The 40th Golden Joystick Awards presented by GamesRadar+ will take place on Tuesday, November 22. The event is run by PC Gamer’s parent company, Future.
The Golden Joysticks are the longest-running videogame awards show, where the awards are determined by public vote, in history. Every year sees millions of votes cast across a wide range of categories, with an additional three ‘Critics Choice Awards’ determined by Future’s senior editorial staff.
This year’s 40th anniversary show will be a bonanza of gaming goodness, and fans will vote across 18 categories including ‘Best Studio’ and the much-coveted ‘Ultimate Game of the Year’. The public voting opens here on Friday October 7.
There are two new voting categories this year, to better-reflect the changing landscape of gaming. One is ‘Best Game Trailer’, while with the other it was felt long overdue that the Golden Joysticks recognise a unique element of contemporary PC gaming. So there’s now the ‘Best Early Access Launch’ award: it’s a year too late for Valheim to scoop it up, but this is intended to give some love to the many brilliant games that now choose this route for development and launch.
The winners will be revealed in an all-digital extravaganza on November 22 and broadcast on all streaming platforms. As well as the gongs, the show will feature new trailers and exclusive content throughout. To keep up with the Golden Joysticks 2022, follow the Twitter or Facebook accounts, and the full list of categories this year follows:
- Studio of the Year
- PC Game of the Year
- PlayStation Game of the Year
- Xbox Game of the Year
- Nintendo Game of the Year
- Best Multiplayer Game
- Still Playing
- Best Audio
- Best Storytelling
- Best Visual Design
- Best Indie Game
- Best Game Expansion
- Best Game Community
- Best Gaming Hardware
- Best Early Access Launch
- Best Game Trailer
- Most Wanted
- Ultimate Game of the Year (voting opens separately, for this award only, on November 7)
