The long-running Golden Joystick Awards has finally branched out more heavily into the world of esports.
While the awards – which historically name the best games released over the past year in a variety of genres – have dabbled loosely in esports in recent years, they’re upping the game this year.
Last year, the Golden Joysticks had a ‘Competitive Play of the Year’ award which was won by Brazilian CSGO pro Marcelo “coldzera” David.
For 2017, the 35th Golden Joysticks have the following esports awards:
- Esports Play of the Year
- Esports Team of the Year
- Esports Game of the Year
Pray’s Ashe skillshot at Worlds 2016 is up for Play of the Year, while the shortlist for Team of the Year includes Optic, Astralis, Lunatic-Hai, SKT, EnVyUs, Team Liquid and TSM.
There are quite a few titles in the Esports Game of the Year category: CoD Infinite Warfare, CSGO, Dota 2, FIFA 17, League of Legends, Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, Smite and StarCraft II.
There are also a few categories that could have some winners from the competitive gaming sector too, such as Best Multiplayer Game (FIFA, Lawbreakers, PUBG and others), Best Streamer/Broadcaster and more.
PUBG is also up for the Best PC Game and Ultimate Game of the Year awards, while Call of Duty World War II is up for the Most Wanted Game award.
The event features 25 categories overall, the majority of which are voted for by the global gaming public. The event was first held in 1983.
Dan Dawkins, Global Editor-In-Chief at GamesRadar+ said: “So far we have had millions of votes across the awards categories which include ‘Ultimate Game of the Year’, ‘Still Playing Award’ and ‘Most Wanted’ game.
“Only a few votes are splitting key categories, with some potential shocks in the offing, so if you don’t want your favourite game to miss out, vote now.”
The 35th Golden Joystick Awards will be hosted by Danny Wallace on November 17th at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top, and will be streamed on Twitch.
A pre-show will be hosted by Kotaku UK editor Keza MacDonald and comedian and games journalist Ellie Gibson.
Voting closes on November 3rd.
You can vote and see the full list of award categories and finalists on GamesRadar.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
