Xbox Game Pass wins big with 2 Game of the Year nominees at The Game Awards 2025 — and 2 of the best RPGs, too, thanks to Obsidian

As the end of another year approaches, so too does the next The Game Awards show — a celebration of the most acclaimed games of the year, as well as a place where game developers can premiere and show off their upcoming projects. The event is always held in December, just before Christmas and the turn of the New Year; 2025's show is scheduled for December 11, and will be streamed live on Twitch, YouTube, and other platforms.

At the heart of The Game Awards is, well, its awards — titles and trophies bestowed upon the best games of the year and their developers, as determined by a curated voting jury as well as public voting. There are close to 30 categories each year, with the most prestigious being the coveted Game of the Year award. And now that the show is under a month away, host Geoff Keighley has revealed all the nominees for each and every category.

Naturally, the nominees everyone is the most interested in are the ones for Game of the Year, of which there are six. Here's the full list:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

For the complete list of nominees in all 28 of this year's The Game Awards 2025 categories, watch the official nomination announcement here or with the embed below:

One thing that immediately stood out to me when I saw the Game of the Year nominations is that two of the six, a full third, are available to play on Microsoft's buffet-style gaming service Xbox Game Pass. The titles playable through the program include the long, long-awaited Metroidvania sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong, as well as the critically acclaimed indie darling Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Indeed, two of 2025's most beloved games, and arguably the most popular of the six Game of the Year nominees as well, are Game Pass titles. Granted, you will need the premium PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for access to them; these recently got a controversial price hike last month.

Even so, though, this is a major win for Microsoft and the Xbox brand. The firm wants to make Game Pass more attractive by offering its subscribers access to some of the best titles that the industry has to offer, after all, and having two Game Pass releases in the Game of the Year contention is a very good look.

It's also worth mentioning that two games in the Best RPG category — Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 — are on Xbox Game Pass as well. Both were Xbox Game Studios titles developed by Obsidian Entertainment, which has become a powerhouse studio for Xbox in recent years between properties like these as well as others like Grounded 2 and Pentiment.

Other Game Pass titles in The Game Awards nominations include The Alters, DOOM: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, Ninja Gaiden 4, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Blue Prince.

Ultimately, regardless of which games actually win the categories they're nominated for, the fact that 10 nominated titles are playable through Xbox Game Pass reinforces the fact that the service continues to bring incredibly high value to its customers despite questionable price increases.

Whether you're into deep, crunchy RPGs, thrilling and energetic shooters, story-heavy adventure games, intense action titles, or creative new indie projects, there's something from the list of The Game Awards nominees for you on Game Pass — and that's fairly something unique to the program, compared to the others.

Note that you can cast your vote for Game of the Year and all of the other categories on The Game Awards' website, though it may be difficult to do so for a while since it's getting flooded with traffic right now. When the show rolls around in December, Windows Central will also be blogging it live, so be sure to join us for that!

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