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No one can name the last nominee for The Game Awards 2026 Game of the Year yet: the 2026 nominees have not been confirmed on the awards’ official nominee page, which currently shows the 2025 list. The “final nomination” is therefore a forecast about the last place in a future shortlist, not an announced slot. Several very different games have plausible cases, and neither review averages nor another awards show’s nominees settle the question.
What is known about The Game Awards 2026 nominees?
As of October 4, 2026, The Game Awards’ official nominee page displayed the 2025 nominees, not a confirmed 2026 Game of the Year field. Any claim naming the 2026 nominees—or declaring who got the last slot—is premature until the official list is published.
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The awards say nominees are selected by a voting jury made up of more than 100 media and influencer outlets around the world. That describes who selects them; it does not establish a formula based on review averages or show how individual games will fare. A critic score, audience poll or nomination from another program can inform a forecast, but none is a substitute for the jury’s decision.
Which games look like contenders?
There is no evidence-based way to call a single likely final nominee from the available indicators. Instead, they show a varied field: established series, new releases and games spanning different genres and platforms.
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One reader poll favors several different games
In a PC Gamer reader poll published June 26, 2026, Resident Evil Requiem received 16% of votes, Crimson Desert 12%, and 007 First Light 9%. Slay the Spire 2 and Forza Horizon 6 each received 8%, Pragmata 7%, and Mewgenics 5%. The largest share—29%—chose none of the nine options. These are responses from that poll, not a representative survey of players or a prediction of the jury’s votes; the “none” result also signals that its choices did not capture everyone’s candidate.
PC Gamer’s poll is useful as a dated snapshot of reader enthusiasm, not as a nomination forecast model.
Rank #2
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The Golden Joystick shortlist shows a broad field, not TGA nominees
The 2026 Golden Joystick Awards published separate PC and console Game of the Year nominee lists. Its console list includes 007 First Light, Forza Horizon 6, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Nioh 3, Pokémon Pokopia, PRAGMATA, Resident Evil Requiem and Saros, among others. Its PC list includes Big Walk, Crimson Desert, Escape from Tarkov, Esoteric Ebb, Mewgenics, Order of the Sinking Star, Star Wars Zero Company and Valheim. The overlap with the reader poll is notable, but these are nominations for a different awards program.
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Rank #3
Why a game with an average-looking score could still make the shortlist
The phrase “8/10 games” is a useful shorthand for a crowded race, not a verified rating for every contender. No supplied evidence establishes that all the games discussed here have an 8/10 review average. More importantly, a single average cannot reveal the full shape of critical support or establish how The Game Awards jury will vote.
Useful comparison lenses include the breadth of critical support, the intensity of high-end praise, audience visibility, genre and platform reach, and when a game released and received review coverage. Those factors can help explain why a title with a less striking average might remain in contention—or why a highly visible release might not—without pretending they are confirmed TGA scoring criteria. No source establishes a formula that converts review scores into jury nominations.
Rank #4
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Review rankings also depend on timing and inclusion rules. Metacritic’s 2026 midyear roundup used scores available as of July 1 and required at least seven professional critic reviews. It excluded ports of older games, expansions and DLC, mobile games, compilations, and definitive or GOTY editions. That makes it a defined midyear snapshot, not an October ranking of the full year’s eligible releases. Its roundup includes Forza Horizon 6, but inclusion there does not establish its eventual TGA nomination prospects.
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How to read predictions without confusing awards or years
- Check which award is being discussed. The Golden Joystick shortlist and its public voting are not The Game Awards nominees or jury process.
- Check the date and scope of a score list. A midyear ranking based on reviews available by July 1 cannot describe all of October’s field.
- Check what “2026” means. Awards can use the year of the ceremony rather than the year of the games being honored. The Game Developers Choice Awards, for example, describes its 2026 event as honoring the best games of 2025. Its award information should not be read as a 2026-release nomination list.
- Wait for the official TGA nominee announcement. Until then, contender lists and predictions remain provisional.
Who is most likely to get the last GOTY nomination?
The honest answer is that the evidence does not identify a single likely last nominee. Resident Evil Requiem leads the cited PC Gamer reader poll, while Crimson Desert, 007 First Light, Forza Horizon 6, Slay the Spire 2, Pragmata and Mewgenics also drew votes; the Golden Joystick lists expand the picture further. These signals establish a crowded and diverse conversation, not a ranking of The Game Awards jury’s choices. The final slot remains genuinely uncertain until the official 2026 nominees appear.
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