Shroud Accuses The Game Awards of Being ‘Rigged’
Previously under scrutiny for comments about how ARC Raiders should win Game of the Year over Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at this year’s Game Awards, Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek has now come out with yet another controversial statement regarding the annual ceremony. After the nominees for The Game Awards 2025 were announced, Shroud mentioned in a Twitch stream, “Once again, another year, another rigged year.”
What sparked this comment was the fact that ARC Raiders received only one Game Awards nomination (Best Multiplayer Game) and was not considered for Game of the Year as Shroud had hoped. Prior to the announcement, Shroud had openly expressed his desire for ARC Raiders to win Game of the Year, urging his fans to “not let that Expedition game win.” Now, with ARC Raiders having only received one nomination and excluded from the list of Game of the Year nominees, Shroud accuses The Game Awards of being “rigged.”
Shroud Called The Game Awards ‘Rigged’ After ARC Raiders Snub
Game of the Year is the most treasured prize of every Game Awards ceremony, and fans everywhere hope their favorite game will walk away with it. As a big fan of ARC Raiders, Shroud is no different, having hoped his new favorite extraction shooter would find its way into the list of nominees. However, it was excluded.
Here are the 2025 Game of the Year nominees:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
As the nominations for 2025’s coveted Game of the Year award were announced, Shroud expressed personal feelings about almost every one of them. “Bias,” he said of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with a similar sentiment and an added “Paid off” in reference to Donkey Kong Bananza‘s nomination. To Hollow Knight: Silksong‘s nomination, the streamer responded with, “Makes sense,” and then later added, “Honestly, I hope Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 wins.”
“The world is just not ready for AI in video games. Not yet. They’re just not ready,” he said following the announcements. The conversation surrounding AI usage in video games has been ongoing for some time now, but the recent release of ARC Raiders has brought that conversation to the forefront once again. While ARC Raiders does not rely solely on AI, it does use a combination of traditional voice actors and AI-based text-to-speech for certain lines (especially more repetitive or minor lines). According to Shroud’s statement, he believes this is what led to the game being snubbed in this year’s Game Awards.
“At least they nominated it for something. I genuinely thought they wouldn’t nominate it for anything because they were scared to get backlash,” Shroud said. As mentioned, ARC Raiders was nominated for Best Multiplayer Game in 2025’s Game Awards, and Shroud believes it actually has a chance of winning. He did, however, express some confusion as to why ARC Raiders was snubbed for Best Audio Design, but that could come down to its controversial AI usage as well.