The Game Award for Game of the Year (GOTY) is an annual award given at the Game Awards. It is awarded to the video game that is considered to have provided the best experience in the creative and technical fields.
Traditionally, the award is accepted by the game’s directors or studio executives. The process begins with more than 100 video game publications and websites, which collectively name six games as nominees.
After the selection of the nominees, the winner is chosen by a combined vote between the jury (90%) and the public vote (10%).
Since its inception, the award has been given to ten video games. Publishers Electronic Arts and Sony Interactive Entertainment have won the award twice, with the latter being nominated a record thirteen times, while FromSoftware is the only developer with more than one win. Bethesda Softworks and Capcom are the most nominated companies without a win, with four nominations each. The most recent winner is Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3.
Process and history
The Game Awards has a voting jury of more than 100 influential gaming media and platforms, selected for their work in critically evaluating video games.
Each outlet completes an unranked list of its top five choices; the games with the most appearances on the lists are selected as nominees. The winners are determined by a combined vote between the jury (90%) and the public vote (10%). The public vote is conducted through the official website and social media platforms such as Discord, Facebook and Twitter; in China, voting is conducted through Bilibili.
Any game released before a November deadline prior to the ceremony is eligible to be considered for the award.
Therefore, games released after the deadline will be considered at the following year’s ceremony.
Early Access games available before the cut-off date are eligible, as are live service games regardless of their year of release, such as Among Us in 2020.
Since 2017, the announcement of the winner has been preceded by a performance by the Game Awards orchestra playing the soundtracks of the nominees, conducted by Lorne Balfe.
All the Game Awards GOTY winners
These are all the games that have won the GOTY award at the Game Awards, although it should be remembered that until 2014, Geoff Keighley’s gala was called Spike VGX / Spike VGA.
- 2003 – Madden NFL 2004
- 2004 – GTA San Andreas
- 2005 – Resident Evil 5
- 2006 – The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- 2007 – Bioshock
- 2008 – Grand Theft Auto IV
- 2009 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- 2010 – Red Dead Redemption
- 2011 – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- 2012 – The Walking Dead
- 2013 – Grand Theft Auto V
- 2014 – Dragon Age: Inquisition
- 2015 – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- 2016 – Overwatch
- 2017 – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- 2018 – God of War
- 2019 – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- 2020 – The Last of Us Part II
- 2021 – It Takes Two
- 2022 – Elden Ring
- 2023 – Baldur’s Gate 3