Capcom swept the night with Ultimate Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year and Studio of the Year. Forza Horizon 6 went home empty-handed, but id Software, Mojang and PC players all had reasons to celebrate. Here's every winner.
Capcom owned London tonight. Resident Evil Requiem was crowned Ultimate Game of the Year at the 44th Golden Joystick Awards, the biggest prize of a night streamed live from the Troxy in London’s East End and hosted by Alix Wilton Regan. It capped a huge run for the game, which also took Console Game of the Year, Best Game Trailer and Best Lead Performer, while Capcom walked off with Studio of the Year on 57% of the vote. The top prize itself was a photo finish: Requiem won with 17%, just ahead of Phantom Blade Zero on 16% and Crimson Desert on 15%.
That matters for Xbox players, because Requiem is right there on Xbox Series X|S and PC. One of the most decorated games of the night is one you can play on your Xbox today, and Capcom’s year of Requiem, Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Pragmata has been a gift to anyone with a Series X. Onimusha took Best Audio Design, and Grace Saif won Best Supporting Performer for playing Diana in Pragmata with a dominant 54% of the vote. Angela Sant’Albano picked up Best Lead Performer for Grace Ashcroft in Requiem.
The Golden Joysticks are mostly fan voted, which is what makes them fun. Only three awards came from panels of critics and creators rather than the public vote: Streamers’ Choice, Critics’ Choice and the brand new Developer’s Choice, which lets game creators pick one title from their peers. Everything else is decided by millions of player votes, and the vote shares released during the show tell you how close some of these races were.
Forza Horizon 6 got shut out
Here’s the tough one. Forza Horizon 6 was up for three awards, Ultimate Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year and Best Visual Design, and it didn’t win any of them. Console Game of the Year went to Requiem with 27% of the vote in a ten-game field. Visual Design went to Remedy’s gorgeous Control Resonant with 31%, with Forza just one point behind on 30%.
We pushed hard for Playground’s game when voting was open, and we still think it’s one of the best-looking, most fun games of the year. But losing to a Resident Evil that Xbox players can also buy and play isn’t a loss for Xbox. It’s a loss for one Xbox nominee in a year where Xbox owners got to play the winner too. The bigger takeaway is that Forza Horizon 6 landed in the final 12 for the top prize at all, alongside the biggest names of 2026.
Xbox studios still went home with hardware
id Software and Bethesda took Best Game Expansion for DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations, with 33% of the vote, beating a strong field that included World of Warcraft: Midnight, The Alters: Last Variable and Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven. That’s another trophy for id, which keeps proving it’s one of the best shooter studios on the planet.
Minecraft won the Still Playing award for PC and console for the second year in a row, taking 23% of the vote against Fortnite, Helldivers 2, GTA Online, Call of Duty: Warzone and more. All these years later, Mojang’s game is still the one people can’t put down.
A big night for PC
PC players had plenty to cheer. Pearl Abyss’s Crimson Desert won PC Game of the Year with 18% of the vote, beating Escape from Tarkov, Star Wars Zero Company, The Blood of Dawnwalker, Mewgenics and the rest of a ten-game field.
Valve’s Steam Controller took Best Gaming Hardware in a landslide with 51% of the vote, the biggest margin of any hardware nominee. Valheim, which won Best Indie Game with 28%, and Subnautica 2, which won Best Early Access Game with 35%, are both PC staples too.
The indie story of the night
If you hadn’t heard of Meccha Chameleon before tonight, you have now. The viral painting game won four awards: Best Multiplayer Game (31%), Best Indie Game Self-Published (32%), Streamers’ Choice and the brand new Developer’s Choice award. Dispatch from AdHoc Studio won two, Best Storytelling and Best Soundtrack, and House House’s Big Walk took the Critics’ Choice award.
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Every Golden Joystick Awards 2026 winner
- Ultimate Game of the Year: Resident Evil Requiem (17%)
- Console Game of the Year: Resident Evil Requiem (27%)
- PC Game of the Year: Crimson Desert (18%)
- Studio of the Year: Capcom (57%)
- Most Wanted Game: The Witcher 4 (18%)
- Best Storytelling: Dispatch (41%)
- Best Visual Design: Control Resonant (31%)
- Best Audio Design: Onimusha: Way of the Sword (32%)
- Best Soundtrack: Dispatch (26%)
- Best Lead Performer: Angela Sant’Albano, Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem (36%)
- Best Supporting Performer: Grace Saif, Diana in Pragmata (54%)
- Best Multiplayer Game: Meccha Chameleon (31%)
- Best Game Expansion: DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations (33%)
- Best Remake/Remaster: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered (37%)
- Best Indie Game: Valheim (28%)
- Best Indie Game, Self-Published: Meccha Chameleon (32%)
- Best Early Access Game: Subnautica 2 (35%)
- Best Game Trailer: Resident Evil Requiem, “Evil Has Always Had A Name” (27%)
- Best Game Adaptation: Iron Lung (32%)
- Best Gaming Hardware: Steam Controller (51%)
- Still Playing, PC and Console: Minecraft (23%)
- Still Playing, Mobile: Balatro (22%)
- Streamers’ Choice: Meccha Chameleon
- Developer’s Choice: Meccha Chameleon
- Critics’ Choice: Big Walk
CD Projekt Red had a good night of its own, winning Best Remake/Remaster for The Witcher 3 Remastered and Most Wanted Game for The Witcher 4. Over in Best Game Adaptation, Markiplier’s Iron Lung movie won with 32% of the vote, ahead of the Resident Evil series adaptation and Fallout Season 2.
With The Game Awards up next, tonight sets up an interesting December. Requiem now has the momentum, and Xbox players are fully in on that conversation.
Image: Capcom
Sources
- Golden Joysticks on X: Ultimate Game of the Year announcement
- Golden Joysticks on X: all category winner posts
- GamesRadar+: official Golden Joystick Awards 2026 hub (nominees, venue, host, voting)
- Insider Gaming: Golden Joystick Awards 2026, all award winners (vote shares)
- Indy100: live coverage of the Golden Joystick Awards 2026, including Ultimate GOTY and Visual Design shares
- TheGamer: Golden Joystick Awards 2026, all winners
- OnPoint 4 Gamers: Go vote Forza Horizon 6 for Ultimate Game of the Year
