Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.

Events and ceremonies

British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)

The British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honoring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards, the awards are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and are thus commonly referred to as the BAFTA Games Awards.

Czech Game of the Year Awards

The

Czech Game of the Year Awards Czech Game of the Year Awards ( cs, Česká hra roku) are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development in the Czech Republic. The awards began as part of Gameday Festival in 2010, but became independent from the festiv ...

are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development.

D.I.C.E. Awards

The

D.I.C.E. Awards The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interac ...

are awarded by the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentatio ...

(AIAS), a non-profit organization of industry professionals. The awards were previously known as the Interactive Achievement Awards until 2013.

Electronic Gaming Awards (formerly Arcade Awards)

The Arcade Awards, also known as the

Arkie Awards An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

, was one of the first video game awards, dating back to the golden age of arcade video games and lasting up until the video game crash of 1983. It was held since 1980 (for games released in 1979 and earlier) and were announced annually by '' Electronic Games'' magazine since 1981, covering several platform categories. Following the magazine's revival in 1992, it published the Electronic Gaming Awards in January 1993 for the best video games released in 1992. The 1992 and 1993 issues asked their readers to vote for the game of the year.

''Famitsu'' Awards

The Grand Prize winners of the annual ''Famitsu'' Awards, voted by ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' magazine's readers. An annual award ceremony has been held since 2005. Prior to 2005, the results were published in the magazine's annual "Best Hit Game Awards" feature since early 1987 (for games released in 1986).

The Game Awards

Geoff Keighley, producer and host of the Spike Video Game Awards, created The Game Awards in 2014. The winners are determined by a blended vote between the voting jury (90%) and public fan voting (10%); the jury panel consists of members from 96 global media outlets.

Game Developers Choice Awards

The Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year is announced during the Game Developers Choice Awards at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers.

Golden Joystick Awards

The Golden Joystick Awards is the second oldest gaming award ceremony and is the longest-running video game award. The inaugural ceremony took place in 1984 in London's Berkeley Square.

Japan Game Awards (formerly CESA Awards)

The winners of the Grand Award annually given by the Japan Game Awards, formerly known as the CESA Awards, since 1996. There are some years where two games shared the Grand Award.

New York Game Awards

The

New York Videogame Critics Circle The New York Game Awards is an annual award show honoring video games by nonprofit New York Videogame Critics Circle (NYVGCC). The first awards were held in 2012, honoring previous year's contributions to the video game industry and showcases ...

hosts an annual award show that recognizes the best contributions to the video game industry from the previous year.

Spike Video Game Awards

The winners of the Spike Video Game Awards, hosted by Spike between 2003 and 2013, awarded the Game of the Year using an advisory council featuring over 20 journalists from media outlets. The show's title was changed to VGX in 2013 before Spike TV dropped the show entirely. Host and producer Geoff Keighley created The Game Awards in 2014.

SXSW Gaming Awards

The winners of the

SXSW Gaming Awards The SXSW Gaming Awards are awards given to video games during the annual South by Southwest Festival (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas typically in March of that year. The Awards are part of the SXSW Gaming Expo which is part of the SXSW Interactive ...

are judged by the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board, which is composed of over 40 industry members.

VSDA Awards

The

Video Software Dealers Association The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $32 billion home entertainment industry. The Mission of EMA is to promote, to protect, and to ...

's VSDA Awards for home entertainment handed out awards for the best

s of the year until 2001.

Publications and media

''Ars Technica''

''Destructoid''

''Easy Allies'' (formerly ''GameTrailers'')

''Edge''

''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'')

''Empire''

''Entertainment Weekly''

''Eurogamer''

''Game Informer''

During their earlier years of publication they would give awards for the best game on each console available at the time, occasionally giving an award to the overall best game of the year. In 2017, they retroactively awarded a GOTY award for each past year that did not have an overall best game.

''GameSpot''

''GamesRadar+''

''Gamest''

''Giant Bomb''

''Hardcore Gamer''

''IGN''

''Polygon''

''Time''

''USgamer''

''Yahoo!''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Game Of The Year Video game awards Video game culture Video game lists by reception or rating Game of the Year awards