The Best Gaming Hardware of All Time is revealed as the PC at the Golden Joystick Awards

The PC has been crowned Best Gaming Hardware of All Time at this year's Golden Joystick Awards 2021.

To celebrate 50 years of gaming, the Golden Joystick Awards introduced two special new categories for this year's awards: Ultimate Game of All Time and Best Gaming Hardware of All Time. After a closely fought vote, we're delighted to reveal that the PC is your choice for hardware. 

As you can see from the list below, there was a real tussle for the title, with beloved consoles such as the PS2, SNES, Dreamcast, and Wii all vying for the crown. However, there could only be one winner, and in this case, it was the mighty PC.

You can see the full nominees below:

  • PC (Winner)
  • PlayStation 2
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation
  • Xbox 360
  • Wii
  • Dreamcast
  • Nintendo 64
  • Nintendo DS
  • Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
  • GameCube
  • Genesis / Mega Drive
  • Game Boy
  • Game Boy Advance
  • Amiga 500
  • Saturn
  • ZX Spectrum
  • Commodore 64
  • Atari 2600

As you can see from that voting order, Sony shouldn't feel too miffed, as 3 of their consoles all make the top 5, while Nintendo's SNES represented a big win for the retro vote. However, there's an undoubtedly strong case to be made for the PC, which has always been at the forefront of gaming. 

Of course, this award isn't the only way we've celebrated this year's 50th anniversary of gaming. We've taken a look back at gaming throughout the years in a special documentary featuring John Romero, Trip Hawkins, David Breban, and more; while the Golden Joystick Awards also kicked off with a 10-minute musical medley that highlighted the soundtrack of our gaming lives.  

For more on this year's show, visit Golden Joystick Awards 2021 or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Ben Tyrer

Hello, I'm GamesRadar's News Editor. I've been working in the games industry since 2013, after graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in multimedia journalism. Since then I've worked for Official PlayStation Magazine as a staff writer and games editor, as well as writing for Official Xbox Magazine, Edge, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, PC Games N, and more. When I'm not moaning about being beaten on FIFA and Warzone, I'm writing news, features, and reviews for this wonderful site.