What other developer out there can compete with Beth this year, I don't see any out there. Besides you will never get a perfect non bugged game in an open world type setting, it's impossible to achieve and I would love to shake the hand of the developer group who is able to achieve it.

Not sure what that means. Blizzard should be the beacon all developers aspire to. No one (aside from maybe Nintendo) releases games as complete, polished, and awesome as Blizzard does.

Skyrim was certainly deserving of GoTY (as all the games nominated were I think), but Beth getting Studio otY did make raise an eyebrow.

Skyrim as GOTY? sure I guess that was expected. But best studio? srsly?

You cant possibly overlook the fact that they could have put a hell lot more into polishing or even completing the game instead of trying to meet a catchy deadline date. Knowingly releasing a ticking time bomb to a majority of users of the PS3? Relying on the modding community to issue temporary fixes until the studio itself takes time out? Releasing a patch to fix a problem caused by the previous patch?

Also, the few announcements they've made to us, the player base, has been poor to say at least. Patching together vague statements on various staff's twitters to get answers gets pretty old after a while. Anyways, most of the statements go along the lines of 'We're working on it, I dont know anything else about the matter.' Then get someone else who knows about the matter to say something, doesn't take a genius. We don't want live feeds of what you get up to everyday, just some answers.

Where do I vote?

All people do is complain I find it rather depressings. Despite Skyrim's flaws it is still one of the best games I have ever played. It is a huge game I can cut Bethesda some slack. To people complaining about issues, yes they can be quite frustrating but Bethesda have said they are working on it so have patience and relax a little it is still the best game of 2011 and I think Bethesda deserve the acknowledgement for the efforts.

I enjoy Bethesda games, but developer of the year?, certainly not, their overhaul of the engine still has poor performance, shoddy shadows, rain clipping, followers that cannot ride horses, horses that cannot walk backwards.
You may call it hate, I call it well deserved criticism.

Nah, bribery is too harsh.

I would call it "an investment in advertising the game".

I hate to point out the obvious...again...but...


This is what happens when you let MMO kiddies play a real game.

If you like waiting 10 years for a game, then yes Blizzard is the beacon but they can afford to go that route because of WOW.

I don't see the reason of your condescending attitude, many people disagrees with Bethesda being "Best Studio" of the year.

Your statement is a little unfair to the people complaining. There are people, like me, who actually cannot play Skyrim at the moment although I paid for it already, and it wasn't exactly cheap. Have they told us anything about their findings and what they're doing to fix it? Nope. Are they making the issue high priority? Nope, rather they're calling us liars and denying that it happens on a considerable scale and instead working on a new single platform feature. Its not just a case of minor bugs, but the game routinely freezing and potentially harming my console in the process. Are Bethesda going to compensate me for this? Of course not and I don't expect it. But I also dont expect to pay for a game and then sit on my hands for a week or two while they finally decide to fix something.

I've tried to have patience, but when every patch since release has only made matters increasingly worse, I'm sorry to say that I just can't help getting a little hot under the collar.

VGA voting skyrim GOTY is like ign giving it a 10.0 and all the other review sites not releasing their review yet. its not a big deal. VGA is corrupt and unreliable anyway

"Bethesda as Developer of the Year is just shameful and disrespectful to companies who release finished games."

oh wow, couldn't have put it any better.

What a joke. I don't take much notice of awards and review sites any more because they are either biased, bought off or just damn stupid. The EDGE magazine gave The Witcher 2 6/10, LMAO

Proof that Todd Howard and the rest of the team reads these forums.

I wouldn't thank us, either.

Edit: That said, I think Bethesda is one of the studios that deserved it most. Blizzard won Gaming Gods for their legacy, but they've been taking hit after hit recently, and their god-child is slowly dying of age. Obsidian hasn't done anything of note this year (as far as I know). Bioware released Dragon Age 2, and the fans' hatred of that instantly killed any of their chances at Studio of the Year. Rockstar hasn't released anything of note this year (again, as far as I know). etc.

Edit 2: Also, MW3 beat RAGE for Shooter of the Year. I call shenanigans.

WINNER: SKYRIM

So, Bethesda Studios has won Game of the Year 2011 and Games Studio of the year, at the VGA's for Skyrim.....despite it being a bug ridden mess, despite that as of today, a month after its release...thousands of gamers across all platforms are unable to play it 100% as intended due to the bugs, hardware issues, broken 1.2 patch

As someone who hasnt played the game since 1.2, does it not just add insult to injury that they are getting rewarded and applauded for the game a lot of us cant play currently...Think its time the gaming media stopped rewarding Game Developers and publishers for broken games and stood up and held them accountable instead by saying, "sorry, you fix your game and we will consider you next time"

Until all software and hardware issues are resolved, especially after Bethesda acknowledged that a lot of those issues will not be resolved until January, they should not be eligible for any awards..especially for developer of the year considering the condition of the game on release, the condition of the game following 1.2 patch and considering that today, a full month since it was release, multiple issues are still unresolved and a good number of players are unable to play the game as they wanted

Yes. Because if I had to give a GOTY award based on my experience and not yours, because I only have my experience to base it on, do you know who I would award it to?

Bethesda. Skyrim.

As far as I know the people giving out these awards are under no obligation to base their decision on what minusthedrifter's experience with the game is either.

Unless you really want to say "the judges must have had just as bad a time as I did, so they must have been bribed" - though I might have to post the crazy emoticon if you do unless you have proof of your bribery claims.

Soooo so many people who sound like whiny spoilt brats who believe the world owes them a favour and who claim they are constantly getting shafted by "the man". The righteous indignation, exaggerated claims, and loud proclamations of hate for game developers basically just read as pathetic, knee-jerk reactions by kids too immature and irrational to even try to get the full story and details pertaining to their current complaint. They would rather latch on to their perceived mistreatment and disrespect of a paying customer by the evil big company and announce it loudly on forums, with the hope of achieving.....what exactly? are you trying to convince others to join your crusade and somehow exact revenge on your current enemy of the week?

People expect the world and want it to work flawlessly first go. In an industry as dynamic as the gaming industry, with a game as massive and unique as Skyrim, and over such a broad and varied target audience, it will NEVER work flawlessly first go.

Have some patience and stop being such negative nay sayers.

How about SIgames,
Stardock - they actualy talk and visit their forums, but didn't release a game this year I think.

you are so right, in 2011, as gamers we should expect all the games we buy full price to be broken bug ridden glitchfest and consider ourselves lucky if or when they do actually work, but if they dont we should be grateful our hard earned money is going to support a Studio of the Year award winning games studio who will get around to finishing and fixing the game we have been looking forward to all year, eventually, you know in a few months time etc and that we should happily go play other games till that happens

You are totally right, thanks for making me see the light.....right just going to fire up Batman Arkham City, the game I can finish the main story, game plus mode, all side missions all riddler revenge challenges and riddler trophies with no bugs or glitches whilst i wait for the GOTY 2011 to be fixed

Merry Xmas everyone....Amen

So angsty

what you're saying is a little silly really. GOTY award is, or rather should be, based on an overall experience from a large pool of players, not an individual experience. And its undeniable a large number of players had a pretty bad and frustrating experience with the game. You may call us whiners, but we exist in large numbers and its a little irritating when these problems are just brushed under a mat.

The fact that the plethora of problems weren't an issue is just a little perplexing really.

I have to laugh at all the pissed people who dont like Beth winning Studio of the Year hahahahaha.

I think they should be alowed to win the award as much as anyone else, if not more. And I'm a Ps3 user.