The Game Awards 2026 date, time and countdown.

The Game Awards nominees are not picked by fans or by the show's producers. For most categories, an international jury of more than 100 media and influencer outlets votes. Each outlet sends one confidential, unranked ballot that reflects its whole editorial staff, listing its top five games in each category. The five games that appear on the most ballots become the nominees, and if there is a tie a category can have six or more.

Some categories have their own specialist juries, including the esports awards, accessibility and best adaptation. The show's creator and host, Geoff Keighley, is not on the jury and does not vote, and The Game Awards says game companies, including its own advisory board, learn the nominees and winners at the same time as everyone else.

Winners are a blend: the jury's vote counts for 90% and the public fan vote for 10%. Fans vote on TheGameAwards.com (in China, on Bilibili), and fan voting for 2026 closes on Wednesday, December 9, at 6 pm Pacific, the day before the show. The one award decided only by fans is Players' Voice, which also has a later cutoff: a game only has to ship by November 30, 2026 to be in it.

There is no entry form and no fee. Every game that is out by the cutoff is automatically eligible, and older games can still be nominated if new content or updates make the jury think they deserve it. That is how live-service games keep turning up, and why there is a Best Ongoing Game category at all. No Man's Sky has won it twice, in 2020 and again in 2025, and Helldivers 2 took it in 2024 (our Major Order tracker follows that game's live war).

The show has grown every single year. The Game Awards reports 1.9 million livestreams for its first show in 2014 and 171 million for 2025, about 90 times as many, not counting Prime Video viewers in 2025. The 2025 show handed out 30 awards, from Game of the Year down to the esports and creator categories, alongside game reveals and live music.

Game of the Year usually goes to the game that wins the most that night, but not always. In 5 of the last 8 shows the Game of the Year winner also won the most awards (or tied for the most). The exceptions were 2018, when Red Dead Redemption 2 won more awards than God of War, 2019, when Death Stranding and Disco Elysium each beat Sekiro's total, and 2022, when God of War Ragnarok won 6 to Elden Ring's 4. In 2025 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won 9, the most of any game in those 8 years.