Every GameSpot Game of the Year

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21 Years Of Game of the Year
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  1. 21 Years Of Game of the Year
  2. 1996 | Diablo
  3. 1997 | Total Annihilation
  4. 1998 | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Grim Fandango
  5. 1999 | SoulCalibur, EverQuest
  6. 2000 | Chrono Cross, The Sims
  7. 2001 | Grand Theft Auto III, Serious Sam: First Encounter
  8. 2002 | Metroid Prime
  9. 2003 | The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
  10. 2004 | World of WarCraft
  11. 2005 | Resident Evil 4
  12. 2006 | Gears of War
  13. 2007 | Super Mario Galaxy
  14. 2008 | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
  15. 2009 | Demon's Souls
  16. 2010 | Red Dead Redemption
  17. 2011 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  18. 2012 | Journey
  19. 2013 | The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
  20. 2014 | Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
  21. 2015 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  22. 2016 | Overwatch
  23. 2017 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  24. More Image Galleries You May Like

21 Years Of Game of the Year

In honor of GameSpot's latest Game of the Year announcement, we've compiled every game that won our Game of the Year award over the years. Take a trip down memory lane with us as we recount some of the best games we've highlighted since our site's formation, which includes big names like From The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Red Dead Redemption, Soul Calibur, Journey, and more. You can also see our pick for Game of the Year 2017 at the end of this gallery.

If you want to see our choices for the best games this year, check out our Game of the Year 2017 Top 10 List. And for more on our picks of the best games of the year across various categories, as well as features focusing on the year's performance for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch, check out our Best of 2017 hub.

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    Avatar image for MetalRatex
    MetalRatex

    You really like Zelda.

    1
    Avatar image for AvatarAssassin
    AvatarAssassin

    All of the Zelda games look like they were designed for 8 year olds.

    2
    Avatar image for urbanman2004
    urbanman2004

    These GOTY choices ought to be taken w/ a grain of salt

    2
    Avatar image for tsohgallik
    tsohgallik

    Which now brings us to 2017.... For me Skyrim once again is Game of the Year. Detailed environment RPG games tyle and now brought back again for VR.... Breath of the Wild couldnt even have this much detail...why?.? obviously because Nintendo failed to make Link an rpg character. simple as that.

    1
    Avatar image for tsohgallik
    tsohgallik

    Overwatch is definitely a trash game. 7 at least... The characters feel limited without more movement techniques... There are ninjas snipers warlocks an angel and teleporters and yey the environment are not ultilized to perfectly reflect that.... I found the game more boring than Journey or Paladins or Battleborne.... Why did Overwatch became the more popular choice between the MMOFPS games?.?? WAS BECAUSE BLIZZARD PRODUCED ?.??? Exactly why...Bunch of sheeple will gobble up anything and wont complain lest ye be scared to do so and banned from playing. Its excruciating to play as Mercy or Hanzo and not be to run... or have back up weapons that actually help with combat...COD Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 achieve this and so much more by adding movement to the game so why didnt future FPS followed suit?.?

    1
    Avatar image for happylad
    Happylad

    @tsohgallik: because not every game is CoD, which is designed to be playable to 10 year olds with no skill.

    1
    Avatar image for tsohgallik
    tsohgallik

    Metroid Prime was a great game, but Nintendo failed to ever bring back that music style or storytelling or environment exploration that very sci-fi setting they didnt brng back :( Thats what I would of liked.

    2
    Avatar image for resureggin
    ResuReggin

    @tsohgallik Huh? English please. If you're saying they didn't bring it back in Metroid Prime, then you're dead wrong. It had all of that and more in spades. In fact, it was like 3 Metroid games in one. 20+ hours instead of less than 8.

    1
    Avatar image for a_nony_mous
    A_Nony_Mous

    Can't believe no iteration of Mass Effect made it onto this list (well, except for Andromeda).

    2
    Avatar image for Downloadpilot
    Downloadpilot

    This whole website is only a year younger than me. Crazy to think about :O

    2
    Avatar image for artiebuco
    artiebuco

    As a PC gamer, I wouldn't be caught dead playing most of these games. Other than Witcher 3, Skyrim, and Diablo, most appear to be consolitis games.

    Shadow of Mordor? That game was crap on a stick.

    1
    Avatar image for parabol69
    parabol69

    @artiebuco: because PC gaming is garbage.

    1
    Avatar image for loner614
    loner614

    All this countdown does is annoy me....

    1
    Avatar image for shizzah
    shizzah

    Guess I missed the part on how these games were ranked. Dont see Fallout,Halo,or Oblivion on here, but I remember getting those games and playing Nothing else for a whole year.....Call of Duty? Anyone heard of that?.....Polygon reports that people have logged over 5 billion hours on xbox live playing Halo alone....trying to make send of it all.

    4
    Avatar image for Marscaleb
    Marscaleb

    @shizzah: The game of the Year award is given to the game that paid the most for advertising on their site.

    3
    Avatar image for loner614
    loner614

    @shizzah: Fallout 3 was 2008

    1
    Avatar image for happylad
    Happylad

    the witcher 3 is a good game but it is nowhere near as good as "critics" say it is.

    3
    Avatar image for Desbris
    Desbris

    @happylad: I can deduce you never fully played the game with that ludicrous statement.

    1
    Avatar image for parabol69
    parabol69

    @happylad: you’re a dumbass

    2
    Avatar image for Beasley2K
    Beasley2K

    I was always sceptical of Gamespot's reviews, but it turns out they're just as bad at choosing their Game of the Year.

    1
    Avatar image for mattsaroni24
    mattsaroni24

    Grim Fandango or Half-Life. Duhhhh....Grim Fandango.

    3
    Avatar image for berrlett
    Berrlett

    this should be titled Nintendo game of the year.

    5
    Avatar image for endersdragon
    endersdragon

    @berrlett: But I thought Nintendo was a dead company that only produced crappy games...

    1
    Avatar image for couly
    couly

    I remember when Gears of War finally came to PC I couldn't believe how it was so popular. Terrible game.

    6
    Avatar image for todddow
    Todddow

    Whole lot of Zelda on that list. 2002, Metroid Prime over Morrowind? LOL, no way!

    3
    Avatar image for parabol69
    parabol69

    @todddow: Nostalgia has a way of clouding people’s minds.

    1
    Avatar image for AFBrat77
    AFBrat77

    @todddow:

    Love Morrowind but Metroid Prime was definitely the better game, it was the best game of that generation. Amazing.

    2
    Avatar image for freeformrulz
    freeformrulz

    Jesus christ where they no Fucking games in 2014 that u guys gave shadow of mordor the goty? On top of that it didn't even get a 9

    3
    Avatar image for Jag85
    Jag85

    @freeformrulz: There was Dark Souls II, which would've been a far better GOTY than Mordor.

    1
    Avatar image for marctheheretic
    MarcTheHeretic

    Journey for 2012 really? Not angry or anything but I just don't get it. Here's my best of for 2012. Dishonored, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Far Cry 3, Mass Effect 3, Sleeping Dogs, Dragons Dogma, Borderlands 2, Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning, Spec Ops: The Line, Telltale's Walking Dead Season 1, Hotline Miami, Mark Of The Ninja, and Torchlight 2. Obviously not everyone holds all of those games in the same regard but for me a game that only has a a fantastic look, music, and overall atmosphere doesn't beat any of them. Alright it at least gives Walking Dead a run for it's money but remember that was before they made the exact same game for a dozen different franchises and the story is still one of their best.

    7
    Avatar image for andreev-dex
    andreev-dex

    @marctheheretic: yeah , that was the stupidest choice they ve ever made

    2
    Avatar image for Elnath10
    Elnath10

    Diablo 1 what an amazing experience back then

    ohh and still get me on my nerves with these "experts editors reviewers" that gave Red Dead Redemption a fucking 9.5... it's 2017 and one of the biggest bullsh*t scores Gamespot ever allowed themselves to publish

    1
    Avatar image for GH05T-666
    GH05T-666

    I agree with all of the others but

    2012 | Journey

    must have been a dull year..

    3
    Avatar image for lfebaggins
    lfebaggins

    World of Warcraft over Half Life 2 for 2004? Pathetic.

    6
    Avatar image for DantheMan9856
    DantheMan9856

    @lfebaggins: it's definitely had a longer half life, more like 10 lifes....

    2
    Avatar image for talonvor
    Talonvor

    @lfebaggins: World of Warcraft has had a much bigger impact on gamers and it sold more copies than HL2 by a rather large margin

    3
    Avatar image for haris4real
    Haris4Real

    @talonvor No Goty for MGS1 or MGS2:

    2
    Avatar image for Hillsy_
    Hillsy_

    Yes to: Soul Calibur, Diablo, Witcher 3, The Sims, Shadow of Mordor, Super Mario Galaxy, Red Dead Redemption & Demon Souls(Honourable mention to Uncharted 2, difficult to choose 2009 between UC2 and Demon Souls, either is fine), Resident Evil 4.

    No to: Remove all those Zelda games, over-rated. Elder Scrolls Skyrim, terrible combat and maybe one or two others. No to Metroid Prime, Super Metroid was way better and just so you know, Resident Evil 4 was the best Gamecube game, period.

    2
    Avatar image for AFBrat77
    AFBrat77

    @Hillsy_: Metroid Prime is the best GameCube game....period. Resident Evil 4 was great in its own way, but it wasn't all that, and it's certainly not even better than Gamecubes REmake of the original game.

    1
    Avatar image for resureggin
    ResuReggin

    Nah you're both wrong. Metroid Prime and RE4 are both the top two games on the GameCube. Prime is also better than Super Metroid.

    1
    Avatar image for Nighteg
    Nighteg

    @Hillsy_: Shadow of mordor was pure cr*p.

    1
    Avatar image for deactivated-58ae712b85fad
    deactivated-58ae712b85fad

    Still love seeing that Demon's Souls victory in 2009. Greatest dark-horse winner of all time?

    4
    Avatar image for couly
    couly

    @automattik: never even heard of it at the time

    1
    Avatar image for lionheartssj1
    lionheartssj1

    @automattik: A great surprise that utterly destroyed me.

    2
    Avatar image for VakarianGirl
    VakarianGirl

    So much Zelda? Really?

    4