Golden Joystick Awards 2026: All 12 Ultimate GOTY Nominees and How to Vote

Voting is open for the Golden Joystick Awards 2026 Ultimate Game of the Year, with 12 nominees and a deadline of October 30 at 23:59 GMT / UTC. The official voting page is the place to cast a ballot; this is a separate window from the categories that closed earlier in October.

The organizer announced the shortlist on October 26, alongside Alix Wilton Regan as host of the November 11 ceremony. A nomination is not a win: this ballot will decide the category’s result.

All 12 Ultimate Game of the Year nominees

These are the titles in the order used in the organizer’s announcement:

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

This is the Ultimate Game of the Year shortlist, rather than a combined list of every game nominated across the awards. Inclusion here also should not be read as a Red Reactions review, recommendation or statement about each game’s regional availability.

How to vote and when the ballot closes

Open the Golden Joystick Awards voting portal and select Start Voting. The ballot’s introduction asks you to rank your top three games. Follow its remaining on-screen instructions to complete the vote; this is a ranked choice rather than simply naming one favorite.

The current voting page gives the precise cutoff as Friday, October 30, 2026, at 23:59 GMT, which is 23:59 UTC. Its explicit time is more useful than the announcement’s broader “midnight GMT” wording. Readers in other time zones should convert that instant to their own local date and time.

Public voting in the initial 21 categories ended October 23. Ultimate Game of the Year opened October 26 and runs through this separate final window. The organizer says the later timing allows more time with the autumn releases.

When the winners will be announced

The 44th Golden Joystick Awards take place in London on November 11, 2026, hosted by Wilton Regan. The official announcement also confirms a livestream, with GamesRadar+ listing YouTube, Twitch and X among the viewing channels.

The checked announcement does not establish a precise show start time. For the final broadcast arrangements and any ballot changes, use the organizer’s page above.