By Dexerto | Created at 2026-09-30 11:23:29 | Updated at 2026-09-30 13:56:17
4 hours ago
GTA 6 could miss out on the chance to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2026, despite all of the buzz surrounding the title.
It’s safe to say that Grand Theft Auto 6 is the most-hyped game in recent memory. The long-awaited follow-up to GTA 5 is predicted to break sales records when it arrives, and many other publishers have cleared the entire month of November just to avoid it.
From the handful of trailers and the Extended Look on Netflix, many fans are already expecting this year’s Game of the Year award to be a foregone conclusion. However, it might not be able to scoop the prize as easily as first thought.
GTA 6 could miss the cut at The Game Awards 2026
According to games writer and former journalist Alanah Pearce, who has been on the Game Awards jury multiple times in the past, GTA 6 might not qualify for GOTY because it releases too late in the year.
“I don’t imagine that they can,” she said during a livestream when a viewer commented that Rockstar would sweep the awards show. “How could anyone finish the game?”
She then detailed how the process worked last year, demonstrating the quick turnaround voters would need.
“So November 4 was the first round and then [on] November 11 you could adjust your first-round nominations. Then they announced the nominees and you voted on the nominees on November 24. Which was still 2 weeks before The Game Awards.”
Pearce went on to say that even if GTA 6 did make the cut before the show on December 10, the jury wouldn’t be able to vote on it having seen all of the game.
“So, November 19 for people to play and vote on an 80-hour game. If they made it there at all, it would be indicative of a jury who voted for a game they didn’t play,” she added. “They can’t change it. It’s too close.”
However, Pearce didn’t rule out the possibility of GTA being present at the show and picking up some of the smaller awards on the night.
“Like they could win some of the stuff in the way that Dispatch won. You know how Dispatch won some things, but people didn’t nominate it for Game of the Year because only like three episodes had come out?”
Whether it qualifies for Game of the Year or not, GTA 6 is still set to be the biggest release of 2026. Another batch of fresh details have been released, revealing there will be over 170 different animals and a complex weather system.
