[1] Any game released before a certain date in November prior to the ceremony is eligible for award consideration.

[4] As a result, any game released after the cutoff date is eligible in the following year's ceremony,[1] such as 2018's Super Smash Bros.

Ultimate nominations at the Game Awards 2019;[5] similarly, games released between the ballot due date in early November and the cutoff date in mid-to-late November are often overlooked, such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in both 2019 and 2020[a] and Demon's Souls and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2020.

[11][12][13] Since 2017, the announcement of the winner has been preceded by a medley performance of the scores of each nominee by the Game Awards Orchestra, conducted by Lorne Balfe.

[16] The award is traditionally accepted by the director of the winning game or an executive from the studio; the first award in 2014 was accepted by Dragon Age: Inquisition executive producer Mark Darrah and BioWare general manager Aaryn Flynn.