Golden Joystick Awards 2026: GOTY Nominees Revealed as Public Voting Opens

The 44th Golden Joystick Awards has opened public voting for Ultimate Game of the Year, with 12 titles on the ballot ahead of the November 11 ceremony, per GamesRadar. The window is short: voting closes Friday, October 30 at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET.

"The Golden Joystick Awards are the only games awards show chosen by the players," content director Daniel Dawkins said as voting went live. The show also has its host: Alix Wilton Regan, the voice of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider Catalyst.

The details

• Voting deadline: Friday, October 30, 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET / midnight GMT
• Ceremony: November 11, in person and streamed on YouTube, Twitch, and X
• Nominees: 12 titles
• Notable omission: Grand Theft Auto 6, which arrives eight days after the ceremony

Why GTA 6 isn't on the ballot

Grand Theft Auto 6 is absent from the list, and the reason is calendar arithmetic: the ceremony is November 11, Rockstar's game lands November 19. With voting closing October 30, the year's biggest release simply arrives on the wrong side of the deadline, pushing its award-season run to next year's cycles.

The full nominee list

The 12 contenders for Ultimate Game of the Year:

• 007 First Light
• Big Walk
• CONTROL Resonant
• Crimson Desert
• Dispatch
• Forza Horizon 6
• Phantom Blade Zero
• Pokemon Pokopia
• PRAGMATA
• Resident Evil Requiem
• STAR WARS: Galactic Racer
• The Blood of Dawnwalker

The 12-game cap also means several notable releases missed the shortlist, including Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Ace Combat 8, Gears of War: E-Day, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword.

Why it matters

The Golden Joysticks are one of gaming's longest-running player-voted awards — no jury filter, just ballots — which makes the shortlist a straight read on public sentiment. The late-October cutoff draws a hard line through the release calendar: everything before it gets its moment on November 11, and everything after waits a year, GTA 6 included.