Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year at the 44th Golden Joystick Awards, while Crimson Desert, Doom, Capcom, and MECCHA CHAMELEON also claimed major honors.
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Resident Evil Requiem wins the first major 2026 GOTY race by a sliver
Resident Evil Requiem has won Ultimate Game of the Year at the 44th Golden Joystick Awards, giving Capcom’s horror sequel the first major Game of the Year headline of the 2026 awards season and doing it by a narrow public-vote margin. Push Square reports that Requiem finished with 17% of the overall Ultimate Game of the Year vote, ahead of Phantom Blade Zero at 16% and Crimson Desert at 15%.
That closeness is the immediate tension inside this year’s Golden Joystick Awards 2026 winners list. Requiem did not simply ride away from the field. It edged out two other high-profile contenders in a race where a small shift in public sentiment could have changed the story of the night. Most Golden Joystick categories are decided by public vote, according to Push Square, which makes Requiem’s win a snapshot of audience momentum as much as a verdict from critics or developers.
The win also came with a broader sweep for the game. Invision Community, Push Square, Games.gg, and GamingOnLinux all list Resident Evil Requiem as the winner of Ultimate Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, Best Game Trailer for “Evil Has Always Had A Name,” and Best Lead Performer for Angela Sant’Albano as Grace Ashcroft. For a series built on pressure, timing, and the constant argument between horror restraint and action escalation, Requiem now enters the rest of awards season carrying the loudest early trophy.
Capcom’s night was bigger than one trophy
Capcom’s showing extended beyond the Resident Evil Requiem Game of the Year win. Invision Community reports that Capcom was connected to seven awards across the ceremony: Requiem’s four wins, Studio of the Year, Best Audio Design for Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Best Supporting Performer for Grace Saif as Diana in PRAGMATA. HappyGamer also reported Capcom’s Studio of the Year win, citing a social post that pointed to Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3, PRAGMATA, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen as part of the publisher’s 2026 output.
The shape of those wins is worth separating from the trophy count. Requiem carried the top-line player-vote categories tied to platform and overall preference. Onimusha won in craft, with Best Audio Design. PRAGMATA’s recognition came through performance, with Grace Saif winning Best Supporting Performer. Studio of the Year then packaged that spread into a publisher-level award.
For readers tracking action and adventure games, that distribution says more than a single victory lap. Capcom’s awards touched atmosphere, acting, trailer impact, console appeal, and overall audience preference. Those are the pressure points that define a modern blockbuster campaign: a strong reveal, a lead character players attach to, a production language that sells dread or spectacle, and enough follow-through for voters to keep the game at the front of the conversation.
The close vote keeps the Requiem win from becoming a coronation
The Ultimate Game of the Year field was not a formality. Games.gg reports that Requiem beat a 12-game shortlist that included Crimson Desert, Phantom Blade Zero, 007: First Light, CONTROL: Resonant, and PRAGMATA. Push Square’s vote percentages show how compressed the top of that field was, with three games separated by two percentage points.
That matters for how the result should be read. A Golden Joystick win is a major public signal, but it is not the same thing as a unanimous critical consensus. The 2026 Golden Joystick results themselves show different groups rewarding different games. Big Walk won the Critics’ Choice Award, while MECCHA CHAMELEON won Developers’ Choice. Requiem won the public-facing top prize, the console category, a trailer award, and a performance award.
There was also one obvious absence from the eligibility picture. Push Square notes that GTA 6 was not eligible because it was not out yet. That does not diminish Requiem’s win, but it frames the race honestly. This was the first major awards ceremony of 2026, according to Push Square, and it crowned the game that had the strongest eligible public support on the night, not the final word on every major release conversation still to come.
Crimson Desert, Doom, and the action field each found a different lane
Crimson Desert did not take Ultimate Game of the Year, but it did win PC Game of the Year. PC Gamer and HappyGamer both reported the result, with HappyGamer noting congratulations aimed at developer Pearl Abyss across social posts after the ceremony. Push Square, Invision Community, GamingOnLinux, and Games.gg also list Crimson Desert as the PC category winner.
That category win gives Crimson Desert a clean lane in a year where the top public vote was crowded. It finished third in the Ultimate Game of the Year vote at 15%, according to Push Square, while also securing the PC-specific award. For players, that distinction is useful. Requiem owned the console and overall story of the night. Crimson Desert still came away as the PC winner, which marks it as one of the ceremony’s major headline results rather than an also-ran.
Doom’s award came through expansion content. GamingOnLinux, Push Square, and Games.gg list Best Game Expansion as DOOM: The Dark Ages - Revelations. Invision Community’s table shortens the winner to DOOM: The Dark Ages, while its category is still Best Game Expansion. HappyGamer identifies the winning content as DOOM: The Dark Ages, Revelations and reports that the official Doom account thanked Golden Joystick judges and fans after the win. HappyGamer also notes, citing Steam, that the base game was developed by id Software, published by Bethesda Softworks, listed for Windows at $49.99, and had three DLC entries at the time of reporting.
The naming discrepancy appears to be shorthand in at least one results table rather than a dispute over the category. The consistent point across the sources is that Doom’s win was for expansion content, not the base game’s main campaign.
MECCHA CHAMELEON matched Requiem’s count, while Dispatch and Big Walk split key honors
Resident Evil Requiem was the ceremony’s headline winner, but it was not alone at the top of the trophy count. Games.gg reports that Requiem and MECCHA CHAMELEON tied with four awards each. Invision Community also describes MECCHA CHAMELEON as one of the evening’s biggest success stories, listing wins for Best Multiplayer Game, Best Indie Game - Self Published, Streamers’ Choice, and Developers’ Choice.
That split gives this year’s awards a healthier rhythm than a total sweep. Requiem dominated the marquee categories tied to Game of the Year, console play, trailer craft, and lead performance. MECCHA CHAMELEON cut through in community, multiplayer, independent publishing, and developer recognition. Those are different kinds of momentum. One is the cinematic center stage. The other is the kind of game that appears to have resonated across players, streamers, and fellow creators.
Dispatch also had a strong night, winning Best Storytelling and Best Soundtrack according to Invision Community, Push Square, Games.gg, and GamingOnLinux. Big Walk won Critics’ Choice, which is especially notable because it places the critics’ pick outside the Requiem-led public narrative. Valheim won Best Indie Game, Subnautica 2 won Best Early Access Game, and Iron Lung won Best Game Adaptation. The 25 awards were spread across 19 different winners, according to Games.gg, so the 2026 ceremony produced leaders without flattening the field.
The headline 2026 Golden Joystick results
The full ceremony was held in London and streamed live, according to Invision Community, which also reports that the 44th Golden Joystick Awards were hosted by Alix Wilton Regan. Across the published results from GamesRadar, GamingOnLinux, Invision Community, Push Square, and Games.gg, the major winners align across the key categories.
Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year and Console Game of the Year. Crimson Desert won PC Game of the Year. Capcom won Studio of the Year. DOOM: The Dark Ages - Revelations won Best Game Expansion, with one Invision Community table shortening the listing to DOOM: The Dark Ages. The Witcher 4 won Most Wanted Game. Big Walk won Critics’ Choice. MECCHA CHAMELEON won Best Multiplayer Game, Best Indie Game - Self Published, Streamers’ Choice, and Developers’ Choice.
Dispatch won Best Storytelling and Best Soundtrack. Onimusha: Way of the Sword won Best Audio Design. CONTROL: Resonant won Best Visual Design. Valheim won Best Indie Game. Subnautica 2 won Best Early Access Game. Steam Controller won Best Gaming Hardware. Balatro won Still Playing - Mobile, while Minecraft won Still Playing - PC and Console. Resident Evil Requiem’s “Evil Has Always Had A Name” won Best Game Trailer. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered won Best Remake or Remaster. Iron Lung won Best Game Adaptation. Grace Saif won Best Supporting Performer for Diana in PRAGMATA, and Angela Sant’Albano won Best Lead Performer for Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem.
For anyone catching up on the Golden Joystick Awards 2026 winners, the night’s cleanest takeaway is this: Requiem has the first big Game of the Year flag planted, but the results around it show a divided and competitive year. Crimson Desert claimed the PC lane, Doom’s expansion kept id Software and Bethesda in the awards conversation, MECCHA CHAMELEON matched the night’s biggest trophy count, and Capcom left with the broadest publisher story.