The Game Awards GOTY nominations shoot games up Steam top sellers list

However you may feel about the concept of Game of the Year, there’s no denying the impact of the designation. A day after The Game Awards organizers announced 2025’s nominees, at least two of the GOTY-nominated games have enjoyed a surge in sales on Steam.

Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, which broke records after being nominated in a dozen different categories, is currently the sixth best-selling title on Steam — if you exclude free-to-play games, DLC, and hardware like Steam Deck. Though sales data is not public, according to tracking website SteamDB, the French RPG gained around 24% player concurrents for the month of November. This would make November the most active month the much-lauded indie has had on Steam since its release back in April.

Another beneficiary of TGA’s GOTY nominations is the steamy mythological roguelike Hades 2. As of this writing, Supergiant’s retelling of Greek myth is the No. 8 entry on the top sellers list. Though it is much further down, Hades 2 is also currently pushing its way through Nintendo’s bestsellers as well. This jump in sales might be more impressive, given that Hades 2 has technically been available for purchase in Early Access since May 2024. The game did see its full-on 1.0 release in September, but that’s still over a year since the public was initially able to play the game.

As Black Friday deals start going live, the fact both of these games are steadily inching their way up the sales charts becomes all the more noteworthy. Shocker: Few things will get people buying and playing a game than being told it might be the cream of the crop. For those of you who are still on the fence, patience might pay off. Platforms like Steam, Nintendo’s eShop, and the PlayStation Store tend to hold a Game Awards-specific sale closer to the show. You could also try your luck at trading in your taxidermy at GameStop for some store credit.