The Game Awards 2026 Nominees: Predictions, Date and Cutoff

TL;DR: The Game Awards 2026 takes place on Thursday, December 10 at 7:30 PM ET. Nominees have not been announced yet, but they are expected in mid-November (last year's list dropped on November 17). GTA 6 is eligible: it launches November 19, one day before the November 20 cutoff. Our predicted Game of the Year nominees are GTA 6, Resident Evil Requiem, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pokémon Pokopia, Mina the Hollower and Big Walk.

The 2026 Game of the Year race comes down to two questions: what GTA 6 scores, and whether the jury rewards a remake. Grand Theft Auto VI makes the eligibility window by one day, so it can be nominated, but it reaches stores only three weeks before the show. The highest-rated game of the year on Metacritic is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time at 96, and it is a remake. Behind those two, Resident Evil Requiem (89) has been the safest pick since February. The indie category is unusually strong, with Big Walk (91), Mina the Hollower (90) and Sektori (92) all scoring higher than most big-budget releases.

Data as of November 9, 2026. Nominees are not out, so everything under "predictions" is our call, backed by Metacritic scores from Metacritic's 2026 chart and the official Game Awards rules. We will rewrite this page with the full nominee list the day it is announced.

When are The Game Awards 2026 nominees announced?

The nominee date has not been announced. It is expected in mid-November. The Game Awards 2025 revealed its nominees on November 17, 2025, and gg.deals projects Monday, November 16 for this year based on that pattern. Everything else on the calendar is confirmed:

The show starts at 7:30 PM ET and runs until about 11 PM. Outside the Americas that means early on December 11:

Start times for more regions, every free stream and the fan-voting deadline are in our Game Awards 2026 start time and how-to-watch guide.

Is GTA 6 eligible for Game of the Year?

Yes. The official FAQ says games "must be made commercially available to customers on or before Friday, November 20, 2026, at 9 p.m. PT", and GTA 6 launches on November 19. Rockstar did not get a special exception: Aftermath points out that past cutoffs have always fallen between November 17 and 22. GTA VI also already holds a Game Awards trophy, Most Anticipated Game at the 2025 show.

Two things could still trip it up. First, if nominees are revealed on November 16 or 17, the jury votes before the game is in players' hands. That only works if review copies go out early enough. The FAQ doesn't say how the jury treats a game that is eligible but unreleased on nomination day. Second, there are three weeks between launch and the show for a game built to take dozens of hours. Neither point blocks a nomination. Both make the final vote harder to call than the hype suggests. If you are getting it on day one, our GTA 6 pre-load and unlock times guide covers when you can actually play, and our best controller for GTA 6 picks cover the pad side.

Game of the Year 2026 contenders

The jury can pick any game released between last year's cutoff and November 20, and remakes and DLC count if the jury thinks the new work deserves it. That rule matters this year, because the top of Metacritic is full of re-releases. Here are the realistic GOTY candidates, ranked by our read of their chances:

Crimson Desert and Marvel's Wolverine are on the list because they were two of the year's biggest launches, not because they scored well. Crimson Desert sits at 77–78 on Metacritic, and Wolverine is the lowest-scored single-player PlayStation Studios game since Days Gone. With that many games scoring 85+, a game in the 70s won't make the shortlist.

Several games score higher than our verdict suggests, but they are not new games. The Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition (93), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered (92), Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations (91, an expansion) and Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition (90) all rank high on Metacritic. The jury has nominated a full remake before (Resident Evil 4 in 2023), but a new edition of an older game is a much harder sell than a rebuilt one.

Our Game of the Year 2026 nominee predictions

The FAQ says the five games named on the most ballots become nominees, and a tie adds a sixth. The 2025 GOTY list had six nominees, so here are our six:

Who wins? If GTA 6 reviews in the mid-90s and ships without major problems, it wins. The 90% jury share rewards consensus, and no one else this year has a 95+ original game. If GTA 6 lands in the 80s or the jury holds back because of the short window, the trophy goes to Resident Evil Requiem. We don't expect a remake to win, even at 96. Ocarina of Time is the year's best-reviewed game, but the 2023 RE4 remake lost to Baldur's Gate 3. If you are playing the remake now, our Ocarina of Time remake controls guide covers the gyro and button setup.

Game Awards 2026 predictions for every major category

The genre categories are where the scores matter most, because the jury fills them from the same ballot logic. Our picks for the big ones:

The two calls we are least sure about are both in Best Action. Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations is an expansion, but at 91 it is the best-reviewed action release of the year, and DLC is explicitly eligible. Gears of War: E-Day (87) could just as easily land in Action/Adventure. For Sports/Racing, Forza Horizon 6 (90) and Star Wars: Galactic Racer (88) are the only racing games with strong scores. The other three slots depend on annual sports releases. Sektori (92) has the highest score in Best Independent, but a twin-stick shooter rarely wins over a story-driven game in this category. That is why Mina the Hollower is our favorite.

How Game Awards voting works

Nominees for most categories come from a jury of more than 100 media and creator outlets. Each outlet submits one ballot, and the five games named most often become nominees, with ties adding more. Winners are decided by a blend of 90% jury vote and 10% fan vote, and fans vote on the official site (or on Bilibili in China) until December 9 at 6 PM PT. Producer Geoff Keighley does not vote, and publishers learn the results at the same time as everyone else, per the official FAQ.

Three rules decide a lot this year:

• Remakes, remasters and DLC are eligible "if the jury deems the new creative and technical work" deserves it. That opens the door for Ocarina of Time and Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations.
• Early access games count if they were playable by the cutoff.
• Live-service games from earlier years can be nominated again if new content justifies it, mostly in Best Ongoing Game.

What won The Game Awards 2025?

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year 2025. It also set two show records: 13 nominations and 9 wins, and it was the only game to win more than one award that night. The 2025 GOTY list was also the first with more than one indie game: three of the six nominees (Clair Obscur, Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong) were indies. That is why we give Mina the Hollower and Big Walk real chances. GTA VI won Most Anticipated Game the same night, a year before it became eligible for the main award.