The Game Awards 2026 Sets December 10 Date: Will GTA 6 Be Eligible?

The date for The Game Awards 2026 has been set. The annual gaming awards event will be held live at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 10, the show's creator Geoff Keighley announced Monday. The Game Awards, which Keighley started in 2014, honours the best games of the year and showcases some of the biggest upcoming titles from triple-A studios and indie developers.

Keighley, who serves as the creator, producer and host of The Game Awards, made the announcement in a post on X and said that he would share more details about the event later this year.

Will GTA 6 Be Eligible for the Game Awards 2026?

The Game Awards this year is set to be a competitive affair as 2026 is shaping up to be a busy year for games. Expect major titles like Resident Evil Requiem, Marvel's Wolverine, Control Resonant, Forza Horizon 3, and 007 First Light vying for the top prizes. Then of course, there's Grand Theft Auto 6.

However, it's unclear if GTA 6 will meet the cutoff date for eligibility for The Game Awards 2026. Usually, the cutoff date for eligibility for the event falls on Friday of the third week of November. For instance, the eligibility cutoff for The Game Awards 2025, which aired on December 11, was set on or before Friday, November 21, 2025, at 9pm PT. Any games released after the cutoff date are eligible for The Game Awards 2026.

Going by that logic, the eligibility cutoff for this year's The Game Awards should be Friday, November 20, which is just a day after GTA 6 releases. So, the open world crime game might just sneak in and be eligible for nominations at The Game Awards 2026. However, if Rockstar Games delay the launch date again, the game may have to compete at The Game Awards 2027.

The Game Awards 2025 took place live at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles on December 11 and was livestreamed globally on YouTube and Twitch. At the event, acclaimed RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took home a record nine awards, including the top prize of Game of the Year. The debut game from French indie developer Sandfall Interactive also won Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, and Best Performance, sweeping up all the major awards on the night.

The event also saw a few major game reveals, including Divinity, the next project from Larian Studios; Control Resonant from Remedy Entertainment; Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic from Casey Hudson's new studio, and two new Tomb Raider games from Crystal Dynamics.