Agreed.
It's been a great exclusives year if you're also a Nintendo and Playstation fan. Multiple big first party franchise releases this year alone in Horizon, Gran Turismo, God of War and The last of us, Bayonetta, Xenoblade Chronicles , Mario spin off games , Splatoon, Pokemon, sprinkled with some bigger third party releases like Dying Light 2, Gotham Knights, Saints Row remake, COD (biggest launch in a while), Plague Requiem , GTA remasters , new Star Ocean, The Quarry, Overwatch 2, Chivalry 2 and of course Elden Ring. We still have Callisto Protocol coming in December too which is looking good so far.
The fact we got 2 clear GOTY contenders in ER and God of War Ragnarok is pretty strong indication. When's the last time the race was this close between two titles.