📜 Guidelines and Rules

• A Game of the Year award is recognized only if all nominated games were released within a 365-day window, with no more than one year between the earliest and latest release dates.
• The GOTY award will be assigned to the year of the winning game's original release (to avoid inconsistencies caused by differing award timelines across media outlets).
• Only full game releases are eligible (expansions, DLC, and early-access titles are excluded).
• Remakes and remasters are eligible and will be counted in the year the remake or remaster was released.
• Re-releases without significant changes (ports) are not eligible.
• Awards for specific categories (e.g., Best Art Direction) are not included.
• Platform-specific GOTY awards (e.g., PC Game of the Year, Mobile Game of the Year) are not included. Only overall Game of the Year awards are counted. Also types of sources which are focus on only one platform and announce their GOTY, their choice shouldn´t be included
• Awards that are geographically restricted (e.g., nominations limited to regional releases only) are not included.
• The winning game must be released before the award is announced, and sufficient time must have passed after release to allow for a meaningful evaluation—acknowledging that this timeframe cannot be universally defined due to variations in game scale and complexity.
• Awards covering multiple years within a single selection period are excluded.
• If the highest-rated game for a given year within a game database is a straightforward port with no significant changes, the highest-ranked game that meets all eligibility criteria will be counted instead
• Purely personal selections of the best game are not included.
• A combination of multiple personal lists as the main GOTY outlet can be included. However, the condition must be met that each personal list must contain one clearly specified game of the year for each person. If this condition is met, the game of the year for that outlet will be the one that was mentioned the most times.
• In the event of a tie, both games must be designated as GOTY by at least two people or receive at least two votes (i.e., the minimum acceptable tie is based on the votes of at least four people). In the event of a tie, a maximum of two games may be designated as Game of the Year.
• Ties that received only one vote cannot be included (i.e., each person chose their own GOTY and there is no consensus).
• It is impossible to include all awards! Each group of creators, medium, YouTube channel, podcast, or other project should have an adequate number of listeners, readers, or followers. The threshold for determining the suitability of including a given award in GOTYINDEX is 100 followers/readers. If the medium has its own website that it regularly maintains and shares its content on, the rule regarding the number of readers/followers is overlooked. If the project is part of a platform (such as Spotify) and it is not possible to verify the number of followers via other social networks of the project, the award for this project is not included! Please understand that the 100-follower rule is not absolute! If there is a case where, for example, there are 1,000 followers and only a few views/reads for individual videos/articles, then this project may not be included!

Editorial Staff Awards

Awards granted by a media outlet’s editorial staff are counted only if all of the following strict criteria are met:

• The editorial team must consist of more than one voting member.
• The media outlet must have been actively publishing gaming content throughout the entire calendar year.
• Awards granted by individual creators (e.g., single-person channels, YouTubers, or independent critics) are not eligible.

Players’ Choice (Audience) Awards

Awards determined through audience voting (commonly referred to as Players´ Choice awards) are included, provided they meet the following source-quality requirements:

• The award must be officially organized and promoted by a recognized media outlet that fulfills the “active throughout the year” requirement.
• The vote must be conducted specifically for the Game of the Year category.
• The voting results must be publicly accessible and verifiable.
• Minimal borderline for include that choice is 100 active members on the website/subs/followers.

Are Players´ Choice and Editorial Staff Awards from the Same Outlet Counted Separately?

Yes. If both awards independently meet all eligibility criteria, they will each be counted. Player’s Choice awards will be labeled as: "Example (Players´ Choice)" under the respective game entry.