Dota 2 nominated Esports Game of the Year at Game Awards

The Game Awards are here for another iteration and Dota 2 is nominated for "Best Esports Game". It is the 10th time Dota 2 has made the category, only missing out once in the first Game Awards, when the category didn't exist yet.

Team Liquid is nominated for "Best Esports Team". They also have the honor of putting up one of their players, Neta "33" Shapira, for "Best Esports Athlete".

Dota 2 has yet to win anything at the Game Awards

Will this be Dota 2's year? (Credit: Valve).

Despite featuring 10 times as "Best Esports Game", providing five teams for "Best Esports Team", and three players for "Best Esports Athlete", Dota 2 has yet to actually take a trophy home.

Some of the previous nominees were surprising losses. OG not winning an award for their performance in 2018 or 2019 is rather baffling. In 2018 they overcame massive obstacles to claim the Aegis, then became the only team to do so twice in 2019.

The year before that also had a surprising loss. Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi did not win Best Esports Athlete after fighting for the Aegis for seven Internationals in a row.

History is not on Dota 2's side, and it is likely that the game won't pick up any awards this year either.

Why can't Dota 2 win at the Game Awards?

Valve has made their stance crystal clear. (Credit: Valve).

It's important to know what it takes for a game to win an Award at the show. Upfront it seems simple, any user can log in and vote, and the game with the most votes win. Simple right?

It's  not.

While viewer votes do matter, they only amount to 10% of what decides who wins. 90% of who wins is determined by a panel of judges. This is shared publicly by the Game Awards.

"Specialized juries decided the nominees for categories such as accessibility, adaptation, and esports. Winners were determined between the jury (90 percent) and public voting (10 percent)."

The only exception to this rule is the "Player's Voice" award, which is determined entirely by public voting. The rest follow the 90/10 rule.

Because the Game Awards operates in North America, games that tend to have large player base in the region are the most likely to win awards. This is what happened to Overwatch, followed by League of Legends, and finally Valorant in the last two years.

Dota 2 has been on the decline in North America for a long time. The region's biggest success was lifting the Aegis in 2015. Since then, while North American teams have had good performances in tournaments, overall the region is seen as middling in performance.

Time will tell and every vote counts. Yet I can't help but feel that Riot is in for another clean sweep this year.

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Featured Image Source: The Game Awards