27 November 2025

Releasing too late in the year robbed this game of Game Awards nominations, but it’s still one of 2025’s best

By newsgame

For a game to be eligible for The Game Awards in the year of its release, it needs to release by early to mid-November. Games that launch later can technically be nominated for the following year’s Game Awards, but that makes it easier for noteworthy titles to slip through the cracks and get snubbed.

One of the more egregious Game Awards snubs was when Chained Echoes, a brilliant turn-based RPG that launched in December 2022, didn’t get nominated for a single award at The Game Awards 2023 despite earning near-universal critical acclaim. Chained Echoes was praised for its narrative and genre innovations, and I would go as far as to say it’s easily one of the best RPGs released in the last five years. It not being nominated for Best Independent Game, Best Role Playing Game, or Best Narrative was a bummer, and maybe something that wouldn’t have happened had it been eligible in the year of its release.

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Kirby Air Riders Released Too Late for The Game Awards Consideration

The same fate could very well await Kirby Air Riders, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive that launched recently to positive reviews. Developed by Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby Air Riders is a sequel to the cult classic GameCube game Kirby Air Ride. Having never played Kirby Air Ride, I went into Kirby Air Riders with low expectations. I was not particularly impressed by the Kirby Air Riders Nintendo Direct presentations and racing is far from my favorite genre. It’s now easily one of my favorite new games of the year, and it’s enjoying quite a bit of buzz from other Switch 2 owners online. But despite the positive reception, Kirby Air Riders wasn’t nominated for any awards at The Game Awards, and it’s all because of the show’s cut-off date.

There is no reality where Kirby Air Riders was going to get a Game of the Year nomination. It also wouldn’t be nominated for most of the other awards, to be quite frank. But the game is good enough that, had it released a little earlier in the year, it likely would have at least picked up nominations for Best Family Game and Best Sports/Racing Game. I would personally put it ahead of popular Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World, and that game is nominated in both of those categories.

The case could be made that Kirby Air Riders deserved a nod in the Best Multiplayer Game category as well. While that award will almost certainly be won by ARC Raiders or Battlefield 6, Kirby Air Riders is an excellent multiplayer experience that deserves some recognition. Besides the single-player Road Trip mode, basically every mode can be played with friends in local multiplayer or against randoms online.

I doubt Kirby Air Riders will be nominated at The Game Awards 2026, but there is precendent for a Sakura-directed game to get a next-year nom. In fact, that’s exactly what happened with 2018’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which wound up with a Best Fighting Game win at The Game Awards 2019.

The progression in Kirby Air Riders is what makes it especially difficult to put down. The game utilizes achievement boards to not only constantly ensure that players have something to do, but to reward those that do manage to accomplish its feats with substantial unlockables, like new racers, courses, and vehicles. I would never have guessed it, but Kirby Air Riders is quickly becoming my most-played Switch 2 game.

Other 2025 Games That Won’t Be Eligible This Year

Unfortunately, other late-2025 games will also miss the Game Awards 2025 cut-off. Kirby Air Riders‘ fellow Nintendo game Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is releasing on December 4, and therefore won’t be nominated at this year’s event. If Metroid Prime 4 is as good as previous entries in the series, it does seem like it will have a better chance at being remembered for next year’s show, though, thanks to it being a higher profile game than Kirby Air Riders, if nothing else.

December 2025 doesn’t have a ton of brand-new game releases, but there are certainly other games that may very well have earned nominations if they released a little earlier. I can see Marvel Cosmic Invasion potentially earning a multiplayer nomination if its co-op is fun enough, and Octopath Traveler 0 has potential for the Role Playing Game category. Best Art Direction would probably be a good fit for Octopath Traveler 0, thanks to its beautiful HD-2D visuals.

It’s a shame that these late-year games won’t be given their flowers at The Game Awards 2025, but they’re still definitely worth playing. I personally recommend Kirby Air Riders to any Switch 2 owners that are looking for something new to play. Even if you don’t think it will be up your alley, it could very well surprise you.