The Game Awards 2026: date, time and how to watch
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The ceremony takes place on December 10 in Los Angeles, streaming free and debuting on Disney+ and Roblox. Check the start time in your region and how to vote.
The Game Awards 2026 take place on Thursday, December 10, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and the broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT) with the opening act. It is the first time the ceremony hosted by Geoff Keighley will be available on Disney+ and also on Roblox, where only users aged 18 and over will be able to watch, vote and claim virtual items inside The Block. The show remains free to watch on YouTube, Twitch, X and TikTok, and the nominees will be announced in mid-November, a few weeks before the awards night.
Confirmed date, venue and the size of this edition
The date was made official in August, when organizers confirmed the ceremony would return to the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The venue, built for large-scale broadcasts, also hosts the red carpet and the interviews that feed partner coverage in the hours before the show.
A limited number of public tickets went on sale on October 29 through AXS. Organizers stress there is no open guest list for the general public: anyone who wants to attend in person must buy a ticket through the theater's official box office. For everyone else, the promise is a night of awards, world premieres, musical performances and surprises — the format that turned the ceremony into the industry's main stage for announcements.
Executive producers are Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim. Richard Preuss directs, LeRoy Bennett serves as creative director and Lara Karchmer is co-executive producer. Keighley, notably, is not part of the jury and does not vote — one of the safeguards organizers use to keep the host separate from the selection of winners.
Start times around the world
The official broadcast has two parts: the opening act and the main ceremony. The time published by Disney+ and the official website refers to the opening act, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern (4:30 p.m. Pacific). The main show is expected to begin around 8 p.m. in New York and 5 p.m. in Los Angeles.
| Region | Opening act | Main ceremony (expected) |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles (PT) | 4:30 p.m. Dec 10 | 5 p.m. Dec 10 |
| New York (ET) | 7:30 p.m. Dec 10 | 8 p.m. Dec 10 |
| Brasília (BRT) | 9:30 p.m. Dec 10 | 10 p.m. Dec 10 |
| Lisbon (WET) | 12:30 a.m. Dec 11 | 1 a.m. Dec 11 |
| Madrid and Berlin (CET) | 1:30 a.m. Dec 11 | 2 a.m. Dec 11 |
| Tokyo (JST) | 9:30 a.m. Dec 11 | 10 a.m. Dec 11 |
| Sydney (AEDT) | 11:30 a.m. Dec 11 | 12 p.m. Dec 11 |
For viewers in Europe, the ceremony runs past midnight: the opening act starts in the early hours of December 11 in Lisbon and one hour later in Madrid and Berlin. In Japan and Australia, the show lands on the morning of December 11.
Where to watch live for free
The main broadcast is free and requires no subscription. The official channels confirmed for 2026 repeat last year's list:
- YouTube, on the official The Game Awards channel, with open chat and pre-show coverage;
- Twitch, on the event's channel and on accredited co-streamers;
- X and TikTok, with simultaneous streams and clips throughout the night;
- Bilibili, for audiences in China;
- Disney+, in selected international markets — the ceremony's debut on the platform.
The official website, thegameawards.com, gathers the links for every stream and also hosts the public vote. Organizers encourage co-streaming: creators can sign up as official co-streamers and comment on the ceremony live on their own channels.
"Yes, we welcome and encourage co-streaming. Sign up here as an official co-streamer."
Disney+ streams the show for the first time
The announcement came on November 12 and marks the ceremony's arrival on a subscription streaming service. Disney+ will carry the event live from 7:30 p.m. Eastern, and the company promises "major announcements and surprises" from some of Disney's most anticipated gaming titles throughout the night.
"The arrival of The Game Awards on Disney+ further connects fans with the video game stories and characters they love, while adding to a growing slate of gaming-related programming."
The release does not specify which countries will get the stream, mentioning only "select international markets". For viewers outside those markets, the free channels remain the safest route: YouTube, Twitch, X and TikTok will carry the full show regardless of Disney+ availability.
Roblox: an 18+ venue inside The Block
The other debut is on Roblox. For the first time, an external awards show will be streamed live inside the platform, in the virtual venue The Block. The room is restricted to users aged 18 and over, who will be able to watch alongside other players, vote in categories and claim virtual merchandise items while the show airs.
𝕏The Game Awards (@thegameawards) on X"On December 10th, #TheGameAwards makes history as the show will stream live in @Roblox for the first time. Fans 18+ will be able to watch, vote and interact LIVE alongside gaming's biggest night. More details coming soon."
The age restriction is not a minor detail. According to figures cited by Roblox itself, users 18 and over accounted for about 29% of global age-checked daily active users in the third quarter of 2026, and 37% in the United States — a growing share, up from 27% and 33% respectively in the previous quarter. That is precisely the audience the awards show wants to reach with an interactive experience.
Roblox said it will release more details about the event in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, including when the room opens and the rules for claiming virtual items. Checking the app and the platform's official channels during the week of December 10 is the safest way to catch it.
Nominees, voting and the dates that matter
The list of nominees has not been released yet. The official website points to an announcement in mid-November; specialized outlets report November 17 at 9 a.m. PT (noon ET). From then on, the public can vote in every category on the awards website.
The official calendar includes deadlines that explain why some releases miss the cut:
- November 20, 9 p.m. PT: eligibility cutoff — a game must be commercially available by then;
- November 30: specific deadline for the Players' Voice category, which accepts slightly later releases;
- December 9, 6 p.m. PT: public voting closes;
- December 10: ceremony and winners announced.
The final result blends two weights: 90% for the international jury, made up of more than 100 media outlets and creators, and 10% for fan votes. Organizers defend the formula as a way to avoid penalizing platform-exclusive games and to reduce the risk of coordinated manipulation on social media.
"Creating a 100% fan vote presents several challenges. First, given that some games are exclusive to one platform, a public vote puts single-platform games at an inherent disadvantage over multi-platform titles. In addition, it is important that winners cannot be 'socially engineered' in any way."
Jurors vote without knowing the winners in advance, and neither sponsors nor advisory board members see the results before the public. Organizers also state there is no entry fee and no formal submission process: every game released within the deadline is automatically eligible.
The 2025 record and why ratings matter
The 2025 edition drew 171 million livestreams across all platforms, according to figures released by the organization itself — an 11% increase over 2024. The number helps explain the expansion to Disney+ and Roblox: the ceremony is no longer just a trophy night, but one of the entertainment industry's largest marketing events.
For studios, the math is straightforward: a trailer shown during the ceremony reaches tens of millions of people within hours, with immediate pickup on social media and in specialist press. That is how the show came to concentrate announcements that might otherwise wait for dedicated events — and why stage time is so fiercely disputed.
For viewers, the effect is mixed. If on one hand the ceremony became a launch showcase, on the other, criticism has grown that the time devoted to actual awards has shrunk. Organizers try to balance both sides with categories presented in blocks and short speeches, but the tension between awards show and announcement showcase remains part of the annual debate.
What to expect on December 10
The script is familiar: red carpet, musical opening, blocks of technical categories, the main awards and a string of world premieres spread across nearly three hours. Disney+ has already signaled it will use the slot to present news from franchises tied to its studios, while organizers promise musical performances and unannounced surprises.
Among the games likely to dominate conversations is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, from Naughty Dog, which according to director Neil Druckmann has entered the final stage of production and will show gameplay and story news in 2027 — still without a release date. Titles slated for the following year are expected to appear in trailers even without competing in this edition.
The release calendar should also shape coverage in the following weeks. Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United, for instance, moved its launch up to February 4, 2027, and major franchises often use the ceremony to confirm release windows.
Viewers who only care about the top prize can plan around the final half hour: Game of the Year is usually announced near the end of the broadcast. To catch the announcements, though, tuning in from the opening act is the better bet — that is when the first reveals and the show's own presentation tend to happen.
How to get ready
The practical checklist: set aside the night of Thursday, December 10, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET; use YouTube or Twitch for the free stream; keep the official website open to vote until December 9; and, for the interactive experience, check on Roblox whether The Block room is available for your account — access is restricted to verified users aged 18 and over.
Viewers in Europe should adjust for the time difference: in Lisbon the ceremony starts in the early hours of December 11, one hour later in Madrid and Berlin, and on the morning of December 11 in Tokyo. Our games coverage will follow the main announcements and winners throughout the night.
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