It seems that Rockstar will not be able to take revenge for what happened at the GOTY with Red Dead Redemption 2. The new GTA 6 delay has left it offside ahead of The Game Awards 2026. Unless Geoff Keighley does one of his own and changes the rules of the event, The title is very difficult (if not impossible) to even be in the shortlist of finalists. The reason? Your new release date.
For GOTY at The Game Awards, games that have been released before December are always nominated. In the 2025 votes, for example, The maximum deadline given by Geoff is November 22. If your game comes out before, it goes into this edition and if it comes out after, into the next one.
This is the case of Metroid Prime 4, which comes out in a few weeks (December 4, 2025), but will compete in the 2026 ceremonywithin a year. Or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, released on December 9, 2024 and a candidate for the GOTY of this course.
(This last one from Indiana It will be if people don’t forget about him. It usually happens when you go so far from the gala and if not, a Forza Horizon 5 is told that it was left behind for that same reason).
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You can imagine the problems of GTA 6 facing the GOTY if it finally comes out on November 19. Some will think that well, that the analysts will have already tested it and that the general public will have had it for three days, enough to nominate him and buy some time before the final vote. Mistake.
There is one more issue that reveals a huge problem from The Game Awards. Although games released until November 22nd are accepted… the first votes close on the 5th of that month. It is likely that by then the codes would not have even been distributed. That is to say that by dates, GTA 6 could enter the GOTY 2026, but those who vote for it would do so blindly.
If he is nominated, it will be because the journalists who vote for him will have put their hand in the fire for Rockstar, not because they have tried it and know it for sure. A exercise of dubious morality something unfair and disrespectful with the rest of the great titles. It’s not GTA 6’s fault, it’s the system’s fault, but those are the rules of the game.
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Whatever happens, controversy is served. It is very likely that due to dates he will be left out of The Game Awards, but imagine what it would do to the prestige of the awards if it is finally the best of the year and it is not at the gala. Likewise, where would it be? the reputation of the press If you nominate a title that you have only seen in trailers?
Another topic is that Rockstar cares in the least about the award. At the end of the day, considering the figures it moves with each announcement and coming from the most successful game in history, the company is going to have what probably interests you the most and what many developers really dream of: sales figures.
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