The Game Awards: Destiny 2 nominated for “best community support” days after community/social media layoffs

The Game Awards announced its nominees last night, yet Destiny 2 has landed a Best Community Support nomination despite Bungie laying off numerous community managers.

Whatever you think of The Game Awards (I'll refrain from sharing my real feelings here), it is undeniably the biggest awards show of the year in games. There are absolutely plenty of important awards shows, but this one has the most money so can afford a big fancy venue to host at and can get people like Al Pacino to present the awards, so at the very least it's the most expensive. That does translate to having more eyes on it, though, which means a lot of people will see that Destiny 2 has yet again received a Best Community Support nomination, when just last month it laid off a number of its staff, which did notably include several social and community managers.

It isn't exactly surprising that the game has received the nomination, it has done for years, alongside regulars like Final Fantasy 14, but you can't help but be left with a bit of a bad taste in your mouth on this particular occasion. Former Destiny 2 community manager Liana Ruppert, who was affected by last month's layoffs, shared her feelings of the nomination on Twitter, writing, "Personal feelings aside as a team that asked for more people not less, I will say that Cozmo, Bruno, Ivan, and Timon advocate for players in a way that you will never know. There are so many poor decisions diverted because of their care and knowledge, and good decisions amplified."

Former social media lead at Bungie Griffin Bennett also commented on the nomination, saying, "A reminder that your quality of work does not matter. In the end, you’re just a number."

As mentioned, Destiny 2 was nominated alongside games like Final Fantasy 14, as well as No Man's Sky, Baldur's Gate 3, and uh, Cyberpunk 2077, which feels like a bit of a stretch.