GTA 6 sweeps all its nominations, but Rockstar skips the prestigious Golden Joysticks award ceremony

Today, the Golden Joystick Awards were held in London, and somehow Grand Theft Auto 6 swept all of its nominations, even though no one was there to accept them. Maybe they were embarrassed about the recent delay or didn’t want to show their faces in the UK amid the ongoing protests and accusations of union busting. We are entering the game awards season as the year comes to a close. The Game Awards announced their nominees earlier this week, and of course, the Golden Joystick Awards were held today. If you’re not familiar with these awards, they are voted on entirely by the audience. This makes it stand apart from other shows, as it is much more representative of the wider gaming audience rather than just a specific subsection, such as media or developers. You might be wondering, how could GTA 6 sweep? It’s not even out yet? In fact, it was delayed just a few weeks ago. There is an answer.

GTA 6 sweeps the Golden Joysticks, even though Rockstar isn’t there to accept them

There were plenty of other great games nominated and winning at the Golden Joysticks. Grand Theft Auto 6 wasn’t the only winner to sweep. Fan-favorite Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also swept, meaning it won every category it was nominated for, including Ultimate Game of the Year. So, no, GTA 6 wasn’t winning awards like Game of the Year, but like Expedition 33, it also won every category it was nominated for. If you’ve watched the Game Awards in years past, you may be familiar with a category called “Most Anticipated Game.” GTA 6 won each of the 2 categories it was nominated for, including the Golden Joystick’s equivalent category.

Thanks to a post shared on social media by a GTA 6 fan account, we can see an edit of both categories being awarded. Grand Theft Auto 6 was nominated for Most Wanted Game and Best Game Trailer, and took both, meaning that GTA 6 and Rockstar walked away from the show with a clean sweep, a perfect record. That is, if anyone from Rockstar was there to accept the awards. Both were instead accepted on their behalf by the presenters and will eventually be sent along to the studio.

So, yes, GTA 6 didn’t earn an absurd amount of awards, but a sweep is still a sweep. It’s especially unusual for a game that hasn’t been released yet, and even more unusual that no one from Rockstar was there to accept the awards. The host of the Golden Joysticks, Maggie Robertson, joked: “We really got GTA 6 winning trophies before GTA 6…” referencing the meme of GTA 6 taking so long to be released that nearly anything you can think of will happen first.

Last year, at the Game Awards, Grand Theft Auto 6 won the Most Anticipated Game category, and thanks to the two delays this year, it is nominated again. GTA 6 could be one of the first games to win the same category twice in a row, and if it gets delayed a third time, it might be pushed to 2027, so maybe it could end up winning three times in a row.

Grand Theft Auto VI

November 19, 2026

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