God of War director and God of War Ragnarok producer Cory Barlog is seemingly weighing in on the Discourse™ around Elden Ring's nomination for best story at The Game Awards 2022.
In case you missed it, earlier this week The Game Awards revealed its full list of nominations, and some folks on social media raised an eyebrow at Elden Ring being nominated for its story, which is mostly told through cryptic interactions with NPCs, item descriptions, and world design features. While some think the nomination is undeserved, others are defending Elden Ring's story vociferously.
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The debate is getting pretty heated, frankly, but Barlog is weighing in with a refreshingly measured take in which he argues quite deftly that all games tell a story in their own unique way. He's internet-wise enough not to mention Elden Ring specifically, but it's pretty clear he's reacting to the ongoing debate.
"Narrative/story mean so many things in games," Barlog wrote on Twitter. "Their delivery method and frequency differ in all games. Because games are what they are, I feel there is narrative/story in ALL games. While non-traditional in its manifestation, they all take us on a unique and moving journey."
Fresh off the release of the acclaimed God of War Ragnarok, which has seen near universal praise for its story, Barlog is uniquely qualified to comment on a debate around narrative design in video games. He goes on to argue that the video game space is still a relatively new platform for storytelling and that "moving the needle" in terms of how stories are told is a good thing.
"I'm just very excited to join that collective of creatives + studios to utilize all the tools we have available as game makers to join the fight," he said.
Speaking more specifically to video game stories being nominated for awards, Barlog implied that he thinks The Game Awards nominating Elden Ring is fairplay.
"Basically, I think all games should be nominated for story and narrative in some way because they all have them in some way that is solely and completely unique to the world of games."
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