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Voting is now open for the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards and you have until Thursday, October 24th, 2019, to make your vote count.
Returning on November 15th, 2019, the Golden Joystick Awards – the world’s largest and longest-running public-voted gaming awards, now in its 37th year – celebrates “everything that makes gaming great”. Once again, the ceremony will take place in front of a live audience at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top, London, and be hosted by Danny Wallace. It will also be livestreamed on the usual channels for those unable to attend in person.
The shortlist features 17 categories to vote for, including your favourite Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One games of the year. 2019 also sees two new categories join the roster; Best Game Expansion, which recognises the trend for popular long-running online games with major updates, and Best Gaming Hardware, which expands to include peripherals, PC components and gaming phones. The critics choice award winners for Critics Choice Award, Breakthrough Award, Lifetime Achievement and Outstanding Contribution award will be revealed on the night.
All participants will receive a free ebook as a thank you for voting.
“Leading the shortlist nominations this year is open-world mystery Outer Wilds, with six nominations, followed by action-adventure hit Control, with four nominations,” a press release confirmed. “Other titles with multiple nominations include Metro Exodus, Observation, Days Gone, Tetris Effect, Sunless Skies and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, all of which have three nominations apiece.”
Votes for Ultimate Game of the Year will again be held separately, kicking off on Friday, October 25th and closing Friday, November 1st, 2019.
“2019 has been an amazing year for innovative and experimental games, from the high-concept Outer Wilds, to the dazzling level designs of Control, and the evolution of full motion video storytelling with Erica and Telling Lies,” said Dan Dawkins, content director, Games and Film at Future. “Over 110 titles have made the shortlist this year, a phenomenal number, and a reflection of the depth and range we see in the industry today, as services like the recently launched Apple Arcade create new ways to discover quality games from diverse genres.”
God of War took home five awards last year – including Studio of the Year for developer Sony Santa Monica – but it was not enough to keep Fortnite from scooping Ultimate Game of the Year. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile secured mobile game of the year, while the top PC game award went to Subnautica. Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki was also in attendance to receive the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award “from his childhood heroes Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, authors of the seminal Fighting Fantasy novels”.
To see the full shortlist and cast your vote, head on over to goldenjoysticks.com.
Last year, we asked a number of industry professionals why they believed the Golden Joysticks have remained popular for almost forty years. “As an industry we have an incredibly passionate group of fans, and the Golden Joysticks provides a platform that allows them to have their voices heard in a meaningful and positive way,” said one attendee.
