Golden Joystick Awards 2026: All the Winners from Today’s Show

The gaming awards season gets underway with the 44th Golden Joystick Awards, and the 2026 Game of the Year race remains wide open. While Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 emerged as a clear favorite in 2025, this year has delivered a strong field without an obvious dominant contender. The Golden Joysticks may offer an early glimpse of which titles could gain momentum ahead of Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards in December.

Two factors complicate the picture. The first is Grand Theft Auto 6, which is scheduled to arrive on November 19 and is therefore not competing at this ceremony. Rockstar Games’ highly anticipated release could reshape the field at awards shows later in the season.

The second involves Big Walk. Developer House House disclosed this week that it used large language models during the final stage of development. The studio said generative AI tools were involved in less than 0.1% of the game’s code, but the revelation may affect how some players and voters view the critically acclaimed title. Golden Joystick voting closed on November 5, before the disclosure, so any wins here may not predict how the game fares at later ceremonies.

Below are the 2026 Golden Joystick Awards nominees and announced winners. The list will be updated as the ceremony continues.

Best Audio Design

• Winner: Onimusha: Way of the Sword
• Big Walk
• Marathon
• Rhythm Heaven Groove
• Saros
• Star Wars: Galactic Racer

Best Early Access Game

• Winner: Subnautica 2
• Dead as Disco
• Menace
• skate.
• Slay the Spire 2
• Wardogs

Best Game Adaptation

• Devil May Cry (Season 2)
• Exit 8
• Fallout (Season 2)
• Iron Lung
• Mortal Kombat II
• Resident Evil

Best Game Expansion

• Winner: Doom: The Dark Ages | Revelations
• Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven
• Dave the Diver – In the Jungle Content Pack
• Quake: Dawn of the Machine
• The Alters: Last Variable
• World of Warcraft: Midnight

Best Game Trailer

• Winner: Resident Evil Requiem – Evil Has Always Had A Name
• Battlefield 6 x Top Gun: Carrier Strike Cinematic Trailer
• Big Walk – Release Date Announcement
• Cairn – Launch Trailer
• Mouse: P.I. For Hire | Official Launch Trailer
• Prove You’re Human – Announcement Trailer

Best Gaming Hardware

• Winner: Steam Controller
• Logitech G PRO X2 SUPERSTRIKE
• Razer Viper V4 Pro
• Secretlab ATLAS
• Sony INZONE M10S II
• Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II

Best Indie Game

• Winner: Valheim
• Big Walk
• Denshattack!
• Esoteric Ebb
• Mixtape
• Mouse: P.I. for Hire
• Order of the Sinking Star
• Reanimal
• Sovereign Tower
• Titanium Court

Best Indie Game – Self-published

• Winner: Meccha Chameleon
• Cairn
• Fields of Mistria
• Mewgenics
• Mina the Hollower
• Perfect Tides: Station to Station
• Phonopolis
• Rhythm Doctor
• The Incident at Galley House
• Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors

Best Lead Performer

• Aaron Paul as Robert Robertson III, Dispatch
• Angela Sant’Albano as Grace Ashcroft, Resident Evil Requiem
• Anna Demetriou as Sophia, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
• Liam McIntyre as Wolverine, Marvel’s Wolverine
• Patrick Gibson as James Bond, 007 First Light
• Will de Renzy-Martin as Coen, The Blood of Dawnwalker

Best Supporting Performer

• Frankie Kevich as Zoe de Vera, Control Resonant
• Grace Saif as Diana, Pragmata
• Lennie James as John Greenway, 007 First Light
• Terry O’Quinn as Richard, Silent Hill: Townfall
• Troy Baker as Nathaniel Essex, Marvel’s Wolverine
• Vic Michaelis as Runa Blask, Star Wars Zero Company

Best Multiplayer Game

• Winner: Meccha Chameleon
• ARC Raiders
• Big Walk
• Marathon
• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls
• Valheim

Best Remake / Remaster

• Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered
• Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced
• Gothic 1 Remake
• Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.2
• Star Fox
• Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter

Best Soundtrack

• Winner: Dispatch
• 007 First Light
• Crimson Desert
• Lumines Arise
• Mewgenics
• Mixtape

Best Storytelling

• Winner: Dispatch
• 007 First Light
• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
• Silent Hill: Townfall
• The Blood of Dawnwalker
• Zero Parades: For Dead Spies

Best Visual Design

• Winner: Control Resonant
• Forza Horizon 6
• Orbitals
• Phonopolis
• Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
• Saros

Most Wanted Game

• Alien: Isolation 2
• Ananta
• Black Myth: Zhong Kui
• Exodus
• Fable
• Final Fantasy 7 Revelation
• God of War Laufey
• Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
• Kingdom Hearts 4
• Metro 2039
• No Law
• Persona 6
• Resident Evil Veronica
• Stranger Than Heaven
• Stuntman: Hollywood
• The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
• The Witcher 4
• Tides of Annihilation
• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
• Total War: Warhammer 40,000

Still Playing – Mobile

• Winner: Balatro
• Genshin Impact
• Honkai: Star Rail
• Marvel Snap
• Monopoly Go!
• NTE: Neverness to Everness
• Old School RuneScape
• Pokémon Go
• Roblox
• Sky: Children of the Light
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Mobile
• Wuthering Waves

Still Playing – PC & Console

• Winner: Minecraft
• Apex Legends
• Call of Duty: Warzone
• Fortnite
• GTA Online
• Helldivers 2
• Hitman World of Assassination
• No Man’s Sky
• Palworld
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• Warframe
• World of Warcraft

Studio of the Year

• Winner: Capcom
• Frogwares
• House House
• IO Interactive
• Nintendo EPD
• Square Enix

PC Game of the Year

• Big Walk
• Crimson Desert
• Escape from Tarkov
• Esoteric Ebb
• Meccha Chameleon
• Mewgenics
• Order of the Sinking Star
• Star Wars Zero Company
• The Blood of Dawnwalker
• Valheim

Console Game of the Year

• 007 First Light
• Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
• Forza Horizon 6
• Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
• Nioh 3
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword
• Pokémon Pokopia
• Pragmata
• Resident Evil Requiem
• Saros

Ultimate Game of the Year

• 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
• The Blood of Dawnwalker

 

Source: Polygon