PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and GOTY: It’s about art vs. product

The Game Awards revealed its 2017 nominees today, and that upcoming show from media personality Geoff Keighley has broken the seal on a contentious Game of the Year conversation: is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds eligible for end-of-the-year awards if it is still in the Early Access program for unfinished games on Steam and not in its full 1.0 retail release?

Keighley’s award show nominated the last-player-standing battle royale shooter for Game of the Year alongside Horizon: Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The PUBG Corporation claims it will release a 1.0 version before the end of December, and that would make it a 2017 release. But few outlets will consider that version of the game for their awards.