Dispatch Is GOTY Eligible at Game Awards for Second Year in a Row

Oct 07, 2026 - 22:19

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Dispatch Is GOTY Eligible at Game Awards for Second Year in a Row

Published Oct 7, 2026, 1:47 PM EDT

Oli Welsh has been covering the business and culture of video games for two decades. He started out writing for Edge and other publications (specializing in MMOs and Blizzard, as cover for his World of Warcraft playtime) before joining Eurogamer, where he worked for 14 years as reviews editor, deputy editor, and editor-in-chief; Eurogamer won many Games Media Awards during his tenure. At Polygon, he writes about film and TV as well as games, and provides news, analysis, and criticism on the entertainment we love and the industries that make it, all from his home in London. He loves role-playing, racing, puzzles, tactics, exploration, storytelling, Nintendo, mysteries, spies, fantasy, reality, cars, and classic cinema. He wanted to be a movie critic when he grew up, and now he’s definitely grown up, and occasionally is one. He considers this a win.

AdHoc's episodic game was released before the 2025 eligibility deadline, but not in time for judges to play the full season

Superheroes in costume stand in a boardroom in Dispatch

This might be a first: Dispatch, the episodic superhero narrative game, is eligible for all the major categories at The Game Awards for the second year running.

Representatives for the developer AdHoc Studio told Polygon that Dispatch's eligibility for the 2026 awards had been confirmed by TGA owner and host Geoff Keighley. This is despite the fact that all eight episodes of the game's first season were released by Nov. 12, 2025 — before the Nov. 21 eligibility cutoff date for the 2025 awards.

That doesn't mean judges were able to play the whole season in time, however. Voting for nominations at The Game Awards usually takes place earlier in November. In a statement provided via email, AdHoc said, "Last year we were nominated for Best Debut Indie Game even though judges had only played half the season, which was pretty wild and definitely meant a lot to our team." At the time, AdHoc did not provide early copies of episodes to press ahead of their release dates, so jury members were in the midst of the game as nominations were being considered.

It's understandable that AdHoc is hoping The Game Awards jury will consider Dispatch a second time around. Although it secured a Debut Indie Game nomination at the time, the game performed even better at awards ceremonies that took place after the end of the calendar year, when the full season's impact had a chance to sink in with voting bodies. Dispatch was nominated for six awards, including Game of the Year, at the DICE awards; received three nominations at the Game Developers Choice awards; and won three awards at the BAFTA Games Awards, as well as securing a Best Game nomination.

Dispatch may face an uphill battle for consideration by The Game Awards jury in 2026. The jury tends to be quite selective within the eligibility criteria. For example, early-access games and expansion packs are technically eligible in all major categories, but seldom recognized. The same goes for games released late in the previous year, after the eligibility deadline for that year's show.

But the announcement gives it a shot, confirming a surprise eligibility for one of 2025's most well-reviewed games.