According to Polygon, Warframe received a major free story expansion called The Old Peace on December 10. Developer Digital Extremes is known for regular balance patches, direct communication via Twitch devstreams, and hosting a popular annual fan convention in London, Ontario. Despite this, the game and its developer were not nominated for Ongoing Game or Community Support at this year’s Game Awards. In an interview, Creative Director Rebb Ford stated the team doesn’t expect nominations, preferring to focus on the community. At the awards, Hello Games won Ongoing Game for No Man’s Sky, and Larian Studios won Community Support for Baldur’s Gate 3.
The Prestige Problem
Here’s the thing: Ford’s comments cut right to the heart of a weird tension in live-service gaming. You can have a massively dedicated player base and a decade-long track record of support, but still not be “prestigious” in the eyes of the industry gatekeepers. She even name-dropped Path of Exile, another titan of the “forever game” genre that rarely gets its flowers at these shows. It’s not about quality of support, necessarily. It’s about perception, and maybe about being a bit “janky” and doing things your own way, as Ford put it.
And look at the nominees she’s up against. Fortnite is there on sheer scale, not necessarily for innovative community interaction lately. Marvel Rivals is a new hit, but one already marred by layoffs. Meanwhile, Warframe just keeps quietly dropping huge, free story expansions. The priorities are just different. Digital Extremes seems to measure success in TennoCon ticket sales and player satisfaction charts, not trophies.
The Community-First Mindset
So what does “doing good by our community” actually look like in practice? It’s the devstreams where they talk directly to players. It’s the convention that turns a Canadian city into a pilgrimage site. It’s dropping a sizzle reel narrated by Werner Herzog just for the hilarious, perfect weirdness of it. They’re playing a long game that most award cycles simply aren’t built to recognize.
Contrast that with a winner like Larian, which absolutely deserved its Community Support award for Baldur’s Gate 3. But Larian’s work, while phenomenal, had a defined end point—they’ve now finished major updates. Warframe’s support is indefinite, a perpetual motion machine of content and tweaks. It’s a different kind of commitment, one that’s harder to pin down for a yearly award.
their-own-terms”>Fun On Their Own Terms
The best part? They still go to The Game Awards. But Ford says it’s “pressure-free fun” because they’re there “on our own dime.” They’re not anxiously waiting for their category; they’re just there to enjoy the show and maybe drop a cool trailer. That’s a incredibly healthy perspective in an industry obsessed with validation.
It makes you wonder if this attitude is their superpower. By not designing updates to be “award-worthy,” they’re free to be genuinely weird and follow their own compass. That’s how you get a game with the staying power to launch a sister project like Soulframe. It’s a lesson in building a legacy versus chasing a headline. And honestly, in a world of shutdowns and pivots, that legacy feels more valuable than any statue.
