PlayStation drops surprise free download to celebrate GOTY nominations

In case you missed it, this year’s The Game Awards nominations have now arrived.

Astro Bot and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth led the way with seven nominations each, both appearing in the coveted Game of the Year category.

That was alongside Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.

And before you all get up in arms about the “change” that allows DLC to be nominated, it’s literally been that way for years.

In fact, you may recall that eight years ago, in 2016, The Witcher 3’s Blood and Wine DLC garnered both a nomination and a win in Best RPG.

Seriously, everybody needs to put their pitchforks away.

Anyway, PlayStation was the most nominated publisher with 16 nods in total, followed by Square Enix and Xbox with 12 nods each.

To celebrate the momentous occasion, PlayStation has dropped a new campaign on PlayStation Stars where users can earn themselves a Game Award trophy themed collectible to display on their virtual shelves.

Take a look at Astro Bot in action below.

The campaign is simply titled ‘The Game Awards nominees’ with the description stating, “This year’s nominees for The Game Awards are beyond impressive, so join us in sending hearty congrats their way!”

It continues, “Play any one of the impressive nominees below to get a special digital collectible.”

The included titles in the campaign are those six GOTY nominees: Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.

The campaign is running until the end of the year. Just make sure you hit ‘start’.

Admittedly, it’s not the most exciting freebie of all-time, but I’m sure there are some virtual trinket collectors amongst you.

The Game Awards will air on 12 December, or in the early hours of 13 December if you’re here in the UK, and we’ll be live reporting the event to catch you up on the evening’s wins and reveals.