These 5 Games That May Rival <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026's GOTY Title.

The previous year, we pondered if any release could realistically defeat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025's Game of the Year crown — "barring Rockstar's capability to ship it on time." In the end, it was precisely that that took Rockstar's highly-anticipated game from the equation, with pushbacks to May and, afterwards, November 2026 paving the way for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's unprecedented dominance at The 2025 Game Awards.

As a result, looking ahead to GOTY 2026, we are situated with a powerful sense of déjà vu. Once again, GTA 6 starts the year as the obvious frontrunner to win the highest honor. Once again, Rockstar's biggest challenge could be its own punctuality. While another postponement at this point is not as probable, it's undoubtedly still possible, and with its current Nov. 19 release date just squeaking into The Game Awards' typical eligibility window, it would only take a slide of a couple of days or more to relegate GTA 6 into the running for the 2027 awards.

Yet again, GTA 6 appears incredibly difficult to overcome, but far from unbeatable. Rockstar's own Red Dead Redemption 2 was edged out for GOTY by Sony Santa Monica's God of War in 2018, while GTA 5 was overshadowed in most awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — although not the Game Awards' earlier incarnation, VGX — by The Last of Us. Paradoxically, GTA 6's behemoth status is a seemingly contradictory kind of vulnerability, as reviewers and awards juries will be actively seeking out an compelling alternative angle to champion in order to keep things interesting.

So what different titles might pose a challenge? Forecasting nominees this far in advance in the year is, admittedly, a something of a fool's errand: the landscape of indie and smaller releases is largely murky, while AAA games commonly get delayed or underwhelm, and certain publishers (such as Nintendo) have still not unveil their lineup for the back end of the year. Still, there are already a small group of 2026 releases that appear to be they will be strong contenders. Below are five that have a good chance of being nominated alongside GTA 6.

1. Resonant Control

Remedy Entertainment's psychologically thrilling sequel is without a doubt the most potent challenger to GTA 6's hegemony. In fact, Remedy may well be the quintessential Game Awards studio: It crafts expertly engineered, graphically impressive, story-rich action-adventure games while operating just adequately outside the industry establishment to still feel like an outsider. The original Control secured eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 pushed Baldur's Gate 3 a close second in 2023, transforming three of its eight nods into wins in the prestigious Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a stunning trailer reveal at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is not to be dismissed.

2. Resident Evil Requiem

A new (or, similarly) remade Resident Evil game is stands a better chance to be nominated for Game of the Year than to miss out. This venerable series has an outstanding recent history at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the top honor in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — coupled with a standing for dependable quality. Granted, a win would be a much more improbable proposition, but you can bet on Capcom being in contention.

3. Marvel’s Wolverine

The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the most significant blockbuster prospects of the year, and in terms of production cost and production values, almost certainly one of the select group that will be able to give GTA 6 a close contest. Like Resident Evil, Insomniac's polished Marvel games franchise is great at picking up lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and less good at turning them into wins. Will the shift from Spider-Man to an edgier character and (much) more visceral action shift the odds in Wolverine's favor? Possibly, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which virtually guarantees it a spot at the GOTY discussion.

4. Fire Emblem - Fortune's Weave

Nintendo is infrequently absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. Without a obvious idea of what its big 2026 game will be (a new mainline Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both options), Fortune’s Weave makes a viable placeholder. Fire Emblem is a cult series, it's true, but it has been expanding gradually in both popularity and acclaim over the past few years, while its detailed anime storytelling style and tactical combat get more mainstream and closer to the gaming center by the day. It would not be a surprise.

5. The Blood of Dawnwalker

The expanding European voting bloc on the jury is more and more making its presence felt, especially when it comes to nominating big, ambitious Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' inaugural title is an ideal game to attract those votes and occupy this slot, notably given the Witcher 3 heritage of its developers — and its noticeable parallels to that 2015 GOTY winner.

Concerning the Indies?

The flaw in our list is that it lacks an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury generally only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025's three of indie picks seems like a fluke — it also seldom fails to nominate one. It's almost impossible to predict what that game might be at this point, as the breakout indie games of each year often emerge unexpectedly, but a few likely candidates would be:

• Mixtape: a music-driven, sentimental road trip of a game published by the tastemakers at Annapurna Interactive.
• Replaced: a highly anticipated cyberpunk adventure with a exquisitely detailed pixel-art aesthetic.
• Ontos: Frictional Games' mysterious follow-up to the Amnesia series (if it's not excessively frightening).
• Slay the Spire 2: follow-up to the wildly popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it could fail to make it out of early access in 2026).
• Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight follow-up, an whimsical retro Zelda love letter (assuming the studio can manage to finish it).

Additional Challengers

• Gears of War: E-Day: One of two massive franchise reboots from Xbox Game Studios in 2026, E-Day will have to demonstrate that this decidedly 2000s series is still pertinent.
• Fable: After