GTA 6 Is Eligible to Take Part in Golden Joystick Awards 2027

Yesterday marked the 44th Golden Joystick Awards ceremony—the first major event honoring the best games of 2026. Perhaps some were surprised that GTA 6—the most anticipated game of the year and potentially one of the year's best—was not featured. Meanwhile, the organizers explained the absence of the new Rockstar title.

A related article on GamesRadar provided a detailed explanation of why GTA 6 was not nominated for the 2026 Golden Joystick Awards, and the reason cited there is solely due to its late release date. The games eligible for nomination were those released between November 1, 2025, and September 25, 2026. For the top category, “Ultimate Game of the Year,” this deadline was extended to October 25, while games released up until the start of the show (November 11) were eligible for the jury-selected awards. This is why such games as Dispatch and Phantom Blade Zero were eligible for participation.

Nevertheless, the organizers have confirmed that GTA 6 will be eligible for the Golden Joystick Awards 2027, and in the comments, people are already speculating that the game will win the “Ultimate Game of the Year” category—which is quite likely. They also revealed that, technically, it could have been nominated for “Most Wanted Game” this year, but since it won that category last year and the year before, they decided against it.

As for the results of the 2026 Golden Joystick Awards, Resident Evil Requiem won the top prize, “Ultimate Game of the Year.” Capcom’s game won the most awards (4), as did Meccha Chameleon. The above-mentioned Dispatch received two awards, the same number as The Witcher franchise. You can check out all the results of the 2026 Golden Joystick Awards here.

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.