Abandonware DOS title

Video games awards

Since the early days of video gaming history, the best of the best were awarded honors and accolades. Nowadays, video game awards are often seen on YouTube channels or even on TV, but in the past century (the 80s and the 90s) the primary source of golden medals was the plethora of video game magazines around. I'm talking about printed magazines like Edge, Crash, etc.; there was no Internet!

These are some of the many video game awards past and present, and the video games awarded (not only for DOS or Windows) are some of the best in the history of video gaming.

Every award list on Abandonware DOS was compiled by crossreferencing the official sites of each award and the Wikipedia. GOTY is an acronym that stands for Game Of The Year.


  • All-TIME 100 video games TIME.com

    hall of fame
    A list of the top 100 video games of all time according to website time.com.
    Games awarded
  • BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards

    award
    BAFTA stands for British Academy of Film and Television Arts and is annually hosted since 1998.
    Games awarded
  • CODiE Awards

    award
    The CODiE Awards are annual awards given within the software industry. The name "CODiE" is derived from the word "code".
    Games awarded
  • Electronic Games Arcade Awards

    award
    Electronic Games was the first magazine dedicated to the video game world, published in the United States. Electronic Games ran from October 15 1981 to 1997 under different titles (Computer Entertainment, Intelligent Gamer, etc). The magazine is notable for holding the first Game of the Year Award ceremony, called (obviously) the Arcade Awards. The Arcade Awards were an annual award that took place every year from 1979 to 1984, then, after a hiatus, in 1992 and 1993.
    Games awarded
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly Game of the Year

    GOTY
    Electronic Gaming Monthly is a video game magazine founded in 1988, still alive and well. Each year, the editors of Electronic Gaming Monthly chose a Game of the Year among games realeased for almost every system.
    Games awarded
  • Eurogamer Game of the Year

    GOTY
    The winners of the Eurogamer Game of the Year are chosen by the site's editors.
    Games awarded
  • Game Critics Awards (E3)

    award
    The Game Critics Awards is a annual award event that happens just after the very popular E3 video game conference. The Game Critics Awards take place since 1998.
    Games awarded
  • Game Informer Game of the Year

    GOTY
    The winners of the Game Informer Game of the Year are chosen by Game Informer editors. During their earlier years of publication they would give awards for the best game on each console available at the time, occasionally giving an award to the overall best game of the year.
    Games awarded
  • Game Informer Greatest Games (pre-1996)

    GOTY
    The winners of the Game Informer Game of the Year are chosen by Game Informer editors. During their earlier years of publication they would give awards for the best game on each console available at the time, occasionally giving an award to the overall best game of the year.
    Games awarded
  • Games Magazine Game of the Year award

    GOTY
    The winners of the Games magazine Game of the Year award are chosen by Games editors.
    Games awarded
  • Gamespot Game of the Year

    GOTY
    The winners of the GameSpot Game of the Year are chosen by GameSpot editors.
    Games awarded
  • Gamespot Greatest PC Games of all Time

    award
    The winners of the GameSpot Game of the Year are chosen by GameSpot editors.
    Games awarded
  • Golden Joystick Awards

    award
    The Golden Joystick Awards is the second oldest gaming award ceremony and is the longest running video game award. As of 2014, it is the biggest video game award show in terms of the number of votes cast.
    Games awarded
  • Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs)

    award
    The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of industry professionals and presents a series of annual Interactive Achievement Awards.
    Games awarded
  • Mobygames Game of the Year

    GOTY
    Mobygames is perhaps the biggest video game database on the Internet, as many of you already know. What you might not know is that Mobygames has a Games Of The Year award... well... sort of. The "best games" are automatically chosen among the ones with the highest critic scores. That's why the GOTY chart can change from time to time.
    Games awarded
  • Omni Magazine Game of the Year

    GOTY
    The games chosen as the year's best by Omni magazine, which was active from 1978 to 1995.
    Games awarded
  • Rock Paper Shotgun Greatest PC games of all time

    hall of fame
    In 2017 Rock Paper Shotgun compiled a list of the 75 greatest PC games of all time. While a majority of them were published in recent years, there are quite a few good old classics we know and love.
    Games awarded
  • Spotlight Awards (GDC)

    award
    The Spotlight Awards (GDC) was hosted annually by the Game Developers Conference from 1997 to 1999. Its focus was on the video and computer game industry.
    Games awarded