Golden Joystick Awards 2026: Big Walk and 007 First Light lead into the November 11 show

Public voting for the Golden Joystick Awards 2026 is over, and the envelopes open on Wednesday, November 11, at Troxy in London. GamesRadar+, which runs the awards, says this is the 44th edition of the show it calls the longest-running publicly voted game awards. Alix Wilton Regan, who voices Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, will host. The ceremony is an in-person event and will also stream on YouTube, Twitch and X, as well as through Future Games Show, PC Gamer and GamesRadar+.

The most interesting thing about this year's field is who is leading it. When the core shortlists went live on September 25, GamesRadar+ reported that 007 First Light and Big Walk led with five nominations each. One is a big-budget James Bond game. The other is a cooperative online "walker-talker" from House House, the studio behind Untitled Goose Game. Both then made the 12-game Ultimate Game of the Year shortlist, and House House is also up for Studio of the Year.

How the vote worked

The Golden Joysticks split their voting in two. Core voting covered 21 categories, from Best Storytelling to Most Wanted Game, and ran from September 25 to October 23. The headline award, Ultimate Game of the Year, had its own window from October 26 to October 30, which GamesRadar+ says gives judges and players more time with the big autumn releases. Shortlists are picked by a judging panel of editors and contributors from Future brands including PC Gamer, Future Games Show, Edge, Retro Gamer and GamesRadar+, along with industry experts; players then choose the winners.

Eligibility windows differ by award. For the core categories, games had to release between November 1, 2025 and September 25, 2026. For Ultimate Game of the Year, the window ran from November 8, 2025 to October 25, 2026. That calendar has one notable consequence: Grand Theft Auto 6, due on November 19, is not eligible. GamesRadar+ also says three jury-selected prizes, the Streamers' Choice Award, the Breakthrough Award and the Critics' Choice Award, will be announced on the night.

The Ultimate Game of the Year shortlist

The 12 nominees for the top prize are 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.

Daniel Dawkins, content director on the awards, described the list as "a fascinating cross-section of our industry in 2026, with the work of small teams of indie developers sitting shoulder to shoulder with titanic gaming franchises like Pokémon and Resident Evil, as well as huge IPs like STAR WARS and James Bond." That is fair. Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, Pokémon Pokopia and Control Resonant share the list with Big Walk, which according to its Steam page is developed by House House, published by Panic and was released on August 4, 2026.

Last year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won seven awards including Ultimate Game of the Year, a record-equalling haul according to GamesRadar+. Nobody this year looks set to dominate quite that way, since the nominations are spread widely.

Categories worth watching

Beyond the leaders, GamesRadar+ named Meccha Chameleon, Mewgenics, The Blood of Dawnwalker, Valheim and Saros as games with three nominations each. A few categories stand out for indie fans and developers.

Best Indie Game pits Big Walk against Valheim, Order of the Sinking Star, Titanium Court, Mixtape, Denshattack!, Esoteric Ebb, Mouse: P.I. For Hire, Reanimal and Sovereign Tower. The separate self-published category is arguably the more exciting race: Mewgenics, Mina the Hollower, Perfect Tides: Station to Station, Phonopolis, The Incident at Galley House, Meccha Chameleon, Rhythm Doctor, Fields of Mistria, Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors and Cairn.

Studio of the Year is a strong mix of giants and specialists: Capcom, House House, IO Interactive, Nintendo EPD, Frogwares and Square Enix. Best Gaming Hardware includes Valve's Steam Controller alongside peripherals from Sony, Secretlab, Logitech, Turtle Beach and Razer. Best Lead Performer features Patrick Gibson as James Bond in 007 First Light and Aaron Paul as Robert Robertson III in Dispatch, among others.

Our take

The Golden Joysticks are a fan vote, so treat them as a popularity barometer rather than a critical verdict, and that is exactly what makes this year interesting. If Big Walk, a gentle co-op game about wandering and talking with friends, beats Bond and Resident Evil in front of a public audience, it will say a lot about what players actually spent 2026 enjoying. Indie developers should watch the two indie categories and Studio of the Year: a House House win there would be a loud endorsement of small teams making unusual multiplayer games. With GTA 6 outside the eligibility window, this vote is a snapshot of the year before Rockstar's release lands, so enjoy the open field. Later shows with different eligibility rules may look very different once Rockstar's game is in the mix, which makes this result a useful baseline.

Sources