Shroud calls The Game Awards 2025 “rigged” after Arc Raiders misses GOTY nomination

Twitch star Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek has reignited his criticism of The Game Awards, calling the 2025 edition “rigged” after Arc Raiders failed to secure a Game of the Year nomination.

Streamer shroud reignites rigged claims as Arc Raiders fails to earn Game of the Year nomination. | Image: X via Gaming Amigos

The FPS veteran, with over 6.8M subscribers on YouTube and 11M followers on Twitch, had spent the past week encouraging his community to rally behind Embark Studios’ sci‑fi shooter, but the campaign didn’t pay off when the nominees were revealed yesterday.

Shroud’s disappointment was clear during his livestream as the GOTY lineup scrolled across the screen. Seeing Death Stranding 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza among the contenders, he immediately accused the show of bias, joking that Nintendo and Hideo Kojima had “paid off” Geoff Keighley.

It wasn’t the first time he’s voiced frustration with the awards either. Back in 2024, he claimed the show was a sham after Black Myth: Wukong missed out on the top prize.

Arc Raiders did manage a nomination in the Best Multiplayer category. “They’re just not ready for AI in video games,” Shroud said, suggesting that the industry wasn’t prepared to embrace the technology at the heart of Embark’s project.

“I genuinely thought they weren’t going to nominate it for anything, because they were afraid to get backlash,” he added.

He then joked about voting for Donkey Kong Bananza. “Imagine Donkey Kong wins. Zero credibility. Nobody’s playing Donkey Kong Bananza. I’m going to vote Donkey Kong, where do I vote?” he laughed.

Regardless of his criticism, shroud promised to play whichever game wins GOTY when The Game Awards stream live on December 11, 2025.