Expedition 33 vs ARC Raiders Game of the Year award debate: Exploring what streamers have said so far

The year 2025 has been incredible for gaming, making it difficult for the community to determine the Game of the Year. There were many impressive titles across many genres, and among them, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and ARC Raiders seem to be the biggest standouts for many, as they redefined the RPG and extraction shooting genres, respectively. Both games are developed by small studios, have sold millions of copies, and received widespread praise from both fans and content creators.

As the Game Awards 2025 approach, the community has split into two teams: supporting Expedition 33 for its storytelling and artistic approach, or supporting the unique apocalyptic PvPvE experience of ARC Raiders.

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Shroud’s take divided the community and streamers alike in the Game of the Year debate

Shroud’s take on the Expedition 33 vs ARC Raiders debate has arguably been the most viral one, and left the community divided. During a livestream, he passionately backed ARC Raiders:

“We gotta make sure that this game (Arc Raiders) wins the Game of the Year, by the way. Do not let that Expedition game win the Game of the Year. Do not let it. We all have to band together to make this game win. Us multiplayer gamers are the minority, okay? But I believe that we can win.” clip reposted by @ShroudUpdate on X

Since then, the clip has gained millions of views, with thousands of comments from the community. Shortly after the video went viral, xQc commented on the post:

"Im not an arc glazer but the game is a technical achievement on a multitude of levels. It’s polished, fresh, vibrant. Until its release, e33 def had GOTY. A good story, a great ost and an innovate take on an under appreciated genre only gets you so far against a product like arc” @xQc added his perspective on the Game of the Year debate

Stormfall also quoted Shroud’s statement, showing her support for Clair Obscur Expedition 33:

“A magnum opus of art and culture in an industry plagued by greed, with a budget of a bag of potato chips and a passionate team, a story moving everyone to tears and gameplay that revives an entire genre and redeems the French.” @Stormfall33 supported Expedition 33

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Myth praises ARC Raiders for redefining the PvP genre, Asmongold reacts

Popular streamer Myth also voiced his support for ARC Raiders on X:

“Arc Raiders is the first PvP game in the history of PvP games to properly incorporate PvE into the genre without it feeling clunky, slow, and dumb. This is one of the most alive PvP worlds anyone has ever played in the history of video games. That alone deserves Game of the Year.” @Myth highlighted ARC Raiders’ unique design

His statement caught the attention of Asmongold, who reacted to it on stream, siding with Expedition 33:

“Oh Myth, not you too. Are you f****g kidding me? Yeah, I'm sorry, but anybody that thinks ARC Raiders... like, it's a good game, it’s a great game, it’s an amazing game. But in 20 years, people will be talking about Expedition 33. In 20 years, nobody is going to be thinking about ARC Raiders.” reshared by u/5ping on r/LivestreamFail

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Overall, the gaming community and streamers remain completely divided between these two titles.

Edited by Harshit "Hysaze" Singh