Last year, we asked if anything could beat Grand Theft Auto 6 for Game of the Year 2025 — “apart from Rockstar’s ability to finish it in time.” In the end, it was just that that took Rockstar’s game out of the equation, with delays to May and, later, November 2026 opening the way for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s historic sweep at The 2025 Game Awards.
And so, looking ahead to GOTY 2026, we find ourselves with a case of déjà vu. Once again, GTA 6 starts the year as the favorite to win. Once again, Rockstar’s greatest enemy will be its own punctuality. Although another delay at this point is less likely, it’s certainly still possible, and with its current Nov. 19 release date just squeaking into The Game Awards’ usual eligibility window, it would only take a slip of a two days or more to send GTA 6 into competition for the 2027 awards.
Once again, GTA 6 looks hard to beat, but not impossible. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 was beaten to GOTY by Sony Santa Monica’s God of War in 2018, while GTA 5 was eclipsed in most awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — if not at the Game Awards predecessor, VGX — by The Last of Us. If anything, GTA 6’s juggernaut status is a paradoxical kind of weakness, as critics and juries will be looking for an appealing alternative narrative to latch onto to keep things interesting.
So what else might challenge it? Predicting nominees this early in the year is, admittedly, a bit of a fool’s errand: the landscape of indie and smaller releases is very unclear, while bigger games often get delayed or don’t pan out, and certain publishers (like Nintendo) have yet to announce their titles for the second half of the year. Still, there are already a handful of 2026 releases that look like they will be strong contenders. Here are five that stand a strong chance of being nominated alongside GTA 6.
1. Control Resonant
Remedy’s surreal sequel is easily the strongest challenger to GTA 6’s hegemony. Indeed, Remedy might be the ideal Game Awards studio: It makes technically accomplished, visually striking, narratively sophisticated action-adventure games while operating just far enough outside the industry mainstream to still feel like an underdog. The original Control secured eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 ran Baldur’s Gate 3 a close second in 2023, converting three of its eight nods into wins in the coveted Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a stunning trailer reveal at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is not to be underestimated.
2. Resident Evil Requiem
A new (or, for that matter, remade) Resident Evil game is more likely to be nominated for Game of the Year than not. This series has an excellent recent record at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the top honor in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — plus a reputation for reliable quality. Admittedly, a win would be a much more far-fetched proposition, but you can count on Capcom being in contention.
3. Marvel’s Wolverine
The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the biggest commercial prospects of the year, and in terms of budget and production values, likely one of the few that will be able to give GTA 6 a run for its vast pile of money. Like Resident Evil, Insomniac’s slick Marvel games project is great at picking up lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and less good at converting them into wins. Will the move from Spider-Man to an edgier character and (much) more violent action change things in Wolverine’s favor? Perhaps, and it will be Sony’s top contender for the year, which more or less guarantees it a place at the table.
4. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
Nintendo is rarely absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. In the absence of a clear idea what its big holiday 2026 game will be (a new mainline Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both possibilities), Fortune’s Weave makes a compelling placeholder. Fire Emblem is a niche series, it’s true, but it has been building steadily in both popularity and critical reputation over the past few years, while its involved anime storytelling style and tactical combat get more fashionable and closer to the gaming mainstream by the day. It wouldn’t be a shock.
5. The Blood of Dawnwalker
The ever-growing European voting bloc on the jury is increasingly making its influence felt, particularly when it comes to nominating big, ambitious Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves’ debut is an ideal game to attract those votes and fill this slot, particularly given the Witcher 3 pedigree of its developers — and its strong resemblance to that 2015 GOTY winner.
What about the indies?
The flaw in our list is that it doesn’t feature an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury usually only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025’s trio of indie picks seems like a fluke — it also rarely fails to nominate one. It’s nearly impossible to predict what that game might be at this point, as the biggest indie games of each year often come out of the blue, but a few likely candidates would be:
- Mixtape: a music-driven, nostalgic road trip of a game published by the tastemakers at Annapurna Interactive
- Replaced: a much-anticipated cyberpunk adventure with a lavishly detailed pixel-art aesthetic
- Ontos: Frictional’s mysterious follow-up to the Amnesia series (if it’s not too scary)
- Slay the Spire 2: sequel to the hugely popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it may not make it out of early access in 2026)
- Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight follow-up, an enchanting-looking retro Zelda tribute (if the studio can manage to finish it)
Other challengers
- Gears of War: E-Day: One of two massive franchise revivals from Xbox Game Studios in 2026, E-Day will have to show that this very 2000s series is still relevant
- Fable: After a protracted development, there’s a lot riding on Forza Horizon developer Playground Games’ take on the beloved RPG series
- Saros: Critics loved Housemarque’s Returnal, but The Game Awards jury tends not to respond that well to pure action games like this
- The Duskbloods: FromSoftware should never be ruled out, although this Switch 2 exclusive’s multiplayer focus is a handicap in the GOTY race
- Phantom Blade Zero: This year’s Black Myth: Wukong could be this extremely fluid-looking Chinese martial arts adventure
