(3)The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt vs (6)Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 2015

Ulti's Analysis
This was one of the weirdest matches of the entire contest, specifically because it wasn't a weird match at all.

Before getting into the actual match itself, look at how these two games performed in round 1. Witcher 3 got nearly 75% in its match, while MGS2 struggled with Resident Evil. By that alone, I'm very surprised Witcher 3 wasn't able to win this poll through its own natural strength. The evidence that it could have done so was certainly there, so to see MGS2 win this comfortably was certainly there. The poll was 60-40 early, then MGS2 bled percentage all match until it won 54-46.

Under normal circumstances, that would be a respectable and close match, if not a bit surprising given the round 1 performances. But by this match having normal circumstances, it wasn't really normal at all. Witcher 3's own developers have rallied on the internet to win something like 200+ Game of the Year awards. Some of thosse it won normally, but a lot were direct rallies where the developers asked the fans to vote in online polls all over the place. The fans responded in kind, and now Witcher 3 is on track to become this weird cult classic video game.

I'm sure even the most staunch anti-rally guy could at least see why this is a good thing. If you pour your heart into making a video game, you want to get recognition for it. Witcher 3 clearly had a passionate development team and passionate fans, and they took advantage of that to get some buzz on the internet. Good for them!

So why in the absolute holy hell did they not ask their fans to vote in this poll? MGS2 only won this poll by 3323 votes, and in the middle of the afternoon this match was still very much in doubt. The Metal Gear Solid series looked like trash all contest long and was just begging to have people rally against it. It isn't like people didn't try, either. There were Witcher 3 fans all over the usual sites, the fan sites, the developer's twitter, and everything else you could think of during this match to try getting a rally going. And while people are jaded about GameFAQs, this is still one of the biggest video game sites out there; a developer rally to get Witcher 3 a run in this contest would have made perfect sense. Yet while the fans were pounding the social media alarm, the developers did not care. It frankly blew my mind, because Witcher 3's rally potential pre-contest was obvious.

Yet none of it would ever happen, and MGS2 would back its way into a 54-46 win. A match like this really puts into perspective just how hard it is to get a successful rally going, and really makes one appreciate the ones that do work. Those fans were everywhere during this match, for a game that has a real buzz online, and it didn't matter. It goes to show you that successful rallies are largely about luck, because Witcher 3 might have won this contest had it bothered showing up for a match that it was just begging to win.

Oh and that's no disrespect meant for MGS2 and no complaining by me over it winning this, by the way. It's in my top 10. I was just very, very pleasantly surprised. Even now in looking back at this match, I cannot believe that it actually won this match.