Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year


The Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year is an award presented annually at the Golden Joystick Awards ceremony, which has its winners voted in by the British general public. The award is given in honor to the best video game released in a particular year, regardless of the system or genre it is released. The first Golden Joystick Awards were held in 1983, with the Ultimate Play the Game–developed shooter Jetpac winning Game of the Year.
The award was originally given under the Game of the Year name and held this name from the original 1983 ceremony to the 2002 ceremony, with the exception of the 1991/92 ceremony, and later again in 2013 and 2014. From 1988/89 to 1990/91, the Golden Joystick Awards handed out two Game of the Year awards, one being an 8-Bit game and one being a 16-Bit game. During 1991/92, the award was presented as the Overall Game of the Year, in order to distinguish it from another category, before switching back for the 1992/93 ceremony. No Golden Joystick Awards ceremony was held until 1996/97, in which the top award was once again given under the Game of the Year name. However, the Golden Joystick Awards were put on hiatus again until 2002. Returning for one year under its original name, the award was then presented as the Ultimate Game of the Year for the 2003 ceremony, a moniker it held until 2012, and then again from 2015 onwards.

Winners