Can an Early Access Game Like ‘Battlegrounds’ Be Game of the Year?

I know, I know, it's only July, but a thread on NeoGAF had me thinking. In "Is PUBG a GotY contender?" NeoGAF poster Exploratory poses an interesting question about PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, the game everyone can't shut up about.

"Started playing this recently and I'm surprised more aren't saying it," said Exploratory. "Sooooo much fun and it's in a genre that's still innovating and relatively new."

Seven pages and counting later, it's hardly a settled debate, one made more complicated by not knowing if Battlegrounds will leave Early Access before the end of the year. Earlier this month, Battlegrounds designer Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene backed off a promise to have the game exit Early Access in the next few months, preferring to give his team more time to figure out where the endgame is.

The current plan is to hit version 1.0 before 2018 comes around, but is anyone going to be surprised if this constantly changing game slips? It's already sold more than five million copies. Early Access isn't hurting it.

I've played more than 80 hours of Battlegrounds, a number that's likely to double before the year is up. While it's fruitless to predict what might favorite game might ultimately be, given how convinced I was nothing would come close to Nier: Automata just a few months ago, it's easily to imagine Battlegrounds will be in contention. The game's provided thrills, anger, and elation in equal measures, and it's the first multiplayer game I've stuck with in a long time.

It's special, and by definition, likely to rank among my favorite experiences. That alone means Battlegrounds, regardless of Early Access, will be given due on my year-end list. Nowadays, the release of games is so fluid and weird, it makes sense.

This is a goofy discussion, but I'm guessing you have thoughts. Do you think Battlegrounds should quality for game of the year? Does Early Access matter? Should we blame this discussion on Chicago being so humid?

Let us know in today's open thread!

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