The Golden Joystick Award nominations have been announced and it’s time to get voting. Now in its 41st year, The Golden Joysticks hold a special place in the awards calendar as the show where the biggest honours are decided by public vote and, with 17 categories representing a wide variation of games, studios, and hardware, the shortlisted nominees reflect what a monumental year 2023 has been in videogames. The Golden Joystick Awards are run by PC Gamer’s parent company Future.
Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom lead the pack with four nominations each, while Street Fighter 6, Hi-Fi Rush, Dave the Diver, and Starfield are all on an impressive three nominations apiece. Seeing Baldur’s Gate 3 and Diablo IV face off with Dave the Diver and Tchia in the PC Game of the Year category shows the breadth of creativity and variation in style we’ve seen this year so far, and you now have to decide which comes out on top. Street Fighter 6 vs Mortal Kombat 1 is another notable face off for Best Multiplayer Game.
Other categories that need your vote include Best Storytelling, Best Indie Game, and Best Gaming Hardware. This year also sees the return of the Best VR Game category with C-Smash VR, Synapse, and The Light Brigade among a few others sparing for the prize there.
Due to the later release date of a few notable titles like Spiderman 2 and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the nominations and voting window for Ultimate Game of the Year, Best Performer and Best Supporting Performer is due to go live on October 23, 2023 and will close October 27. There will also be the Breakthrough Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award which will be determined by a select panel of journalists form gamesradar.com, pcgamer.com, FGS, Edge magazine, Retro Gamer and Play magazine and the trusted network of Future freelance writers.
This year’s shortlist is full of deserving winners and it’s a tough one to predict in most categories. The winners will be revealed at an in-person event on November 10, 2023 in London, the first since the pandemic, and will be live streamed globally.
“The Golden Joystick Awards are held in such high regard” says Future content director Daniel Dawkins. “Since only the public’s votes will decide the winners. We’re thrilled to share this intensely-debated shortlist and—this year, more than ever—are a touch relieved at not casting the deciding vote.”
The Golden Joystick Awards is the longest-running public-voted games award show, allowing players from across the globe to decide who claims the gold. Everyone who votes also receives one of the free gaming ebooks listed below worth up to £9.99 / $9.99 as well as that satisfying feeling of imparting your videogame judgments.
Cast that ballot now, because voting closes on October 20, 2023..