GTA 6 will not be eligible to match the records set by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Baldur's Gate 3 by completing a sweep of all five major GOTY awards in the 2026/7 season.
The 44th Golden Joystick Awards were announced earlier today, confirming that this year's show will take place on November 11 – eight days before the GTA 6 release date of November 19. Public voting will begin on September 25 for most categories, ending on October 23, before voting for Ultimate Game of the Year runs from October 26-30. That's several weeks before the general public will get its hands on Rockstar's latest, which means it's not eligible for any of this year's awards.
Depending on exactly how you look at it, that means GTA 6 won't be eligible for a full awards sweep. Typically, the 'big five' GOTY awards season begins with the Golden Joysticks in November and ends with the BAFTAs in April, factoring in the Game Awards in December, February's DICE Awards, and March's GDC Awards. But with GTA not releasing until after the 2026 Golden Joystick ceremony, the sweep is out of its grasp.
GTA 6 will be eligible for the 2027 Joysticks, and should it win the biggest prize at The Game Awards you could argue it had still made a delayed sweep. But the record set by Baldur's Gate 3 and matched by Clair Obscur relied on winning the big five across a single awards season, and there's really no way that GTA would be able to do that.
If I were a betting man, I'd suggest that GTA 6 is likely to win all of those awards, even if it has to wait until November 2027. Assuming that comes to pass, you might argue that the sweep still stands, it was just a little late. Purists, however, might disagree, arguing that the only way to get a sweep is to win all five prizes in one go. One thing is for sure though - by the time the BAFTAs roll around next spring, Larian and Sandfall will remain the only studios to complete the sweep.
Ahead of GTA 6, Rockstar releases modding guidelines that axe new missions, maps, ports, and more: "Respect our games."
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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.
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