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Forums - Gaming - VGChartz Official Game of the Year 2025 – Preliminary Voting

Hello and welcome to VGChartz’s 19th annual Game of the Year Awards!

As always the winners will be chosen by a combination of community and staff voting, using a two-stage voting system:

  1. The first stage is called Preliminary Voting. It lasts five days and the idea behind it is for community voting alone to reduce the often lengthy lists of games for each award down to a much smaller list of Nominees. Games that receive 5% or more of the vote during Preliminary Voting will go through to the second stage.
  2. This second stage is called Final Voting. Final Voting will determine both the final Shortlist of games to be featured in each award article and, of course, the Winner. It will last around 10-14 days, just like the old system of voting, and will use a mixture of user and staff voting (with the usual 50/50 split in terms of weighting).

  

Here’s the link to our Preliminary Voting Form. All you need to take part is a Google account:

>>LINK<<

 

As a reminder this first round of voting will not determine any winners – be sure to come back in a few days’ time to take part in Final Voting and help decide which title from 2025 will be joining this illustrious list of former winners:

 

Previous Winners


Astro Bot
   


The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  


Elden Ring
  


Metroid Dread
  


The Last of Us Part II
  


Resident Evil 2
 


God of War
 


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
 


Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
 


Rocket League
 


Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
  


Super Mario 3D World
  


Journey
  


The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  


Mass Effect 2
 


Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
 


LittleBigPlanet
 


BioShock

Last edited by Veknoid_Outcast - 2 days ago

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FAQs:

Q - When does voting close?

A – Preliminary Voting closes on Monday, December 22.

Q - Can I change my vote/edit my voting form after submitting it?

A - Yes, you can edit your voting form up until we close voting.

Q - Do I have to select a game for every award?

A - Nope. Select your favourite for as many or as few categories as you wish.

Q - Why is game XXXXXXXX only listed for one of its genres and not the others?

A - Our past experiment where we allowed games to be nominated for all their various genres didn't work out well in practice. Everyone just voted for their favourite game in all its genres. Because each game could ultimately only be picked for its most popular genre, this resulted in many wasted votes (over half in some genres), and also meant some games made the Shortlists with just a handful of votes. In order to avoid that, each game will only be listed for one genre.

Q – But you picked the wrong genre!

A – Let us know if a game should be listed under a different genre (ideally with a link to back it up, such as the game's own website or a storefront listing) and we’ll correct it.

Q - You forgot game XXXXXXX, you idiots.

A - Hundreds of games release every year and, while we try to catch all of the best ones when compiling the Game of the Year lists for voting, we invariably miss some. If a game you wish to vote for is missing then post in this thread and we'll add it as soon as possible. Do note that games must have released in the west for the very first time in 2025 though. Remasters and Ports (enhanced or otherwise) also aren't eligible for any awards besides Best Remaster and Most Disappointing.

Q - Where's The Elder Scrolls VI/Fate of the Old Republic/XXXX for Most Anticipated?

A - For the Most Anticipated of Award, only games that have firm release date/window for next year have been included. That is why the likes of The Elder Scrolls VI aren't on the list. If you think a major game is missing from this list despite having a release date for next year then provide a good source announcing a solid 2026 release and we'll add it.

Q - When and how will the Winners be announced?

A - Winners will be announced in a series of articles (as well as in a thread I'll post) that we'll start publishing in early January. But remember, this is only the Preliminary Voting stage – be sure to come back in a week or so to take part in Final Voting and help determine the winners!



Thanks in advance for making your voice heard!



Lets all make sure nintendo takes home another championship guys



@firebush03 Thanks for this note: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9630620

I've asked @Machina to add Kirby Air Riders to the list of nominees for "Best Surprise of 2025".



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Veknoid_Outcast said:

@firebush03 Thanks for this note: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9630620

I've asked @Machina to add Kirby Air Riders to the list of nominees for "Best Surprise of 2025".

Cool! Thank you:)



Veknoid_Outcast said:

Q - When does voting close?

A – Preliminary Voting closes on Monday, December 22.

So you're saying I have five days to play Metroid Prime 4? Oh man...



Also, why is Hades II listed in the RPG category? Should be in the action category instead, no?



Hope Deltarune gets enough votes here to make the real poll. It's my pick for so many of these.



Try out my free game on Steam

2025 OpenCritic Prediction Leagues

mZuzek said:
Veknoid_Outcast said:

Q - When does voting close?

A – Preliminary Voting closes on Monday, December 22.

So you're saying I have five days to play Metroid Prime 4? Oh man...

Just vote for it anyway