For the past few years, the Game of the Year race has been relatively open. Save perhaps for Elden Ring in 2022, which very early on in the year placed a stranglehold on the prestigious award, multiple games have been in contention for the title nearly until the last minute.

With Grand Theft Auto 6 set to finally come out between October to December later this year, winning GOTY seems to be a foregone conclusion and one award-winning studio director well aware of this.

In a Fall Damage video where Hazelight Studios founder Josef Fares responds to YouTube comments, he predicts that_Split Fiction_will win this year' Game of the Year award, but not if_GTA 6_comes out as planned, saying, "I would really appreciate if we won Game of the Year again, but on the other hand, I'm a huge fan of_GTA_. I think if that comes out it's gonna be really tough, and I want it to come out because I'm a huge fan."

Never one to be afraid to speak his mind and beloved among fans, Fares' words hold a ton of weight. His current run with Hazelight Studios has been nothing short of amazing, having released several critically acclaimed titles. After establishing his name with the release of_Brothers_in 2013, he founded Hazelight just a year later, eventually releasing_A Way Out_,It Takes Two, and now,_Split Fiction._It Takes Two, in particular, won the GOTY award in 2021, with_Split Fiction_pulling in even higher review scores.

With that said, even though_GTA 6_is the heavy favorite to win GOTY later this year, it isn't a given just yet. Aside from_Split Fiction_, the past three months alone have seen a handful of generation titles come out._GTA 6_will also have to outdo_Monster Hunter Wilds_and_Kingdom Come: Deliverance II -_and the year is far from over.

With Kojima Productions'Death Stranding 2: On the Beach_coming out in June and a bunch more AAA titles possibly following suit, the 2025 GOTY title might be as heavily contested as in 2018 when_Red Dead Redemption 2_lost to_God of War. Of course, the 2025 GOTY award is still_GTA 6_'s to lose and we doubt Rockstar Games pays enough attention to the chatter (if any at all) to want to delay their game for a better shot at winning what will easily be one of many trophies the sixthquel is expected to bag.

Officially,_GTA 6_is still scheduled to release later this year with retailers in Switzerland and Malaysia already accepting pre-orders for the upcoming game. But we can't exactly rule out a potential delay, especially as one anonymous developer revealed that Rockstar has a contingency in place in the worst-case scenario.