Golden Joystick Awards 2022

The 40th Golden Joystick Awards show revealed the shortlisted games, hardware, developers and publishers in this year’s categories. Voting is open now until Friday, November 4 2022.

The Golden Joystick Awards is the world's longest-running public-voted games awards show, attracting millions of votes every year. Players from all over the world will decide who takes home this year’s awards. Winners will be revealed in a virtual celebration of games on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 in an all-digital awards show broadcast on all major streaming platforms.

Headlines:

Over 70 games are represented in 18 categories to be voted for by the public
Elden Ring is leading the nominations this year with four nominations for ‘Best Multiplayer Game’, ‘Best Visual Design’, ‘PlayStation Game of the Year’ and developer FromSoftware Inc. being nominated for ‘Studio of the Year’
Horizon Forbidden West, Splatoon 3, Final Fantasy XIV and Teardown also have multiple nominations
Indie games feature heavily throughout the shortlist with IMMORTALITY, Cult of the Lamb, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Neon White and Teardown rivalling established AAA in key categories
This year’s awards feature two new categories – Best Early Access Launch and Best Game Trailer. With breakout titles Vampire Survivors, Disney Dreamlight Valley and more going head-to-head for Best Early Access Launch
Heavyweights MultiVersus, Elden Ring, Splatoon 3 and more will battle it out in the Best Multiplayer Game category
The shortlist has been chosen by a panel of expert critics from GamesRadar+, Edge Magazine, PC Gamer, Play Magazine, TechRadar Gaming and more
Don’t forget the shortlist and voting for Ultimate Game of the Year will not go live until November 7

Daniel Dawkins, Content Director, Games and Film explains:

“With a few glorious exceptions, many of 2022’s hotly-anticipated blockbuster releases have shifted into 2023 - or the foggy horizon beyond - making this one of the most eclectic, unpredictable and hard-to-spell-check Golden Joystick Awards shortlists in recent memory. Indies, AAs and even a few solo devs diversify the field, with titles such as Immortality, Cult of the Lamb, Tunic, Vampire Survivors, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Neon White - to name but a few - leading the ever-contentious debate among our shortlist judges.

“Of course, some of 2022’s biggest games are 2021’s biggest games. Or even 2013’s biggest games. This shift to always-on ‘service’ gaming is reflected in our ‘Still Playing’ award, where franchise titans jostle to claim the Golden Joystick trophy. Equally, some of 2022’s best games won’t be officially released until 2023, and we recognise the importance of Early Access titles in our new award, ‘Best Early Access Launch’.

“We’re also thrilled to announce a new category: Best Game Trailer, which recognises the most creative and impactful game trailers in this age of digital showcases. The Golden Joystick Awards own broadcast takes place on November 22, with last year’s event reaching over 5 million views across all post-show videos. We can’t wait to see which games have captured the world’s imagination, as the Golden Joystick Awards celebrates its landmark 40th birthday; the world’s longest running video-game awards show”.

The nominations are:

Best Audio:

We Are OFK
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Metal: Hellsinger
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Gran Turismo 7
OlliOlli World

Best Storytelling:

IMMORTALITY
Return to Monkey Island
Horizon Forbidden West
NORCO
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
Wayward Strand

Best Game Community:

Dreams
Final Fantasy XIV
GRID Legends
No Man’s Sky
Splatoon 3
Warframe

Best Game Expansion:

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
GTA Online: The Contract
Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons
Total War: Warhammer III - Immortal Empires

Best Gaming Hardware:

Playdate
Steam Deck
Analogue Pocket
Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
Roccat Kone XP
WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5

Best Indie Game:

Cult of the Lamb
Tunic
Rollerdrome
Dorfromantik
Neon White
Teardown

Best Multiplayer Game:

Elden Ring
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenue
MultiVersus
Splatoon 3
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Best Visual Design:

Elden Ring
Horizon Forbidden West
Cult of the Lamb
Ghostwire: Tokyo
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Lost in Play

Most Wanted Game:

The Legend of Zelda:
Tears of the Kingdom
Final Fantasy XVI
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Dead Island 2
Forspoken
Street Fighter 6
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Honkai: Star Rail
Starfield
Exoprimal
Redfall
Hogwarts Legacy
The Day Before
Mass Effect
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Kerbal Space Program 2
Dead Space

Nintendo Game of the Year:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Live A Live
Splatoon 3
Nintendo Switch Sports

PC Game of the Year:

Neon White
Return to Monkey Island
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Teardown
Total War: Warhammer 3
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

PlayStation Game of the Year:

Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Forbidden West
Stray
Elden Ring
The Last Of Us Part I
Sifu

Xbox Game of the Year:

Halo Infinite
Scorn
Grounded
As Dusk Falls
Sniper Elite 5
Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Still Playing:

Genshin Impact
The Sims 4
Destiny 2
Final Fantasy XIV
Minecraft
Fortnite
Pokémon GO
Apex Legends
Lost Ark
The Elder Scrolls Online

Studio of the Year:

Roll7
Terrible Toybox
Half Mermaid
FromSoftware Inc.
Interior / Night
Tribute Games

Best Early Access Launch:

Disney Dreamlight Valley
Slime Rancher 2
Dune: Spice Wars
Core Keeper
Vampire Survivors
Gloomwood

Best Game TrailerThe Callisto Protocol:

The Truth of Black Iron Trailer
Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer
Skate: Still Working On It
Bloody Hell Hotel Reveal Trailer
Time Flies
Alan Wake 2 Reveal Trailer

Don’t forget - Ultimate Game of the Year - has a separate voting window that opens on Monday, November 7.

Three additional category winners will be selected by a panel of journalists from brands including gamesradar.com, pcgamer.com, Edge magazine, Retro Gamer and Play magazine, plus Future’s trusted network of freelance writers. These winners will be revealed on the night.