Grand Theft Auto 6 was the presumptive Recreation of the Yr for 2025… till it received delayed to Might 2026. Since then, it’s been the presumptive 2026 Recreation of the Yr as a substitute. Following its newest delay, it’s nonetheless the sport to beat at subsequent 12 months’s Recreation Awards — in principle. However in apply, its new launch date makes issues moderately sophisticated.
GTA 6 is now set to be launched on Nov. 19, 2026: a Thursday. The Recreation Awards, which takes place in early December yearly, has a cutoff date for eligibility in late November. Sometimes, this date is about because the Friday of the third week in November, making certain that the jury may have had a chance to play eligible video games by the point the nomination and voting course of takes place. Final 12 months, as an illustration, the cutoff date for eligibility was Friday, Nov. 22.
You’ll be able to see the place I’m going with this. The probably cutoff date for eligibility in 2026, if The Recreation Awards follows its regular sample, might be Friday, Nov. 20. In the future after GTA 6 is launched.
So, Grand Theft Auto 6 might be eligible for the 2026 awards, however it’s slicing issues very advantageous. And this might create a serious headache for the present’s organizers and its voting jury.
Nominations for the Recreation Awards are introduced in mid-November — this 12 months, the nominees might be revealed on Monday, Nov. 17. It follows that the nomination course of takes place within the early a part of the month, and voting on the winners occurs after the nominations are introduced, across the similar time because the eligibility cutoff date.
All that is designed to make sure every little thing is prepared for the awards present in early December. It’s additionally scheduled on the presumption that jury members may have entry to early evaluate copies of video games launched throughout these first three weeks of November by the point they submit their nominations ballots early within the month.
That is often the case. Sometimes, by mid-November, the annual recreation launch calendar is winding down; most main titles that you’d count on to compete for Recreation of the Yr are out by the primary week of November. Barring December outliers like Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle in 2024 and Metroid Prime 4: Past this 12 months, the final large launch of the 12 months is often Name of Obligation, in early-to-mid November — a recognized amount that’s hardly ever in severe competitors exterior the multiplayer and motion classes.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is one thing else completely. It is going to be categorically the largest launch of the 12 months, definitely in stature, and presumably in precise recreation measurement too. And with a late November launch date and Rockstar’s improvement course of typically taking place to the wire, it’s not a given in any respect that early copies might be out there by the point the jury members are casting their nomination ballots early within the month. If jury members haven’t performed the sport exterior the managed surroundings of preview occasions — which Rockstar hardly ever holds, anyway — they are going to be rightly reluctant to incorporate it of their ballots.
This presents The Recreation Awards organizers with a conundrum. For the largest recreation of the 12 months (or certainly decade) to not compete for Recreation of the Yr or be represented on the awards in any respect, regardless of being eligible, would look absurd. Nevertheless it’s an actual risk. The organizers might be hoping towards hope that Rockstar will get evaluate copies out in good time. For its half, Rockstar might be too large to care about Recreation of the Yr — sufficient to regulate its timelines round it, anyway.
The choice for The Recreation Awards can be to shift its personal recurring timeline again by per week or two to verify the jury has time to think about GTA 6 correctly. If the Recreation Awards 2026 is introduced for a later-than-usual date in December (this 12 months’s awards happen on Dec. 11), we’ll know why.
Or maybe the Recreation Awards will get fortunate, and GTA 6 might be delayed into 2027… you by no means know.
