreak and Sony with over a dozen live service projects, from the hugely successful Helldivers 2 to the disastrous Concord. Not to mention that Disney is investing $1.5 billion in Epic Games for a piece of the Fortnite dock.
Regardless, Shroud insists that multiplayer players are the “minority”, urging them to “come together” and stop Clair Obscur in its tracks. “I think we can win,” he said. “We just need to tell everyone. I've never voted for anything ever, but I think I will this year [Arc Raiders]. I've never voted ever – not like votes actually matter. All the damn awards are rigged anyway, who cares? When have you seen an award that's actually legit?”
As much as Shroud might want Arc Raiders to win over Clair Obscur, even his audience isn't convinced, and Sandfall's groundbreaking RPG remains a clear front-runner. It already won a GOTY at the Gamescom Asia X Thailand Game Awards and swept the most Golden Joystick nominations, while famed Final Fantasy 7 designer Naoki Hamaguchi openly endorsed the game as deserving of the 2025 GOTY.
Embark Studios' extraction shooter may be popular, but if it has the capacity to dethrone a generational RPG with an award already under its belt, and with the backing of veteran talent like Hamaguchi… I'll let you decide.
- Released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer
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Sandfall Interactive
- Publisher
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Kepler Interactive
