Code Like It's 198x

Golden Joystick Awards

Computer & Video Games' readers' awards, from a Berkeley Square dinner to a global online vote

EventsSource-checked

Computer & Video Games announced its Golden Joysticks in July 1983: five awards for British software, voted for by readers. Ultimate's Jetpac was the first Game of the Year. The ceremonies moved from a Mayfair restaurant to a Thames riverboat, an army barracks and the Kensington Roof Gardens, EMAP widened the vote to its other magazines, and the awards still run today under Future, voted for online.

In July 1983 Computer & Video Games told its readers that it wanted to give “the best of British” a chance “to prove itself”. It would award five Golden Joysticks to British software houses that autumn, and the readers would pick the winners. The magazine hoped the prizes would “become the Oscars of our industry”. More than forty years later they are still being handed out, which makes them one of the oldest awards in video games, and for most of that time the winners have been chosen by public vote.

Fast facts

  • Started by: Computer & Video Games (C&VG), published by EMAP. Announced in the July 1983 issue.
  • Chosen by: readers’ votes, sent in on coupons cut from the magazine; online voting today.
  • First Game of the Year: Jetpac by Ultimate Play the Game, for 1983.
  • First ceremony: a dinner at Mortons in Berkeley Square, London, early in 1984, hosted by the Radio One DJ Dave Lee Travis.
  • Today: run by Future, with public voting and a ceremony in London each November.

A coupon and five categories

The first awards had five categories. Best Arcade-style Game would go to the most “addictive and thrilling” game of 1983. Best Strategy Game was for a game “to test the mind rather than the trigger-finger”, and Best Original Game for the most original idea. Software House of the Year was for “the best reputation for service, quality game and entertaining adverts”. C&VG promised to check readers’ suggestions with dealers and to “set some devious tests on the service side” for the main contenders. The fifth award, Game of the Year, was “the most coveted Golden Joystick” of all.

Readers voted on a coupon printed in the magazine and posted it to C&VG at Durrant House in London. The first announcement planned to present the awards at the Brainwave consumer electronics exhibition in November 1983. In the event, C&VG announced the winners in its March 1984 issue and reported the dinner in April. It said that “literally hundreds of games for all the popular micros” had been nominated.

The results for 1983:

At Mortons, Bug-Byte’s John Phillips and Matthew Smith collected the arcade award for Manic Miner. Carol Ward accepted Game of the Year for Ultimate, and Tim Stamper came up for Software House of the Year. Addictive Games put its nomination into its advertisements for Football Manager.

Not every reader liked the idea. In June 1984 an Atari owner wrote to complain that the prizes were bound to go to whoever made games for the Spectrum.

Riverboats, barracks and roof gardens

The awards grew each year. Adventure and Programmer of the Year categories were added for 1984, and readers were told the closing date was 31 December. C&VG reported in June 1985 that “several thousand” readers had voted, and that Ultimate had “swept the board”. Knight Lore was Game of the Year, with Activision’s Ghostbusters runner-up. Ultimate was Software House of the Year, “the Ultimate team” won Programmer of the Year, and Louise Stamper collected the awards at a lunch in London. Beyond’s Lords of Midnight won Best Strategy Game, Elite Best Original Game, and Ocean’s Daley Thompson’s Decathlon Best Arcade-style Game. A special award went to Softaid.

For the 1985 awards C&VG “pushed the boat out — literally”, hiring a Thames riverboat for an afternoon with champagne and a meal. Jools Holland of The Tube presented the awards with the editor, Tim Metcalfe, “resplendent in bright red suede shoes”. Melbourne House ended Ultimate’s run by taking both top awards: Game of the Year for The Way of the Exploding Fist and Software House of the Year. Paula Byrne and Geoff Heath collected them. Steven Crow was Programmer of the Year for Wizard’s Lair and Starquake, ahead of Jeff Minter.

In 1987, for the 1986 awards, the magazine “enlisted the help of the army” and took over Cadogan Hall at the Duke of York’s barracks on the King’s Road, followed by a visit to the Limelight nightclub. Holland presented the awards for the third time. US Gold’s Gauntlet was Game of the Year, Elite Systems Software House of the Year, and Andrew Braybrook Programmer of the Year; his Uridium won the arcade award. A new soundtrack category went to Rob Hubbard for Sanxion.

On Wednesday 9 March 1988 the awards moved to the Roof Gardens in Kensington, with Chris Tarrant as host. C&VG counted “a record six thousand entries”, and called the event the “5th birthday of Britain’s premier computer games awards”. Out Run won Game of the Year and US Gold Software House of the Year; Jon Ritman was Programmer of the Year, and Hewson’s Nebulus Best Original Game. The strategy award went to Vulcan from CCS. “‘What?’ went the critics. ‘Who?’ said the software people. Just goes to show how little we know.”

EMAP’s awards

In 1989 EMAP opened the vote to readers of its other magazines, Sinclair User, Commodore User and The One, and added awards sponsored by individual titles. Many prizes were now split between 8-bit and 16-bit games. At the Roof Gardens on 6 April 1989, again with Chris Tarrant, Ocean’s Operation Wolf was 8-bit Game of the Year and the Bitmap Brothers’ Speedball 16-bit Game of the Year. Ocean and Mirrorsoft were the 8-bit and 16-bit software houses of the year. Sega’s Thunder Blade won the C&VG Console Award.

By 1991 the magazine called the event “EMAP Image’s Golden Joystick Awards”, held on 4 April at the Kensington Roof Gardens; Anco’s Kick Off 2 was 16-bit Game of the Year and there were separate awards for PC and console games. The following year’s event was billed as the “Tenth EMAP Golden Joystick Awards”, hosted by Jonathan Ross, and added a Hand-Held Game of the Year, won by R-Type on the Game Boy.

By 1997 readers of all EMAP’s games magazines could vote. That year’s awards were sponsored by HMV “in association with Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation”, and readers voted on magazine categories such as Best-Looking Pages and Scoop of the Year as well as on games. Sega Saturn Magazine described the ceremony that November at the Café de Paris in London, and still called the Joysticks “the Oscars of the videogame industry”.

Later years

By October 2001 C&VG belonged to Dennis Publishing. The awards did not appear every year around then: public sources date the unbroken run of ceremonies from 2002. Edge printed the 2004 winners, with Doom 3 as Ultimate Game of the Year, and reported in 2005 that the awards, staged in association with The Sun, BBC Radio One, The Carphone Warehouse and others, had collected more than 200,000 votes in 19 categories. Jimmy Carr hosted, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas won five awards.

Today Future plc runs the Golden Joystick Awards, and votes are cast online through its website GamesRadar+. At the 2025 ceremony in London, in what The A.V. Club called the awards’ 43rd year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Ultimate Game of the Year and six other awards. The 2026 ceremony is scheduled for 11 November at the Troxy in London.

Sources

  • Computer & Video Games issue 21, July 1983: “Vote for our five Golden Joysticks” (the five categories; the Brainwave exhibition; “the Oscars of our industry”; “devious tests”).
  • Computer & Video Games issues 23 to 25, September to November 1983: nomination coupons; Software House of the Year open to distributors of overseas software.
  • Computer & Video Games issue 28, February 1984: announcement of the winners to come.
  • Computer & Video Games issue 29, March 1984: “The Golden Joystick Awards” (the 1983 winners and placings; “literally hundreds of games”).
  • Computer & Video Games issue 30, April 1984, p. 81: “1983 Golden Joystick Awards” (Mortons, Berkeley Square; Dave Lee Travis; John Phillips and Matthew Smith; Carol Ward; Tim Stamper).
  • Computer & Video Games issue 32, June 1984: reader’s letter on the awards and the Spectrum.
  • Computer & Video Games issue 36, October 1984: the 1984 categories and the closing date. Issue 39, January 1985: voting form.
  • Computer & Video Games issue 44, June 1985, p. 122: the 1984 awards (“several thousand” voters; Ultimate; the full list; Softaid).
  • Computer & Video Games issue 55, May 1986, pp. 90–91: “Golden Joystick Awards” for 1985 (the Thames riverboat; Jools Holland and Tim Metcalfe; the roll of winners).
  • Computer & Video Games issue 63, January 1987: the new soundtrack category. Issue 66, April 1987, pp. 100–101: the 1986 awards (Cadogan Hall; the Limelight; “Roll of Honour”).
  • Computer & Video Games issue 77, March 1988: Eugene Lacey’s history of the first five years of awards.
  • Computer & Video Games issue 79, May 1988, pp. 38–39: “Golden Joystick Awards 1988” (9 March; the Roof Gardens; Chris Tarrant; six thousand entries; the winners).
  • Computer & Video Games issue 90, April 1989: voting extended to Sinclair User, Commodore User and The One. Issue 92, June 1989, pp. 62–63: “Golden Joysticks 1989” (the winners; the Roof Gardens on 6 April; Chris Tarrant).
  • Addictive Games advertisement, Computer & Video Games issue 36, October 1984: Football Manager “Strategy Game of the Year, 1983 (Nominated)”.
  • Computer & Video Games issue 115, June 1991, p. 10: “The Golden Joystick Awards” (4 April 1991; Kick Off 2).
  • Go! issue 8, June 1992, given away with Computer & Video Games: the Tenth EMAP Golden Joystick Awards; Jonathan Ross; Hand-Held Game of the Year.
  • Computer & Video Games issues 190 to 192, September to November 1997: the 1997 categories and sponsors; magazine categories covering “all the EMAP games mags”.
  • Sega Saturn Magazine issue 28, February 1998: the 1997/98 Golden Joysticks at the Café de Paris.
  • Edge issue 144, January 2005: the Golden Joystick Awards 2004 winners. Edge Christmas 2005 issue: “Golden greats” (Jimmy Carr; 200,000 votes; 19 categories; San Andreas).
  • Wikipedia, “Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year” and “Golden Joystick Awards” (web, secondary): the ceremonies from 2002; online voting through GamesRadar+. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Joystick_Award_for_Game_of_the_Year
  • The A.V. Club, “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 cleans up at the Golden Joystick Awards”, November 2025 (web, secondary): operated by Future; public vote; the 43rd year. https://www.avclub.com/golden-joystick-awards-2025
  • Future Events, “Golden Joystick Awards” (web, secondary): the 2026 ceremony at Troxy, London, 11 November 2026. https://www.futureevents.uk/goldenjoystickawards2025/home

See also

Checked. Verified against primary sources and signed off by a person.