The Game Awards 2024is just around the corner, which has naturally led critics and fans alike to reflect on the year as a whole. Although new releases always grab the most exciting headlines, one shouldn’t forget the importance of the community’s passion. In order to highlight this subject,The Game Awards 2024has named plenty of worthy contenders.
Best Community Support highlights an outstanding relationship between a game’s community and its developers. This award is not exclusive to new releases, and in fact most nominees are usually games that have been released for well over a year. Although many nominees in the award’s history are often ongoing games, there are always standout single-player experiences as well.
2024 Best Community Support Nominees
Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3is one of the favorites to win this award, considering it already managed to do so at The Game Awards 2023. Despite some pretty stiff competition, Larian Studios has done plenty to prove it could win for the second year in a row. Fans of the game have been consistently vocal, and developers have been quick to address any and all demands that come their way. Larian Studios also made an event out of publicizing stats for players, which became a fun exchange for the whole community.Baldur’s Gate 3’s next major patchwill reportedly be its last, but there’s no doubt the game has had great support so far.
WHERE TO PLAY
Abducted, infected, lost. You are turning into a monster, but as the corruption inside you grows, so does your power. Forge a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you and your party will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms.THE ULTIMATE D&D EXPERIENCEChoose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes, or play as an origin character with a hand-crafted background. Adventure, loot, battle, and romance as you journey through the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Play alone or as a party of up to four in multiplayer – and select your companions carefully.A CINEMATIC STORYTELLING EPICForged with the new Divinity 4.0 engine, Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that reacts to your choices. A grand, cinematic narrative brings you closer to your characters than ever before, as you venture through our biggest world yet. Romance, deceive, aid, obstruct, and grow alongside your friends thanks to Larian’s next-generation RPG engine.
Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy 14doesn’t have the free trialmeme hanging over its head for no reason. As an MMORPG,Final Fantasy 14is truly the perfect game to receive such an infamously passionate fanbase. This fanbase has been guided every step of the way by a proactive moderation team, and the symbiotic relationship between both parties is a major factor in the game’s success.Final Fantasy 14received a new expansion in Summer 2024, and is on track to close out a very solid year overall.
For newcomers to FINAL FANTASY XIV Online, this edition includes three award-winning titles - FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn the base game, and the first and second expansions: FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward and FINAL FANTASY XIV: Stormblood. This edition also includes a 30-day free play period. Other expansions for the game include Dawntrail, Endwalker, and Shadowbringers.Join over 30 million adventurers worldwide and take part in an epic and ever-changing FINAL FANTASY. Experience all the hallmarks of the best-selling franchise - an unforgettable story, exhilarating battles, and a myriad of diverse and captivating environments to explore. Party up with friends or play solo! Experience all the main story dungeons on your own by calling upon NPC allies to fight by your side.Will you play as a healing mage or an offensive black mage? Perhaps you want to be a warrior and smash enemies in the face. The famed Final Fantasy job system lets you experiment!
Fortnite
Fortnitehas maintained an astonishing number of active players since it launched, and this year was no exception. If anything, 2024 has been one ofFortnite’s best years yet.Fortnitehas always thrived thanks to the active engagement of its community, andFortniteExperiences took this to the next level. Experiences was introduced at the very tail end of 2023, and has since allowed players to hand-craft unique game modes of their own. When combined with the numerousmajor updatesFortnitereceivedthis year, the game is certainly a strong contender for Best Community Support.
Create, play, and battle with friends for free in Fortnite. Be the last player standing in Battle Royale and Zero Build, experience a concert or live event, or discover over a million creator made games, including racing, parkour, zombie survival, and more. Each Fortnite island has an individual age rating so you can find the one that’s right for you and your friends.Explore large, destructible environments where no two games are ever the same. Team up with friends by sprinting, climbing and smashing your way to earn your Victory Royale, whether you choose to build up in Fortnite Battle Royale or go no-builds in Fortnite Zero Build.Discover even more ways to play across thousands of creator-made game genres: adventure, roleplay, survival and more. Or, band together with up to three friends to fend off hordes of monsters in Save the World.
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2is the only game nominated for Best Community Support of 2024 to be released in 2024. More importantly, the back-and-forth relationship between developers and their players is perhaps the biggest part ofHelldivers 2’s appeal.Helldivers 2made headlines with its dedicated Game Master, a singular developer named Joel who appears to pull the strings of the game’s galactic conflict. As recently as November,Helldivers 2added the Democracy Space Station, which fully embraces community interaction by allowing players to vote on future targets.
Do you believe in freedom? Can you stand in the face of oppression – and defend the defenceless? Wage war for peace. Die for democracy.Join forces with up to three friends and wreak havoc on an alien scourge threatening the safety of your home planet, Super Earth, in this multiplayer co-op shooter for PS5 and PC from Arrowhead Game Studios.Step into the boots of the Helldivers, an elite class of soldiers whose mission is to spread peace, liberty and Managed Democracy using the biggest, baddest and most explosive tools in the galaxy.Helldivers don’t go planet side without proper backup, but it’s up to you to decide how and when to call it in. Not only do you have a host of superpowered primary weapons and customizable loadouts, you also have the ability to call on stratagems during play.Helldivers 2 features Arrowhead’s best cooperative gameplay yet. Collaboration will be vital: Teams will synergize on loadouts, strategize their approach for each mission and complete objectives together.1Enlist in Super Earth’s premier military peacekeeping force today. We are heroes… we are legends… WE ARE HELLDIVERS.
No Man’s Sky
In the wake of a disastrous release in 2016,No Man’s Skywas rightfully praised for its innovative design, but heavily criticized for its lack of key features. Players were quick to fill these gaps, with fan-made projects like The Galactic Hub gaining traction online. Developers responded to this dedication in kind, releasing expansive updates for the game ever since.No Man’s Skyhas been recognized for this seismic shift in public opinion, with 2024 marking the first year the game has finally managed to reach an overallrating of very positive on Steam.
Lose yourself in a vast sci-fi odyssey as you explore a near-infinite, procedurally generated universe. Set out from the edge of the Euclid galaxy and carve out your own interstellar existence in a vast universe teeming with life, danger and near-endless mystery. No Man’s Sky is a hugely-ambitious, heavily-stylised, sci-fi adventure that spans entire galaxies all brought to life with procedural generation. Travel through an endless array of increasingly diverse and dangerous star systems, prospecting for rare materials, trading with alien life, populate planets and searching for clues to the meaning of the universe’s mysterious existence. How you survive is up to you. Assemble entire fleets of dreadnought-class freighters and tear across the universe; build sprawling habitable bases across planet surfaces, beneath the ground or under the ocean; buy and upgrade your own weapons and star ships and do battle with outlaw space pirates, hostile alien fauna or the mysterious sentinel fleets. The universe is yours to explore - trillions upon trillions of planets, waiting to be discovered.
Final Prediction
There’s no doubt that 2024 is a competitive year formany categories in The Game Awards, Best Community Support included.Final Fantasy 14andFortnitemay struggle to stand out for singular accomplishments in this regard, and may ultimately be better suited to Best Ongoing. One could say the same is true ofNo Man’s Sky, but its developers tuning into every major shift among their players is what has allowed the game to survive this long.
With all of this in mind, that would leaveBaldur’s Gate 3andHelldivers 2to compete for the top spot. Even though this is very much still a difficult match-up, there does seem to be a clear front-runner.Helldivers 2is certainly a golden candidate for this kind of award, but a number of controversies throughout the latter half of the year have landed it square in the runner-up slot. By contrast, when it comes to consistent and transparent communication between developers and their communities, it’s tough to beatBaldur’s Gate 3.
Larian Studioshas made great use of its online presence sinceBaldur’s Gate 3first launched, and has shown no sign of slowing down during the second year of the game’s lifespan. If anything, communication has only grown more accessible over time. Likewise, the efforts to respond to fan demand have grown even more apparent. From adding more kissing animations, to improving official mod support,Baldur’s Gate 3has clearly had its finger on the pulse of its community all throughout 2024.
