Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek has publicly urged his millions-strong audience to vote for Arc Raiders as Game of the Year 2025 — and to block what he called the likely frontrunner, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The call-to-action, delivered during a recent Arc Raiders stream, set off a fresh round of discussion about streamer influence, the place of multiplayer games in awards season, and whether fan voting can sway big juried events.
A streamer’s plea: make Arc Raiders win
On stream, Shroud — a former professional Counter-Strike player with a massive online following (reported at roughly 11.3 million followers on Twitch and 6.8 million on YouTube) — was emphatic: 'We gotta make sure that this game wins game of the year. Do not let that Expedition game win game of the year. Do not let it. Absolutely do not.' He followed by urging his viewers to band together and vote, adding that 'us multiplayer gamers are the minority' and conceding he usually doesn't vote but planned to this year.
The streamer also expressed skepticism about awards generally, saying in the stream that 'all the f*ing awards are rigged anyway,' a sentiment that underlines a broader cynicism about how winners are decided.
Why Arc Raiders — and why some fans are mobilizing
Arc Raiders, the third-person extraction shooter from Embark Studios (published with Nexon support), has been a breakout multiplayer hit since its launch, drawing huge concurrent player numbers and enthusiastic coverage from competitive and streamer communities. Shroud has spent prodigious time playing the title; third‑party tracking reported he streamed the game for more than 71 hours in the six days after launch, a sign of both his personal enthusiasm and the game's traction among core shooter fans.
Supporters argue that Arc Raiders is a fresh, polished multiplayer experience that deserves recognition alongside the year's acclaimed single-player releases. For many in live‑service and competitive communities, a GOTY nod would be a rare mainstream acknowledgement of multiplayer design and ongoing live ecosystems.
Critics push back: genre bias, voter campaigns and double standards
Not everyone welcomed Shroud's appeal. Some observers accused the streamer of simple genre bias — 'an FPS player thinks FPS game should win GOTY, shocker' — while others warned against organized fan mobilization that might skew public voting. A few fans joked about creating multiple accounts to counter Shroud's push or urged him to broaden his tastes.
The broader complaint: multiplayer titles historically fare worse in major GOTY ceremonies that mix juried media votes with fan input. That has fueled a perception that single‑player narratives and auteur-driven experiences get preferential treatment in awards contexts.
Data and context: are multiplayer gamers really the minority?
Shroud’s comment that 'multiplayer gamers are the minority' has been debated. Research from industry analysis firms suggests preferences vary strongly by age: younger players tend to prefer multiplayer and social play, while older players — who may have less time to coordinate with friends — often favor single-player experiences. As Midia Research analyst Rhys Elliott put it in reporting this year, 'Convincing players — and their friends — to leave for new titles is a huge barrier' for multiplayer live-service games, and shifting entrenched social groups is difficult.
At the same time, when measured by monthly active users or peak concurrent players, many of the most-played games worldwide are multiplayer or live-service titles (examples often cited include Roblox experiences, Fortnite, Minecraft in its social modes, and competitive PC hits). So whether multiplayer gamers are a numerical minority depends on the metric and demographic examined.
How The Game Awards voting works — and why influence matters
Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards combines a curated jury of media and industry representatives with public fan voting to determine winners; historically, the jury has had greater weight on outcomes. Keighley has publicly acknowledged the risk of turning the show into a popularity contest and has resisted moving to full public voting, citing concerns about social engineering and organized voting blocs. The show does, however, feature a purely fan-voted category, Players’ Voice, which is explicitly designed for public input.
Streamers with large audiences can still shape public conversation and, in tightly contested categories, may help swing fan totals or at least amplify an underdog's visibility. That influence is precisely what Shroud was attempting to leverage in his plea.
Broader implications: awards, communities and influence
Shroud’s push highlights several ongoing tensions in games culture:
- The role of prominent influencers in shaping narratives and awards season outcomes.
- Longstanding debates over whether awards favor single-player, auteur-driven titles over multiplayer, live-service experiences.
- The ethics and optics of organized fan mobilization versus organic praise.
Developers and publishers increasingly court streamers and creators to boost visibility; at the same time, audiences and critics question when that visibility crosses into coordinated campaigning that undermines the perceived legitimacy of awards.
What comes next
Nominees for The Game Awards 2025 are expected to be announced in mid-November. This year’s field is unusually crowded with contenders across genres, from narrative-driven single-player hits to major multiplayer launches. Whether Arc Raiders ultimately secures a nomination or a win will depend on the jury’s assessment, fan voting dynamics, and how the year’s many acclaimed games stack up when the nominations are finalized.
For now, Shroud’s comments have done what such calls often do: they’ve focused attention on a specific game, reignited conversations about how we evaluate games across different formats, and underscored the real — and growing — influence of streaming personalities in shaping industry narratives.