While we've all been growing up and becoming jaded, Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards have remained young and unruly. Every year millions of votes from new generations of kids choose the best in the world of slime-loving youngsters across a wide variety of categories in entertainment. Among these are a couple of awards for the best of the video game world, and this year's big winner was longtime staple Minecraft.
Its competition this year included Fortnite, Mario Kart Tour and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Fortnite's defeat could very well be considered an upset, given the historic popularity of the game, and while Smash may not be as relevant in 2020 as it was upon its release, the franchise is nonetheless a major cornerstone of the gaming world. Mario Kart Tour, however, received a lukewarm reception when it was released, with many finding that it failed to adequately adapt the classic Mario Kart formula to mobile devices.
This year's award is notably the first time since the "Favorite Video Game" category was instituted that a game not titled Just Dance emerged victorious. The 2016-2019 entries in the Just Dance franchise all won the award during their respective release years; Just Dance 2020 broke the pattern, failing to even secure a nomination. Prior to the Just Dance dynasty, the winner of 2015's game award, then titled "Most Addicting Game," was none other than Minecraft.
Last year introduced a second gaming award alongside "Favorite Video Game" for popular gaming personalities, simply titled "Best Gamer." This year's winner was a repeat of last year's awards show, meaning that so far YouTube personality SSSniperwolf is the only personality to secure a "Best Gamer" award from the titular Kids and their Choice.
The favorite game category until this year didn't even include Minecraft among its nominees, so its victory stands as a testament to Mojang's ability to maintain the relevance—at least among the Nickelodeon demographic—of a game that was first playable over a decade ago. Other big winners this year included BTS, Avengers: Endgame, Lebron James, and plenty of other big names in media. The full list of winners can be viewed here.
Source: NintendoSoup