The shortlist for 2026's Golden Joystick Awards is out, including PC Game of the Year, and you can vote now

The Golden Joystick Awards have been running for so long there was a period where they awarded separate prizes for 8-bit and 16-bit games in each category. In 1988, rail shooter Operation Wolf was the 8-bit Computer Game of the Year, while the Bitmap Brothers' futuresport Speedball took home 16-bit Computer Game of the Year. The shortlist of nominees in publicly voted categories for this year's 44th annual Golden Joystick Awards have been announced.