Game of the Year 2026 preview: every show and livestream

The short answer

The 2026 season is already under way and its biggest night is still ahead. The Japan Game Awards gave their Grand Award in September, the Golden Joystick Awards follow on 11 November, and The Game Awards stream on 10 December. Hundreds of outlets publish their own picks in between, and the season this site counts goes to the game the most of them name.

Facts on this page were checked on 5 November 2026. Dates set by the organisers can still move, so each one links to where it was announced.

When and where to watch

• Japan Game Awards – already decided. The Grand Award went to Pokémon Pokopia at the ceremony during Tokyo Game Show on 15 September 2026, as Nintendo Everything reported.
• Golden Joystick Awards – Wednesday 11 November 2026, live from London, streamed on YouTube, Twitch and X. The Ultimate Game of the Year is a public vote, which closed on 30 October. Twelve games are on the shortlist (GamesBeat, 27 October 2026): 007 First Light, Big Walk, Control Resonant, Crimson Desert, Dispatch, Forza Horizon 6, Phantom Blade Zero, Pokémon Pokopia, Pragmata, Resident Evil Requiem, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and The Blood of Dawnwalker.
• The Game Awards – Thursday 10 December 2026, live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles (official announcement). The opening act starts at 7:30 p.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. PT, which is 00:30 UTC on 11 December. The show streams free on the major platforms. A jury of more than 100 outlets decides 90% of the result and a fan vote, open until 9 December, the other 10% (TGA FAQ).
• After December – the New York Game Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards and the BAFTA Games Awards follow between January and spring. Their usual months are on the 2026 season page.

Can Grand Theft Auto VI still win?

It can enter one of the two big shows but not the other. Rockstar dates the game for 19 November 2026, which Take-Two repeated in its results call in August. The Game Awards accept games released by 9 p.m. PT on 20 November, one day later, so Grand Theft Auto VI is eligible there. The Golden Joysticks closed their window in October and the game is not on their list.

No game in the series has yet won a season in this count – the full record is in has a Grand Theft Auto game ever won Game of the Year?

What the record says about the winner

This site makes no prediction of its own. It can say how well each early signal has matched the final count in the past.

• The Game Awards are the strongest early signal. In 10 of the 12 seasons they have judged, their Game of the Year was also the game the whole field named most.
• The Golden Joysticks are a weak one. Their public vote matched the field in 30% of 20 seasons. A Golden Joystick win on 11 November says more about a game's fans than about where the season will land.
• Late releases have not had the edge. Of the 22 season winners whose release date is on record, 14 came out between January and June and 8 between July and December.

• A typical winner does not sweep. The median winner takes 42.9% of a season's awards. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took 71.1% of 2025; the most one-sided season on record is 2022, at 72.2%.

How this site will count 2026

Every Game of the Year an outlet publishes counts once, from any country, with its source. Picks arrive from December to the spring, so 2026 will stay marked as partial until it reaches the breadth of a full season – 760 awards from 679 outlets in 2025. Until then the ceremonies above are results and the count is a record in progress. How each kind of vote works is explained in how Game of the Year is decided.