GTA 6 can't win a Golden Joystick this year because it launches eight days too late
The 44th Golden Joystick Awards close submissions in August and hand out prizes on November 11, eight days before Grand Theft Auto VI arrives. That rules Rockstar's game out of one of the five awards a game needs to sweep the year.
Grand Theft Auto VI is the presumed favourite for most of the awards it is eligible for. It is not eligible for all of them. The 44th Golden Joystick Awards have published their nominees, and Rockstar's game is not on any of the lists, for the simplest possible reason: it will not be out yet.
The calendar problem
The Golden Joysticks closed nominee submissions in late August and hold their ceremony in central London on November 11. GTA 6 arrives on November 19, eight days later. Public voting across 21 categories runs until October 23, with the Ultimate Game of the Year shortlist announced separately on October 26 - all of it before the game exists for anyone outside Rockstar.
With GTA 6 absent, the Console Game of the Year field is made up of 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, Pokemon Pokopia, Pragmata, Resident Evil Requiem and Saros. 007 First Light and Big Walk lead the overall nominations with five nods each.
What it rules out
The five awards usually counted as the full set are the Golden Joysticks, The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, the GDC Awards and the BAFTA Games Awards. Only two games have taken all five in their release year: Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. GTA 6 cannot join them for 2026, whatever it does at the other four.
It remains eligible for those four, though The Game Awards is tight as well. That show's cutoff has historically landed on the third Friday of November, which this year falls on November 20 - one day after GTA 6 launches.
The consolation is procedural rather than real: a November 19 release makes GTA 6 eligible for the 2027 Golden Joysticks instead.
Why it matters
Awards season is where a year in games gets summarised, and the biggest release of this one is going to be half-absent from it. If GTA 6 sweeps the shows it can enter, the record books will still show a gap, and a game released in 2026 competing against 2027's field next November.
Why it matters
The year's biggest release is locked out of one of the five major game of the year awards purely on scheduling, which means 2026's awards season cannot produce a clean verdict on the year.