The Game Awards’ eligibility system can sometimes create strange situations for games released late in the year. Every year has a cutoff date, usually sometime in mid-November, meaning games released after that point are pushed into the following year’s awards instead of immediately competing against the year’s other major releases. For 2026, The Game Awards is scheduled for December 10, while its eligibility rules continue the same basic system used in previous years.
December releases are perhaps the clearest example of this, since a game launching after The Game Awards’ November eligibility window cannot realistically compete at the ceremony taking place weeks later. Several major games have ended up being recognized in the awards cycle following their release year, although it’s worth highlighting that these games have never won the big one: The Game of the Year Award at The Game Awards. Perhaps the strangest situation yet is how one 2025 game was nominated last year and remains eligible for 2026.
Dispatch Could Appear At The Game Awards for Two Consecutive Years in a Row
Dispatch now presents a particularly unusual version of the cut-off date issues with the show. The episodic superhero narrative game from AdHoc Studio released all eight episodes of its first season by November 12, 2025, putting it ahead of The Game Awards’ November 21 eligibility cutoff for the 2025 ceremony. It even received a nomination for Best Debut Indie Game in 2025, meaning it was present at the show. Yet Polygon has confirmed that Dispatch has been confirmed as eligible for The Game Awards 2026 as well, with AdHoc telling the publication that Geoff Keighley confirmed the game’s eligibility. This gives Dispatch the unusual distinction of potentially competing for a second consecutive year.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.
What’s worth noting is that, despite the cutoff and eligibility date, Game Awards voters may not have been able to play the game. There was no early access for press, and voting takes place well before the cutoff date, which was before every Dispatch episode was out. AdHoc explained that judges had only played roughly half of the season when nominations were being considered, which led to the 2025 nomination and the 2026 eligibility.
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Image via AdHoc Studio -
Image via AdHoc Games -
Image via AdHoc Studio
Dispatch would go on to pick up nominations and wins at other game award shows. Dispatch received six nominations at the DICE Awards, including Game of the Year, along with three Game Developers Choice Awards nominations. It also won three awards at the BAFTA Games Awards and received a nomination for Best Game. The broader awards season gave voting bodies more time to experience the complete Dispatch season, something The Game Awards’ early nomination window did not necessarily allow in 2025.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Now, Dispatch has another opportunity at The Game Awards, and the circumstances make the 2026 awards race particularly unusual. At least in recent memory, this is the first time that a game was eligible for two years in a row and could potentially be present at both. But that’s the catch there. There’s a major difference between being eligible for two years in a row and being present two years in a row, so it’ll be interesting to see if/how this eligibility plays out.
