Loaded Game Awards 2026

Olivia J
Marketing Ops @ Loaded

12 Nov 2026 • 4 min read

The Loaded Game Awards are back for 2026! Presented by PCSpecialist, voting opens on 20 November, giving you the chance to celebrate the games that made this year memorable.

Every year the same thing happens: someone’s favorite gets snubbed, someone else’s gets crowned, and the public has opinions for weeks. So as we’ve done for the past two years, we’re handing the mic to YOU! the Loaded community, with 12 categories decided by your votes and 4 more decided by real Loaded data.

Last year, you gave us our biggest voting turnout yet, with over 100,000 votes across all categories. Your picks, your takes and your very strong feelings about Game of the Year are what make these awards work, so come and tell us what you think.

When and How to Vote

Voting opens on 20 November and closes on 2 December 2026 at 23:59 GMT. Nothing is counted after the deadline, so don’t wait until the last minute.

To vote, log in on the Game Awards page using one of the available login options, pick a category, choose your winner and hit submit. You get one vote per category, and once it’s in, it’s final. Choose wisely.

12 Categories, Your Call

Twelve categories are decided entirely by your votes, and the nominee list is huge. From big releases to indies that came out of nowhere, there’s plenty to debate. You’ll find the full nominees for each category on the Game Awards page.

1. Game of the Year 2026
2. Most Anticipated Game of 2027
3. Best Indie Game
4. Best Multiplayer Game
5. Best Action/Adventure Game
6. Best Narrative Game
7. Best Horror Game
8. Best Shooter Game
9. Best Publisher
10. Always Installed
11. Rage Quit Award
12. Sleeper Hit of the Year

A few of these are a bit more fun than they look. Always Installed is for the games you can never quite leave alone, the Rage Quit Award goes to the ones that pushed players closest to the uninstall button, and Sleeper Hit of the Year is for the games that became much bigger than anyone saw coming.

Where the Data Does the Talking

Opinions matter, but so does what people actually search for, wishlist and buy. That’s why four categories this year have no public vote at all. They’re decided by real sales, price and customer data from Loaded.com.

1. Best Deal of 2026: the games with the best price drops of the year, based on sales, price changes and customer purchase behavior.
2. Most Wishlisted on Loaded: the game our customers most wanted to get their hands on.
3. Fastest Seller: the games that flew off the virtual shelves the quickest.
4. Going Strong: the games still holding their own in our sales long after launch.

The Loaded Recognition Award

One award is picked by the Loaded team rather than by votes or data. Each year, it goes to a person or team we’d like to recognize for their contribution to the gaming space. It could be an actor, a creator or a company, someone who made things go viral, played a fan-favorite character, or simply someone we think makes gaming more fun by being involved. Last year it went to the Skyblivion team. This year’s winner is only revealed during the live stream.

Vote More, Unlock More Rewards

Voting isn’t just for bragging rights. The more you vote, the more you unlock.

Vote in at least 5 categories and you’ll get a single-use 10% discount code, capped at £3 and valid on all PC games and DLCs on Loaded.com until 31 December 2026. It’ll be emailed to you once all the winners have been announced.

Vote in all 12 categories and you’ll get one entry into the draw to win a £3,000 gaming PC from PCSpecialist. One winner takes the lot. The giveaway is open to entrants in Europe.

The winner will be drawn live on stream on 4 December, and we’ll reach out by email between 5 and 7 December. Terms and conditions apply, and you can read them in the FAQs section here.

Join Us Live

We’ll reveal the winners live on Loaded’s Twitch channel on 4 December 2026. It’ll be a fun one, with the winners, the hot takes and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.

That’s also where we’ll draw the winner of the PC, and there’ll be more to win during the stream too, so it’s worth tuning in. If you can’t make it, the winners will also be published on the Game Awards page shortly after the stream.

Mark your calendars! Voting opens on 20 November at the Loaded Game Awards page and closes on 2 December.

Choose wisely, and be nice in the comments. Happy voting!

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