Golden Joystick Awards: 12 Games Fight for Ultimate Game of the Year on November 11 — and GTA VI Isn't One of Them

Britain's oldest games awards — organised by Future and GamesRadar — hold their 44th ceremony on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at the Troxy in London, streamed live, hosted by Alix Wilton Regan. The public vote that decides most of the night is already in: 21 main categories closed on October 23, and the Ultimate Game of the Year ballot ran October 26–30, with voters ranking their top three. What remains is the envelopes — plus three panel-decided awards (Streamers' Choice, Breakthrough and Critics' Choice) that are announced on the night.

The 12 games on the Ultimate Game of the Year ballot

1. 007 First Light
2. Big Walk
3. Control Resonant
4. Crimson Desert
5. Dispatch
6. Forza Horizon 6
7. Phantom Blade Zero
8. Pokémon Pokopia
9. Pragmata
10. Resident Evil Requiem
11. Star Wars: Galactic Racer
12. The Blood of Dawnwalker

007 First Light and Big Walk lead the whole field, carrying six nominations each across the night's categories (per GameDaily's count of the ballots).

Why Grand Theft Auto VI isn't on the ballot

No, Grand Theft Auto VI isn't snubbed, rigged out or forgotten. The Joysticks' eligibility window for this year's awards ran from November 8, 2025 to October 25, 2026. GTA VI launches November 19, 2026 — eight days after the ceremony and nearly four weeks after the window closed. It was never in the race because it doesn't exist yet as a released game. Its year is next year, when it'll presumably eat the 45th Joysticks alive. This desk's launch calendar (sibling draft 42) has the date pinned.

How to watch the ceremony on November 11

The ceremony streams live from the Troxy on the evening of November 11 (London time — plan your afternoon if you're watching from the States). The Ultimate winner is the last award of the night, as tradition demands. We'll file the full winners list as the envelopes open; the interesting undercard fights, on this ballot, are Dispatch's word-of-mouth run against the big-budget field, and whether a Pokémon game can take a public vote that skews older than its audience.

One calendar collision worth knowing: Soulframe's open alpha starts November 6 (sibling draft 54), GTA VI lands November 19, and the Joysticks sit exactly between them — the one night this month when the industry stops to argue about the year behind it instead of the launch ahead of it.