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The 10 biggest Game of the Year awards
3,360 outlets have handed out a Game of the Year here. These ten decide how the season is remembered — between them they cover the press jury, the developers, the players and the two biggest markets on earth.
The season starts in September at Tokyo Game Show and does not finish until the spring ceremonies. Sort by any column.
| Order | Award | When | Country | Who votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan Game Awards | September, at Tokyo Game Show | Japan | Japanese industry body CESA |
| 2 | Golden Joystick Awards | November | United Kingdom | Public vote |
| 3 | Titanium Awards | November, at Fun & Serious Game Festival | Spain | International jury |
| 4 | The Game Awards | Early-to-mid December | United States | Jury of ~100+ global media outlets, plus a public vote weighted at 10% |
| 5 | The Steam Awards | Voting during the Steam Autumn Sale, winners at the start of January | United States | Steam users — the largest voter base of any GOTY award |
| 6 | New York Game Awards | January | United States | New York Videogame Critics Circle |
| 7 | D.I.C.E. Awards | February | United States | Peer vote by members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |
| 8 | Game Developers Choice Awards | March, during GDC | United States | Peer vote by game developers |
| 9 | BAFTA Games Awards | March or April | United Kingdom | BAFTA members via juried category panels |
| 10 | Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards | Spring | Japan | Famitsu and Dengeki readers plus editorial panels |
Where the big awards disagree
The interesting years are the ones without a consensus. A single ceremony crowning a game is a headline; five of them agreeing is a verdict.
| Year | Golden Joystick Awards | The Game Awards | D.I.C.E. Awards | Game Developers Choice Awards | BAFTA Games Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 All 5 agree | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |
| 2024 3 split | Black Myth: Wukong | Astro Bot | Astro Bot | Balatro | Astro Bot |
| 2023 All 5 agree | Baldur's Gate 3 | Baldur's Gate 3 | Baldur's Gate 3 | Baldur's Gate 3 | Baldur's Gate 3 |
| 2022 2 split | Elden Ring | Elden Ring | Elden Ring | Elden Ring | Vampire Survivors |
| 2021 4 split | Resident Evil Village | It Takes Two | It Takes Two | Inscryption | Returnal |
Which of them is the most prestigious?
That question is usually answered by assertion. It can be measured instead: how often does each ceremony's pick turn out to be the game the whole field ended up giving the most awards to? Counted over census seasons only, and over the jury or editorial award only — a ceremony's separate public vote is a different prize. A season with two recorded picks from one ceremony is held rather than guessed.
| Award | Since | Census seasons judged | Matched the field | Who votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Game Awards | 2014 | 12 | 83.3% | Jury of ~100+ global media outlets, plus a public vote weighted at 10% |
| New York Game Awards | 2012 | 14 | 71.4% | New York Videogame Critics Circle |
| Game Developers Choice Awards | 2001 | 14 (+9 held) | 64.3% | Peer vote by game developers |
| D.I.C.E. Awards | 1998 | 23 | 56.5% | Peer vote by members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |
| Titanium Awards | 2014 | 13 | 38.5% | International jury |
| BAFTA Games Awards | 2004 | 22 | 36.4% | BAFTA members via juried category panels |
| Golden Joystick Awards | 1983 | 20 (+3 held) | 30.0% | Public vote |
| Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards | 2018 | 1 | too few seasons | Famitsu and Dengeki readers plus editorial panels |
| Japan Game Awards | 1996 | 1 (+1 held) | too few seasons | Japanese industry body CESA |
Agreement is not authority.
A ceremony that always picks the consensus adds nothing you could not get by counting everyone else; one that regularly diverges is telling you something the count cannot. Read the low numbers as independence, not error — Golden Joystick Awards sits at 30.0% because a different electorate votes for it, not because it is wrong. The Game Awards also scores partly by construction: its jury is drawn from 100+ outlets, so it is itself a small aggregate of the field it is being compared against.
The 10 most prolific media outlets
Ranked by how many Game of the Year awards they handed out across our 1990–2021 dataset.
Updated 2 October 2026 · Source: the Meta Awards database, where every award row cites where it was published.