The New York Videogame Critics Circle (NYVGCC) is going big for the 2026 New York Game Awards with a two-day festival hosted at the renowned SVA Theatre in Manhattan on Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Jan. 18. In celebration of the awards 15th anniversary, NYVGCC is thrilled to reveal that the first night of the festival, GG Fest, will end with a worldwide exclusive Supergiant Games: Unplugged concert featuring award-winning composer Darren Korb and longtime collaborator Ashley Barrett.
“We continue to grow our programming for the New York Game Awards each year, but our organization felt a special pull to go even bigger while paying homage to our roots for our 15th anniversary,” said Harold Goldberg, co-founder and president, NYVGCC. “The expansion to a two-day festival speaks to the power of what we’ve been able to grow with our organization, and we hope people enjoy the content line-up we’ve secured that celebrates the best of games and the best of New York. There’s so much more to reveal!”
NYVGCC president Harold Goldberg and 2020 Andrew Yoon Legend Award recipient and former president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aimé, will co-host the 15th annual New York Games Awards on Sunday, Jan. 18. Tickets for the GG Fest and NY Game Awards are $80 each or combined in a bundle package for $140 with preferred seating at the NY Game Awards and available for purchase through Eventbrite. Additional details on the GG Fest lineup, Legend winner and more will be announced at a later date.
The New York Game Awards is NYVGCC’s leading fundraiser to support its nonprofit Playing with Purpose writing program, which brings comprehensive classes and workshops in journalism and game narrative writing to schools and shelters across New York City. Their most recent classes connect them with students and interns at Laboratory School for Finance and Technology, The High School of Fashion Industries, Ellis Prep, Mott Hall 3 Middle School, TAPco and others.
The New York Game Awards is an annual award show produced by the nonprofit New York Videogame Critics Circle to recognize outstanding achievement in video games. The first awards were held in 2012 to honor the previous year’s contributions to the video game industry. New York Videogame Critics Circle’s goals are to promote education within the worlds of video game writing and journalism in the New York City area.
The 14th New York Game Awards returned to SVA Theatre on January 21, 2025 to celebrate one of the best years in gaming and honoring Sam Lake as our Legend Award Winner!
Why Do We Put on the New York Game Awards?
Yes, we love to celebrate our favorite games and the people who make them a reality. But The New York Game Awards is more than just an award show!
The New York Game Awards is our annual charity event. The New York Videogame Critics teaches and mentors underserved youth in order to create more diverse pathways towards careers in games journalism and game development. Through our Playing with Purpose writing programs, we provide students with the tools to become successful in the games industry.
Our interns are heavily involved with The New York Game Awards. At the 2023 awards, Senior Intern, Makeda Byfield co-hosted alongside Harold Goldberg and Reggie Fils-Aimé. Interns present awards and contribute to the development and journalistic coverage of the show.
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Rewatch the Previous Awards
New York Game Awards: Legends
Each year, The New York Videogame Critics Circle honors a game changer in the video games industry. The Andrew Yoon Legend Award recognizes those who have propelled the gaming world forward, celebrating their profound impact on an industry that continues to captivate and connect people worldwide.
Neil Druckmann
Co-President, Naughty Dog
Game Developer, Uncharted, The Last of Us
Phil Spencer
CEO, Microsoft Gaming
Tim Schafer
Founder, Double Fine Productions
Game Developer, Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, The Secret of Monkey Island
Hideo Kojima
Founder, Kojima Productions
Game Developer, Death Stranding, Metal Gear Solid
Reggie Fils-Aimé
President & COO, Nintendo of America
Author, Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo
Jade Raymond
Founder, Haven Studios
Game Developer, Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs
The Journalism Award
The Games Journalism Award is given to one journalist or critic for distinguished contributions to the field during the voting year. The selected journalist will have best demonstrated traditional journalistic values, including–but not limited to–work that illuminates, contextualizes, entertains, exhibits lucid writing, sound reasoning, wit, integrity, et alia.
2022 Winner: Justin Hecket
The devil, as they say, is in the details, and Heckert has a collector’s eye for all those sumptuous, devilish little details: stacks of dog-eared magazines, the “cherry” plastic surrounding a vintage game cartridge worth $100,000… and the imprint of crushed carpet fibers that a 700 lb safe leaves after a thief drags it out the door.
See: Jason Brassard Spent His Lifetime Collecting the Rarest Video Games. Until the Heist.
NYVGCC
The New York Videogame Critics Circle is an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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