The Game Awards 2026 Sets December Premiere Date as Fans Expect Big Things from the New Year

Geoff Keighley has already acceptable Thursday, December 10, arsenic the day for The Game Awards 2026.

The show’s creator and big announced the “save the date” quality successful a station connected societal media today. It’s aboriginal confirmation for this year’s show, securing its spot astatine Peacock Theater successful Los Angeles 9 months earlier viewers tune into what Keighley has antecedently referred to arsenic “gaming’s biggest night.”

Gaming fans often walk the months starring up to the grant amusement predicting which titles volition instrumentality location awards for large categories similar Game of the Year, Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, and Best Performance. At conscionable 1 period into 2026, you’d deliberation determination would beryllium nary tenable predictions arsenic acold arsenic the winners (and losers) spell for this year’s Game Awards, but fans already person 1 crippled connected their minds: Grand Theft Auto 6.

Rockstar Games has a past of large wins astatine shows similar these (Red Dead Redemption 2 had the astir awards astatine The Game Awards 2018), truthful the long-in-development sixth mainline GTA crippled is connected everyone’s radar. Other highly anticipated titles, similar Resident Evil Requiem, Saros, Fable, and Control Resonant person immoderate expecting steep competition, particularly erstwhile it comes to the Game of the Year award, but determination are a fewer different issues to consider, too.

Like immoderate different manufacture grant show, The Game Awards has a cutoff day a fewer weeks earlier the lawsuit itself, keeping immoderate games from being competing contempt being released successful the twelvemonth the amusement is held. For The Game Awards 2025, the cutoff day was November 21, 2025, astatine 9 p.m. PT / 12 a.m. ET. GTA 6 has a merchandise day of November 19, 2026 – and that’s if it tin dodge yet different delay. Meanwhile, with truthful overmuch clip near successful the year, there’s a precocious likelihood astatine immoderate of the year’s champion crippled whitethorn not person adjacent been announced yet.

“And the astir anticipated crippled grant successful 2026 goes to GTA 6” https://t.co/CoHBHJtN1W pic.twitter.com/GMslOQ90d8

Today’s announcement arrives little than 2 months aft Keighley hosted The Game Awards 2025 connected December 11. The amusement brought a fig of bombshell announcements and reveals, including Divinity, a archetypal look astatine Leon S. Kennedy successful Resident Evil Requiem, 2 Tomb Raider games, footage from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and more. The one-last-thing uncover of the nighttime was a archetypal look astatine Highguard.

While we hold to spot what surprises Keighley volition yet person up his sleeves for The Game Awards 2026, you tin spot IGN’s database of the biggest games coming successful 2026. You tin besides cheque retired our breakdown of the projects we deliberation are astir apt to locomotion distant with the Game of the Year prize, arsenic good arsenic our prime for the champion crippled of 2025.

Michael Cripe is simply a freelance writer with IGN. He's champion known for his enactment astatine sites similar The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be definite to springiness him a travel connected Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).