Grand Theft Auto VI will be unable to sweep the five major Game of the Year awards in the 2026/27 season, nor will it have the chance to match the record set by Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This is not due to judging outcomes, but because the game's release date falls after this year's Golden Joystick Awards ceremony.
The 44th Golden Joystick Awards are scheduled for November 11, while Grand Theft Auto VI is set to launch on November 19, an eight-day gap. Since the game will not yet be publicly available at the time of the ceremony, it is ineligible for consideration in this year's awards.
Public voting for most categories at this year's Golden Joystick Awards will run from September 25 to October 23, with voting for the "Ultimate Game of the Year" taking place from October 26 to 30. This entire voting period also precedes the release date of Grand Theft Auto VI.
The so-called "Big Five" Game of the Year awards season typically begins with the Golden Joystick Awards in November, followed by The Game Awards in December, the DICE Awards in February, the GDC Awards in March, and concludes with the BAFTA Games Awards in April. Having missed the 2026 Golden Joystick Awards, Grand Theft Auto VI can no longer secure all five top honors within the same awards season.
Grand Theft Auto VI remains eligible for the 2027 Golden Joystick Awards. If it subsequently wins the remaining awards, it could achieve a "delayed sweep" across cycles, but this would differ from the record set by Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which completed their five-award sweeps within a single awards season.
Based on the same awards season criteria, Larian Studios and Sandfall Interactive will remain the only two studios to have achieved this five-award sweep by the time the BAFTA Games Awards take place next spring.