The 44th Golden Joystick Awards will take place at 3:00 AM KST on November 12. Winners across a total of 25 categories will be revealed at this year's ceremony.
First held in 1983, the Golden Joystick Awards is the world's oldest public-voted gaming awards show. Awards will be presented across 25 categories this year, with 22 of them decided by votes from gamers worldwide. The remaining three categories consist of the Streamers' Choice Award, Critics' Choice Award, and Developers' Choice Award. The newly established Developers' Choice Award was created to allow game developers to directly select and honor the outstanding achievements of their peers.
Nominees for the top award, Ultimate Game of the Year, include Crimson Desert, Phantom Blade Zero, Control Resonant, Resident Evil Requiem, Dispatch, Forza Horizon 6, Pokémon Pokopia, 007 First Light, Big Walk, Pragmata, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, and The Blood of Dawnwalker.
The ceremony will be hosted by actor Alix Wilton Regan, who plays Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Various figures from the gaming industry will also participate as guest presenters. Key presenters include Resident Evil Requiem voice actor Nick Apostolides, Control Resonant actor Frankie Kevich, and CD Projekt Red Production Director Małgorzata Mitręga. Composers, game developers, creative directors, and figures from various other fields will also join the event.
Host Alix Wilton Regan said, "I'm absolutely thrilled to be your host for this year's Golden Joystick Awards. We're celebrating the greatest games of the past 12 months—and, more importantly, the incredibly talented teams who made them happen," adding, "Get ready for an evening of special guests, spectacular games, and plenty of silly jokes."
Daniel Dawkins, content director of the Golden Joystick Awards, stated, "This year's shortlist offers a fascinating cross-section of our industry in 2026. The work of small teams of indie developers is sitting shoulder to shoulder with titanic gaming franchises like Pokémon and Resident Evil, as well as huge IPs like Star Wars and James Bond." He added, "We can't wait to see who the public vote for as their Ultimate Game of the Year, and we hope everyone tunes in to celebrate the hard work and achievements of our industry's supremely talented developers during the ceremony."
The ceremony will be broadcast live on November 12 at 3:00 AM KST via YouTube, Twitch, Steam, TikTok, X, and other platforms.
