The Best Game Trailer category at the 43rd annual Golden Joystick Awards 2025 was won by Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2, marking a high-profile pre-release accolade for Rockstar Games' forthcoming title. The Golden Joystick Awards, billed as the world's longest-running video game awards, are decided by public vote, with over 21 million votes cast across all 2025 categories. The ceremony was held in central London on Thursday, 20 November 2025, hosted by Resident Evil Village actor Maggie Robertson, and live-streamed across Twitch, YouTube, X, Steam, and gamesradar.com (Dawkins, 2025). The Best Game Trailer category recognises the most impactful piece of promotional video produced during the eligibility window of 1 November 2024 to 3 October 2025, evaluating craft, atmosphere, cultural resonance, and the ability to generate audience anticipation.
Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2 was published by Rockstar Games on 6 May 2025, more than seventeen months after the franchise-record-breaking debut trailer of December 2023. The new spot reintroduced co-protagonists Lucia and Jason against the neon-soaked vistas of the re-imagined state of Leonida, leaning on a soundtrack cue of Pop Smoke's "Hello" to underpin a montage of beach life, criminal enterprise, and high-fidelity character work. The trailer rapidly accumulated hundreds of millions of views across YouTube and X within its opening week, re-igniting industry-wide speculation about the title's then-anticipated 2025 release window before Take-Two Interactive subsequently confirmed a delay into 2026. Its win at the Golden Joystick Awards therefore reflects both technical craft and the unparalleled cultural footprint commanded by the Grand Theft Auto franchise (Loveridge, 2025).
The Best Game Trailer 2025 shortlist comprised six finalists, illustrating the breadth of marketing approaches across the year. Alongside Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2, the nominees were:
The category placed Rockstar's heavily-trailed cinematic against a mix of live-action spectacle (Battlefield), idiosyncratic indie marketing (Rhythm Doctor), and prestige CGI (Kingdom Come: Deliverance II), making the win a notable statement about the perceived dominance of GTA 6's promotional materials among the voting public (Loveridge, 2025).
The Best Game Trailer win was one of two Golden Joystick honours collected by Grand Theft Auto VI on the night, alongside the Most Wanted Game award, which the title secured against a deep field including Resident Evil Requiem, The Witcher 4, 007 First Light, Marvel's Wolverine, Kingdom Hearts 4, and Crimson Desert (Loveridge, 2025). Together, the two trophies confirm that GTA 6 dominated the pre-release conversation of 2025 despite not yet being playable, with public voters effectively endorsing both the marketing material and the anticipation it generated. The result also serves as an early industry signal of the commercial scale Rockstar is expected to command at launch, with analysts already projecting GTA 6 as the largest entertainment release in history.
The 2025 Golden Joystick Awards were overwhelmingly defined by Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which secured a record-equalling seven trophies, including Ultimate Game of the Year, Studio of the Year, Best Storytelling, Best Soundtrack, and Best Visual Design, matching Larian Studios' 2023 haul with Baldur's Gate 3 (Dawkins, 2025). Other notable winners included Ghost of Yotei (Console Game of the Year, Best Audio Design), Hollow Knight: Silksong (PC Game of the Year, Best Indie Game – Self Published), Peak (Best Multiplayer Game), and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Best Remake/Remaster). In this context, the Best Game Trailer win is the principal Golden Joystick recognition that Grand Theft Auto VI could realistically receive prior to launch, with the title ineligible for most game-of-the-year categories until its release in 2026.
The Golden Joystick Awards combine industry publisher nominations, a curated shortlist drawn up by a judging panel of editors from GamesRadar, PC Gamer, Edge, and Retro Gamer, and a public-vote final round (Dawkins, 2025). The format means the Best Game Trailer win reflects audience response rather than purely critical assessment, aligning with the populist character of the awards. The 21-million-vote total across all categories underscores the scale of public participation, lending the GTA 6 Trailer 2 victory a substantive popular mandate, even allowing for the franchise's well-documented capacity to mobilise its fandom in online polls.
Dawkins, D. (2025) Golden Joystick Awards 2025: Check out the winners on our Steam page. GamesRadar+. Available at: https://www.gamesradar.com/goldenjoystickawards/ (Accessed: 21 November 2025).
Loveridge, S. (2025) All the Golden Joystick Awards 2025 winners revealed. GamesRadar+, 20 November. Available at: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/events-conferences/golden-joystick-awards-2025-all-winners/ (Accessed: 21 November 2025).
Rockstar Games (2025) Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2. Rockstar Games, 6 May. Available at: https://www.rockstargames.com/VI (Accessed: 21 November 2025).
Take-Two Interactive (2025) Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports Results for Fiscal First Quarter 2026. Take-Two Interactive Investor Relations. Available at: https://www.take2games.com/ir (Accessed: 21 November 2025).