Voting for the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards is now live, with several VR nominations across a few categories.
The online ceremony will be held next month in November, and there are 18 categories available to the public. A few categories, including Ultimate Game of the Year, don’t have a shortlist just yet, but the bulk of the ceremony’s shortlists are here.
There’s no dedicated category for VR, so VR hardware, games and studios are splattered across a bunch of different areas, going up against some tough competition. There’s at least one VR nominee in half of the 18 categories this year, which is great recognition of the industry’s massive year.
Strangely, the Oculus Quest 2 is nominated for Best Gaming Hardware, despite not being available to the public yet. Given it’s a publicly-voted award, that’s an odd situation. You might get your hands on a Quest 2 in a few weeks before voting closes, but in the meantime you’ll have to settle for our review.
Here’s a list of every category featuring VR, with the VR nomination highlighted in italics:
Best Audio
The Last of Us: Part II
Ghost of Tsushima
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Paradise Killer
Call of Duty: Warzone
Half-Life: Alyx
Streets Of Rage 4
Resident Evil 3
Best Game Community
Fall Guys
Minecraft
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Dreams
Sea of Thieves
Warframe
Fortnite
Final Fantasy XIV
Best Game Expansion
Control: AWE
No Man’s Sky: Origins
Total War: WARHAMMER 2 – The Warden and the Paunch
Pokemon Sword & Shield – Expansion Pass
Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.3 – Reflections in Crystal
The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon
Best Gaming Hardware
PC Engine Mini
Oculus Quest 2
Razer Kishi mobile pad for xCloud
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition
Vulcan 120 Aimo Keyboard
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2
Best Visual Design
Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Spiritfarer
Microsoft Flight Simulator (VR support coming Fall)
Half-Life: Alyx
The Last of Us Part II
Final Fantasy VII Remake
PC Game of the Year
Paradise Killer
Microsoft Flight Simulator (VR support coming Fall)
Hades
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Crusader Kings III
Valorant
Half-Life: Alyx
Death Stranding
PlayStation Game of the Year
The Last of Us Part II
Nioh 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Marvel’s Iron Man VR
Spelunky 2
Dreams
Fall Guys
Studio of the Year
Mediatonic
Naughty Dog
Respawn
Paradox Studios
Sucker Punch
Infinity Ward
Media Molecule
Supergiant Games
It’s fantastic to see excellent VR games, such as Saints & Sinners, Alyx and Iron Man VR, nominated in the same categories some of the year’s best PC and console titles. It’ll be tough for them to take home the gold, but fingers crossed.
The 38th Golden Joystick Awards Ceremony will take place next month in November and voting is available online here.
