Marathon Poses a Major Challenge for Game Awards Fan Beliefs

Will a multiplayer title like Marathon ever snag the coveted Game of the Year award? Is the Resident Evil reboot movie destined to disappoint fans? And what’s the deal with Dead by Daylight not getting a sequel? Welcome to your Morning Checkpoint for April 4, 2026, where we’re all relieved that the Artemis crew managed to fix the space shuttle’s toilet. Who was the culprit?

“I’m the space plumber, and I wear that title with pride,” said mission specialist Christina Koch. Just in time, as Mario himself is launching into space this week in The Mario Galaxy Movie. The moon mission has faced its share of hiccups, including Microsoft Windows double-booting Outlook. Still, a plush Artemis from Sailor Moon sitting at NASA serves as a good luck charm for the journey.

There’s a clear trend emerging. Elden Ring took home the Game Awards in 2022, Baldur’s Gate 3 followed in 2023, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won in 2025. Voice actor Jennifer English played significant roles in all three, leading fans to coin the term “the Jennifer English effect.”

When asked about it at Emerald City Comic Con 2026 last month, she responded with a mix of joy and confusion. Her Clair Obscur co-star Ben Starr chimed in with his usual charm, suggesting, “That means Marathon is going to be Game of the Year.”

English lends her voice to the colony AI Joy in Bungie’s extraction shooter. Historically, online games don’t fare well at the Game Awards, especially those that aren’t massively popular or don’t score 90 or above on Metacritic. Will this superstition hold if Marathon wins Best Multiplayer Game of 2026?

Or could the Marathon enthusiasts somehow push it over the edge in what might be a lackluster year? Keep in mind: Grand Theft Auto 6 is releasing too late to be considered for 2026 nominations.

“The voice pack was originally designed to include what we call ‘battle chatter’: lines that react to combat situations and are not tied to specific missions,” wrote game director Dmitriy Grigorenk. “Each character in the voice pack received over 450 lines in seven languages. However, it doesn’t encompass the extensive scripted, level-specific dialogue found in Operations, which includes roughly 1,500 lines for each operation.”

He added, “We understand that many of you expected a more complete voice experience for your chosen Chapter. That’s on us; we didn’t set the right expectations, and the outcome feels incomplete. Various production constraints, such as localization, voice actor availability, and the need to keep updating voice packs with new Operations, forced us to deliver the voice pack as it currently stands, and these same constraints prevent us from expanding it with the missing lines.”

Zach Cregger, director of Barbarian and Weapons, knows the anxiety of seeing Hollywood adapt your favorite game. “I’m like, ‘Don’t ruin this for me,’” he shared regarding adaptations of beloved games. Resident Evil fans are feeling the same way, especially after an allegedly leaked script raised concerns.

“I love the idea of being pitted against a world that is hellbent on annihilating you,” Cregger said about his upcoming horror adaptation. “It just feels fun, and I haven’t seen a movie that offers that kind of experience.” He acknowledged that fans would “crucify” him if he strayed too far from the franchise’s lore.

“There was a test screening for Resident Evil,” posted Hollywood insider Daniel Richtman this week. “I hear it’s great.” Resident Evil leaker Aesthetic Gamer, previously known as Dusk Golem, backed up the buzz. “Yeah, grapevine murmurs floating around the rumor sphere suggest early test screenings of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil film indicate it’s a great movie,” they posted. “Which isn’t too surprising after Barbarian and Weapons. RE fans will likely continue to voice their complaints, though.”

GENERATIONAL ROOK RUN ????

4.5k → 40.5k loadout DELETED a full purple squad VAULT ALREADY FULL OF PURPLE + GOLD…

bro WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THIS LOOT ???? #marathon #marathonthegame pic.twitter.com/kkvmKM1Bqb

— Nifty n00b (@NiftyN00b) April 2, 2026