GTA 6 Most Anticipated Game: 4 awards won in 2024 and 2025
Rockstar announced GTA 6 on February 4, 2022 and showed it on December 5, 2023. Since then it has taken both major most-anticipated awards two years running, at The Game Awards and at the Golden Joystick Awards.
GTA 6 has won four most-anticipated awards: Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards in 2024 and 2025, and Most Wanted Game at the Golden Joystick Awards in the same two years. According to GamesRadar+, only The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 had previously won the Golden Joysticks prize back to back. The game launches November 19, 2026.
Grand Theft Auto VI has won four most-anticipated awards: Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards in 2024 and again in 2025, and Most Wanted Game at the Golden Joystick Awards in both of those years, according to the official winner pages checked on October 21, 2026 and GamesRadar+.
| Year | Show | Category | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | The Game Awards | Most Anticipated Game | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |
| 2023 | The Game Awards | Most Anticipated Game | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth |
| 2023 | Golden Joystick Awards | Most Wanted Game | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth |
| 2024 | The Game Awards | Most Anticipated Game | Grand Theft Auto VI |
| 2024 | Golden Joystick Awards | Most Wanted Game | Grand Theft Auto VI |
| 2025 | The Game Awards | Most Anticipated Game | Grand Theft Auto VI |
| 2025 | Golden Joystick Awards | Most Wanted Game | Grand Theft Auto VI |
Rockstar announced the game on February 4, 2022, and the first trailer, the one behind the viewing records, followed on December 5, 2023. Both 2023 trophies went to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
At The Game Awards on December 12, 2024, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, GTA 6 beat Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yōtei, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Monster Hunter Wilds, per the nominee list The Hollywood Reporter published. On December 11, 2025 it kept the title against 007 First Light, Marvel’s Wolverine, Resident Evil Requiem and The Witcher 4.
The Golden Joysticks are decided by public vote. In November 2024, GamesRadar+ called GTA 6 “the Most Wanted Game of 2025, according to voters,” back when Rockstar was still aiming for a 2025 release. Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Mafia: The Old Country, Hollow Knight Silksong and Doom: The Dark Ages finished behind it. In London on November 20, 2025, voters handed it the award again.
That double is rare. GamesRadar+ counts only three games that have won Most Wanted two years running: The Witcher 3 in 2013 and 2014, Cyberpunk 2077 in 2018 and 2019, and GTA 6 in 2024 and 2025.
What the November 19, 2026 launch changes
The Golden Joystick Awards 2026 Most Wanted Game shortlist, published September 25, names 20 games, including The Witcher 4, Fable, Kingdom Hearts IV and Persona 6. GTA 6 is left off. The show takes place in London on November 11, eight days before launch, and GamesRadar+ notes that voting closes “significantly before the release date for GTA 6.”
At The Game Awards, the official FAQ checked on October 15, 2026 makes any game on sale by Friday, November 20 at 9 p.m. PT eligible. GTA 6 clears that line by a day, so the December 10, 2026 show will judge it as a released game.
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