Josh has been playing video games for longer than he can remember, kicking things off with a Master System before upgrading to a Mega Drive. Covering the industry since 2018, if a game has a strong story – or even better, the decisions you make determine the course of that story – odds are he’s going to like it. Or, you know, put Sonic or Pikachu on the cover and that’ll get his attention too.
2025’s Game Awards took place last week, and to no one’s surprise, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took home just about everything. Its Game of the Year win was the biggest of the night, though, of course, and it extends an unwanted run for studios based in the US.
Expedition 33 studio Sandfall Interactive is based in France, which means this year’s GOTY win was also a win for European developers. It’s the third time in five years that a European development team has taken home TGA’s Game of the Year. Japanese studios occupy the other two of those five slots, which means it has now been five years, and counting, since an American studio won Game of the Year.
The Last Of Us Part 2 Was The Last Game Of The Year Developed In The US
Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a pretty loaded year for Game of the Year contenders. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Ghost of Tsushima all launched that year. However, it was The Last of Us Part 2 that took home the industry’s top award. A game developed by Naughty Dog, which is based in California.
Since then, Europe and Japan have been taking it in turns. Hazelight’s It Takes Two in 2021, FromSoft’s Elden Ring after that, then Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3, Team Asobi’s Astro Bot last year, right up to Expedition 33 in 2025. Tossing TGA’s GOTY back and forth every 12 months, with America the piggy in the middle that hasn’t quite been able to get its hands on it for the past half a decade.
Follow with us live as we bring you all of the winners from this year’s The Game Awards.
That unwanted streak will extend to at least six years as it’s now a whole year until the next Game of the Year is determined. That’s good news for US devs as it gives them a clean slate to work with after a 2025 that has been loaded with stiff competition. But who will be the frontrunners for 2026’s GOTY award?
Is There A Game Coming In 2026 That Can Break The Streak?
Insomniac could break the streak if Wolverine ends up being as good as we think it’s going to be. There’s also the GTA 6 of it all, although with Rockstar’s studios spread around the world, that might make things a little confusing. My guess would be that a GTA 6 GOTY would be attributed to Europe since Rockstar’s true home base is in Scotland.
GTA 6’s release date might mean it isn’t even eligible for 2026 GOTY nomination.
Truth is, it’s impossible to predict what might win Game of the Year in 2026. No one saw Expedition 33’s dominance coming this time last year. Astro Bot wasn’t even revealed until four months before it released, and Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t pick up momentum until news about what you can do with a bear in-game propelled it into the mainstream right before it launched. If the US is going to break its five-year duck in 2026, then the game that’s going to do it could be one we don’t even know about yet.
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Every game of the year, including “The Last of Us,” was a game first and foremost. The majority of games, especially American games today, are plastered with monetization garbage. That’s the American gaming executive’s focus: how many battle passes, monetization, and pay-to-win crap can I stuff into our game? This is such a huge focus that a majority of developers have given up on NEW ips, and way too many are stuck in remake hell.
2025-12-15 16:07:55
