Disney+ joins The Game Awards livestream lineup for 2026

Variety reports that the 12th Game Awards will stream on Disney+ in the U.S. and select international markets on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2026, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET, or 4:30 p.m. PT. The ceremony will originate from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Geoff Keighley, the show’s creator, will host the annual event.

Variety has confirmed Disney+ alongside YouTube, Twitch, Steam, TikTok Live, X, Kick, Facebook and Instagram Live. It calls The Game Awards the video game industry’s biggest night and notes that Twitch and YouTube remain customary platforms.

Variety says the broadcast will again combine honors across multiple categories with world premiere game announcements and musical performances. It identifies Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim as executive producers, Richard Preuss as director, LeRoy Bennett as creative director and Lara Karchmer as co-executive producer.

Disney+ said: “As the evening unfolds, viewers can expect major announcements and surprises from some of Disney’s most anticipated titles in gaming.” According to Variety, the platform will use the ceremony to promote its existing and upcoming roster of licensed and developed video games.

Variety also reports that Disney+ has a growing slate of gaming-related programming. It includes “Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation” and the upcoming original anime (Japanese animation) series “Death Strand Isolations,” with the anime slated for Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.

What does Disney+ change for viewers?

Viewers in the U.S. and select international markets gain another official route into the Dec. 10 ceremony. For Disney+, the broadcast provides a showcase for games and related programming. For The Game Awards, the addition extends a distribution model that Variety says has expanded through platform additions since 2014.

Variety’s figures trace that expansion. The first Game Awards in 2014 registered 1.9 million livestreams (live online broadcasts). The 2025 ceremony reached 171 million global livestreams across Prime Video, YouTube, Twitch, Steam, TikTok Live, X, Kick, Facebook and Instagram Live, plus platforms in China and JioHotstar in India.

The 2025 total rose 11% from the previous record of 154 million livestreams in 2024. The 2025 show also became the first ceremony carried by Amazon’s Prime Video. Variety does not provide a separate count of distinct viewers, so the figures describe distribution volume rather than a verified audience total.

How the winners are chosen

Variety says more than 150 media publications and creator outlets, including Variety itself, form the jury that decides the awards. Fan voting opens once nominations are announced, adding a public voting channel to the media jury’s selection process. Variety is both a member of the voting jury and the outlet that confirmed Disney+’s participation.

Disney+ enters the broadcast with a defined promotional purpose, while The Game Awards enters 2026 with its broadest reported distribution base. The measure on Dec. 10 will be whether the added platform broadens that base without displacing the established services. The show’s own trajectory supplies the scale: from 1.9 million livestreams in 2014 to 171 million in 2025.