Xbox Game Studios Titles Up For Several Awards At Golden Joysticks 2025

Indiana Jones, South of Midnight & more involved

by Ben Kerry Fri 3rd Oct 2025

Xbox Game Studios Titles Up For Several Awards At Golden Joysticks 2025

Update [Tue 4th Nov 2025, 1:15pm]: Xbox does have a GOTY nomination at the Golden Joysticks 2025 after all!

Original Story: Voting for this year's Golden Joystick Awards has gone live today, and while Xbox misses out on any Game of the Year nominations this time around, several of its titles are up for various other awards at the 2025 edition of the show.

Xbox's Deep South-inspired adventure South of Midnight is up for two awards — 'Best Soundtrack and 'Best Lead Performer' — while Indiana Jones: The Order of Giants is also up for 'Best Lead Performer' alongside 'Best Supporting Performer' and 'Best Game Expansion'. Other Xbox Game Studios highlights include Gears: Reloaded, Oblivion Remastered and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 in the 'Best Remake / Remaster' category, Call of Duty: Warzone and Minecraft in the 'Still Playing Award' and more.

We think South of Midnight is worth some special recognition here as its April release feels like a long way away now (it's my personal GOTY pick at this stage), while it's good to see Xbox/Bethesda/Activision games also fill out some of these award categories. It's a shame there's no Golden Joystick GOTY shout, but maybe next year, eh?

Down below is the full list of nominations in each category, and we've bolded all of the Xbox-developed entries as well. To cast your votes, check out the voting link right at the bottom of the article.

Best Storytelling

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
SILENT HILL f
Blue Prince
Mafia: The Old Country
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy -

Best Multiplayer Game

Battlefield 6
PEAK
ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN
Split Fiction
Mario Kart World
REMATCH

Best Visual Design

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The Midnight Walk
Ghost of Yōtei
Sword of the Sea
Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Best Indie Game

Blue Prince
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Wanderstop
Skin Deep
despelote
Herdling
Abiotic Factor
Baby Steps
Caves of Qud
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Best Indie Game - Self Published

Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hades II
Sword of the Sea
PEAK
Keep Driving
Spilled!
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
DELTARUNE
Promise Mascot Agency
Consume Me

Still Playing Award - PC and Console

Minecraft
Dead by Daylight
HELLDIVERS 2
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT
Satisfactory
Call of Duty: Warzone
Marvel Rivals
Fortnite
Apex Legends
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X
GTA Online
Warframe

Still Playing Award - Mobile

Call of Duty: Mobile
Pokémon GO
Subway Surfers
Clash Royale
Honkai: Star Rail
Genshin Impact
Zenless Zone Zero
Roblox
Free Fire
PUBG MOBILE

Best Remake / Remaster

METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
The Talos Principle: Reawakened
Gears of War: Reloaded
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

Studio of the Year

Team Cherry
Sandfall Interactive
Aggro Crab and Landfall
Bloober Team
Sloclap
Rebellion

Best Game Expansion

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants
Lies of P: Overture
No Man's Sky: Voyagers
Atomfall Story Expansion Pack: The Red Strain
Assassin's Creed Shadows - Claws of Awaji
Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest

Best Audio Design

Ghost of Yōtei
Battlefield 6
Donkey Kong Bananza
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Two Point Museum
Cronos: The New Dawn

Best Soundtrack

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
South of Midnight
SILENT HILL f
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream
DELTARUNE
Sword of the Sea

Best Lead Performer

Jennifer English - Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Troy Baker - Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Tom McKay - Henry in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Alex Jordan - Jan Dolski in The Alters
Erika Ishii - Atsu in Ghost of Yōtei
Adriyan Rae - Hazel in South of Midnight

Best Supporting Performer

Troy Baker - Higgs Monaghan in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Jim High - Erik in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Ben Starr - Verso in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Lucy Griffiths - Alva in Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream
Logan Cunningham - Hades II
Marios Gavrilis - Emmerich Voss in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

PC Game of the Year

Hollow Knight: Silksong
The Alters
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
PEAK
Abiotic Factor
Dune: Awakening

Console Game of the Year

Donkey Kong Bananza
Monster Hunter Wilds
Ghost of Yōtei
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
Mario Kart World

Best Early Access Game

Grounded 2
Schedule I
9 Kings
R.E.P.O.
skate.
White Knuckle

Best Gaming Hardware

Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller
WD_BLACK SN8100 NVMe SSD
Elgato Facecam 4K
Razer Blade 16
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

Best Game Adaptation

Devil May Cry (Netflix)
Arcane Season 2 (Netflix)
The Last of Us Season 2 (HBO)
A Minecraft Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Secret Level (Prime Video)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Paramount Pictures)

Best Game Trailer

Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2
Battlefield 6: Official Launch Live Action Trailer
Rhythm Doctor - Official Release Date Trailer
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn - Announcement Trailer
ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN - Announcement Trailer
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Official CGI Trailer – Live a Life Medieval

Most Wanted Game

Grand Theft Auto VI
Resident Evil Requiem
The Witcher 4
Black Myth: Zhong Kui
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Night
007 First Light
EXODUS
Subnautica 2
Light No Fire
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
SAROS
The Blood of Dawnwalker
Crimson Desert
KINGDOM HEARTS IV
Marvel's Wolverine
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam
OD - KNOCK
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy

Are you voting for any of these games? Talk to us about these Golden Joystick nominations down below.

[source gamesradar.com]

Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin' in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he's not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that's far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.

1
awp69
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

Expedition 33 isn’t even in the Console GoTY list. That already makes these awards null and void.

2
Weebleman
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

South of Midnight would get my vote for soundtrack. The rest of the game was not for me unfortunately.

Id like to see Blue Prince do well.

3
Lup
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

South of Midnight OST > Expedition 33 OST.

That's my hot take.

4
BAMozzy
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

I can see maybe Xbox winning 1 or 2 awards here - Troy Baker as Indiana Jones as he really does a great Harrison Ford and maybe Best Remake/Remaster with 3 out of the 6 games nominated.

The rest of the categories they are nominated in, I'd be surprised if other games didn't win...

5
Balaam_
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

Most of these nominations are well thought out and I could easily see Xbox winning a whole bunch—but how on earth is the janky, straight up broken Oblivion Remastered up for ‘Best Remake/Remaster’?? It’s a shoe-in for ‘Worst Performance’.

6
Coletrain
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

I agree, SoM was such a fantastic audio and visual experience (just a tad repetitive in the combat), but some stiff competition for OST with Clair Obscur which I thought was hauntingly beautiful and stayed in my head longer

7
Fiendish-Beaver
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

How on Earth is Gears of War: Reloaded up for a Best Remaster award? It was so badly done. Giving it a performance boost that could have been delivered with a patch had it not also released on the PlayStation, does not mean it was a good remaster. The AI that controlled Dom was completely broken, a complete mess. It's a fun game, sure, and I enjoyed going through it twice to get all the single-player achievements, but if it wins Best Remaster, then we know where all the money from the Game Pass subscription increase has gone; it's lining the pockets of the judges of this sham...

8
M20B25
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

Battlefield 6 isn't even out and has nominations

9
IssaBrvndo
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

I like that they have a best remaster award. Wish the bigger game awards would also have that. That’s the way to go IMO

10
Ricky-Spanish
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

Best remake will be interesting metal gear remake was very good but like oblivion the performance isn't great!

11
IssaBrvndo
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

@M20B25 remember, no preorders….crazy it has nominations what I’m guessing it based off of the beta hahaha

12
HarmanSmith
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

IMHO, Expedition 33 must have been nominated for GOTY.
That game and South of Midnight are my faves from this year so far.

13
Trmn8r
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

No Expedition 33 even on the list for GotY makes this awards a complete joke and sham of a show.

14
somnambulance
Fri 3rd Oct 2025

Sonic Racing Crossworlds nominated for Console Game of the Year? Get out of here.

It’s too soon for GotY. October is stacked.

I hope Xbox wins for the Minecraft movie, and I suppose we can say Xbox for that OD trailer. I liked most of the first party games, but they’ve nearly uniformly been 7/10s across the board for me, nothing GotY worthy. There’s some truly baffling choices in this list.

15
Ryu_Niiyama
Sat 4th Oct 2025

Hope South of Midnight wins. That game would not let me go until I beat it. Such a lovely adventure.

16
SpecialT
Sat 4th Oct 2025

I love South of Midnight and the soundtrack is sublime. I hope it wins that category.

17
Titntin
Sat 4th Oct 2025

@Weebleman I was thinking exactly the same with South of Midnight the gameplay feeling rudimentary at best ( with some stand out boss battles). However the acting was decent and the soundtrack was great. Its a shame it doesnt stand a chance in its catagory against Expedition 33.

18
DippleHonk
Sat 4th Oct 2025

@somnambulance "Sonic Racing Crossworlds nominated for Console Game of the Year? Get out of here." It seems your surprised that the games on this list purely because its "Sonic" and not the games quality itself.
Metacritic - 82-88
Metacritic User - 9.1
IGN - 9/10
Steam - 10/10
And pure world of mouth of this is REALY big. Its no surprise CrossWorlds is up here and you need to do your own research my. friend

19
Jenkinss
Sat 4th Oct 2025

Why are there 2 different GOTY categories, and E33 isn't on either? Clown shoes.

The only decent awards show was DICE and even that has gone downhill in the past 5 years.

I like Oblivion for remake of the year. Like many games that play like ass on other platforms this gen, it was nearly flawless on XSX with VRR when I played it and I am someone who is sensitive to frame drops.

20
Weebleman
Sat 4th Oct 2025

@Titntin Yeah, I think 33 will win it. Which isnt a bad thing of course. I just loved the mood of South of Midnight, and that is pretty much 100% down to the audio for me. It was a steady enough game, or as some say, a good gamepass game, but I just wanted it to have a little more meat on the bones if you get me.

Boss battles are the exception as you say. Some lovely little bits in there.

21
somnambulance
Sat 4th Oct 2025

@DippleHonk It’s an 83 on OpenCritic. There’s literally dozens of games that have a higher overall critical score than Sonic Crossworlds.

Can’t place the anti-Sonic badge on me. Lol. Sonic Frontiers was one of my favorite games of 2022 even if people were panning it left and right and I even loved the virtual novel murder mystery game Team Sonic did a couple years ago. I’m definitely sympathetic to Sonic getting more love. I’m not surprised it’s up there because it’s Sonic, but because it’s not exactly been a hot topic game and also because it didn’t even outsell Mario Kart World its first week in sales.

And I mean, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn’t nominated over it? What? Come on now… I’m basically the biggest detractor of E33 here and even I’ll admit that game should be nominated for GotY.

22
Kaloudz
Sun 5th Oct 2025

The absence of E33 for GotY is complete and utter nonsense. Sorry, I know they're nominated in most other categories, but GotY should have been there for them.

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