Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.

Events and ceremonies

British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)

The

British Academy Games Awards The BAFTA Games Awards or British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honouring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive En ...

are an annual British awards ceremony honoring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the

BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ( BAFTA) annually hosted the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia entertainment between 1998 and 2002. In 2003, BAFTA announced the award would be split into two separate ceremonies � ...

, the awards are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and are thus commonly referred to as the BAFTA Games Awards.

Czech Game of the Year Awards

The Czech Game of the Year Awards were annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development. The awards have been dormant since 2021.

D.I.C.E. Awards

The

D.I.C.E. Awards The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an annual awards show in the video game industry, and commonly referred to as the video game equivalent of the Academy Awards. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Inter ...

are awarded by the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

(AIAS), a non-profit organization of industry professionals. The awards were previously known as the Interactive Achievement Awards until 2013.

Electronic Gaming Awards (formerly Arcade Awards)

The Arcade Awards, also known as the

Arkie Awards ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

, was one of the first video game awards, dating back to the

golden age of arcade video games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development, and cultural influence of arcade video games from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978 led to a wave of shoo ...

and lasting up until the

video game crash of 1983 The video game crash of 1983 (known in Japan as the Atari shock) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985 in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including market saturatio ...

. It was held since 1980 (for games released in 1979 and earlier) and were announced annually by ''

Electronic Games ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

'' magazine since 1981, covering several platform categories. Following the magazine's revival in 1992, it published the Electronic Gaming Awards in January 1993 for the best video games released in 1992. The 1992 and 1993 award were voted on by readers.

''Famitsu'' Awards

The Grand Prize winners of the annual ''Famitsu'' Awards, voted by ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' magazine's readers. An annual award ceremony has been held since 2005. Prior to 2005, the results were published in the magazine's annual "Best Hit Game Awards" feature since early 1987 (for games released in 1986).

The Game Awards

Geoff Keighley Geoff Keighley ( ; born ) is a Canadian video game journalist and television presenter, best known for his role as the host of several video game industry conferences and presentations. He is the executive producer and host of the Game Awards s ...

, producer and host of the

Spike Video Game Awards The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2003 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by '' GameT ...

, created

The Game Awards The Game Awards is an annual awards ceremony honoring achievements in the video game industry. Established in 2014, the shows are produced and hosted by game journalist Geoff Keighley. After working on its predecessor, the Spike Video Game Awar ...

in 2014. The winners are determined by a blended vote between the voting jury (90%) and public fan voting (10%); the jury panel consists of members from around 100 global media outlets.

Game Developers Choice Awards

The

Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year The Game Developers Choice Award for the Game of the Year, also known as GDCA Game of the Year, is the main video game award presented at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers. The ...

is announced during the

Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding video game developer, game developers and video game, games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by ...

at the

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...

(GDC), the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers.

Golden Joystick Awards

The

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

is the second oldest gaming award ceremony and is the longest-running video game award. The inaugural ceremony took place in 1984 in London's

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...

Japan Game Awards (formerly CESA Awards)

The winners of the Grand Award annually given by the Japan Game Awards, formerly known as the CESA Awards, since 1996. There are some years where two games shared the Grand Award.

New York Game Awards

The New York Videogame Critics Circle hosts an annual award show that recognizes the best contributions to the video game industry from the previous year.

Spike Video Game Awards

The winners of the

, hosted by Spike between 2003 and 2013, awarded the Game of the Year using an advisory council featuring over 20 journalists from media outlets. The show's title was changed to VGX in 2013 before Spike TV dropped the show entirely. Host and producer

created

in 2014.

SXSW Gaming Awards

The winners of the SXSW Gaming Awards were judged by the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board, which is composed of over 40 industry members.

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

announced in 2023 that the awards would be discontinued.

VSDA Awards

The Video Software Dealers Association's VSDA Awards for home entertainment handed out awards for the best

s of the year until 2001.

Publications and media

''Ars Technica''

''Destructoid''

''Easy Allies''

''Edge''

''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'')

''Empire''

''Entertainment Weekly''

''Eurogamer''

''Game Informer''

During their earlier years of publication they would give awards for the best game on each console available at the time, occasionally giving an award to the overall best game of the year. In 2017, they retroactively awarded a GOTY award for each past year that did not have an overall best game.

''GameSpot''

''GameSpy''

''GamesRadar+''

''Gamest''

''GameTrailers''

''Giant Bomb''

''The Guardian''

''Hardcore Gamer''

''IGN''

''Kotaku''

''PC Gamer''

''Polygon''

''The Telegraph''

''Time''

''USgamer''

''Yahoo!''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Game Of The Year Video game awards Lists of video games by reception or rating Game of the Year awards