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KIA 2026

Methodology

How every winner is decided

Some awards are voted by fans, some by a jury, some by the players themselves and some by the numbers. Every weight, every date and every rule — in one place.

Awards
20
Voted trophies
14
Data-decided
4
Off-ballot
2
20 awards

01. The weights

20 awards · 14 voted trophies · 4 data-decided · 2 off-ballot. Who decides each one, and by how much.

Lane 01 Esports Performance

6 awards

  • Esports Player of the Year

    KIE performance data. No vote.

    Result: 100 percent KIE performance data. No fan vote.

  • Esports Team of the Year

    KIE performance data. No vote.

    Result: 100 percent KIE performance data. No fan vote.

  • IGL of the Year

    KIE performance data. No vote.

    Result: 100 percent KIE performance data. No fan vote.

  • Emerging Star of the Year

    KIE performance data. No vote.

    Result: 100 percent KIE performance data. No fan vote.

  • Clutch Moment of the Year

    The jury shortlists 5 clips; the fan vote decides.

    Result: 100 percent fans.

  • Players' Choice Award

    Peer vote by a pool of 15–20 pros. No self-votes; pool and criteria published.

    Result: 100 percent peer vote by the pros. No fan vote.

Lane 02 Creators

7 awards

  • Content Creator of the Year (Male)

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Content Creator of the Year (Female)

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Rising Creator of the Year (Male)

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Rising Creator of the Year (Female)

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Personality of the Year

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Esports Content Creator — Entertainment

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Esports Content Creator — Insights

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

Lane 03 Broadcast Talent

3 awards

  • Caster of the Year (Hindi)

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Caster of the Year (English)

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → jury + fans blended.

    Result: 70 percent jury, 30 percent fans.

  • Host of the Year

    Longlist → fans narrow it to 5 → fans pick the winner.

    Result: 100 percent fans.

Lane 04 Fans

1 award

  • The Fan Verdict Award

    Head-to-head bracket. A ~70-name pool drawn from every other category.

    Result: 100 percent fans.

Lane 05 Honors

1 award

  • Legacy Award

    Jury only. No public nominees; revealed live on KIA Night.

    Result: 100 percent jury.

Off-ballot honors

2 awards

  • Social Impact / CSR Award

    Awarded off-ballot — not part of the public vote.

    Off-ballot

  • KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI) Recognition

    Awarded off-ballot — not part of the public vote.

    Off-ballot

02. The funnel

The road every longlist award takes — from an open call for names to one winner on stage.

  1. 1–14 Nov: Nominations

    Open public nomination, plus a curated pool, for each of the ten longlist awards.

    Open

  2. Longlist: The longlist

    About fifteen names per award — every one of them visible to fans before a vote is cast.

    ~15 names

  3. 15–21 Nov: Longlist vote

    A pure fan vote, once a day, narrows each longlist to five. A tie for fifth takes six through.

    5 · 6 on a tie

  4. 23 Nov: Shortlist

    The finalists are revealed — along with the five Clutch Moment clips and The Fan Verdict bracket pool.

    The finalists

  5. 24 Nov – 2 Jan: Winner voting

    Fans vote once a day for the winner. The Fan Verdict and Clutch Moment run on to 6 January.

    Fans vote daily

  6. Tabulation: Jury blend

    Fan votes are normalised to ranked points, then blended with the jury at each award's published weight.

    Fans + jury

  7. 7–8 Jan: Sealed

    Results are final and sealed. Nobody outside the count sees them before the ceremony.

    Sealed

  8. 9 January 2027: KIA Night

    Every winner revealed live on stage in Goa from 19:00 IST.

    Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off
    One winner

03. Tabulation

How fan votes and jury votes become one result — and how the awards that aren't blended are decided.

A fan vote runs to the hundreds of thousands; a jury is a panel. Add the raw numbers together and the fans would swamp the jury whatever the weight said. So fan votes are normalised before the jury blend — the Eurovision method.

  1. Count the fan vote

    Every verified vote in the award, one per fan per day — multiplier-day votes at their published weight.

  2. Turn it into ranked points

    Most fan votes gets the top score, the next gets the next, and so on. The jury's ranking is scored on the same scale.

  3. Blend at the published weight

    Jury points and fan points are combined at the award's weight — 70% jury, 30% fans on the creator and caster awards.

  4. Highest blended score wins

    The result is sealed until KIA Night.

Worked example · illustrative

  1. Nominee A

    3rd

    4,12,300 fan votes → 5 pts · jury 3 pts

    3.6

  2. Nominee B

    1st

    3,89,120 fan votes → 4 pts · jury 5 pts

    4.7

  3. Nominee C

    2nd

    1,50,870 fan votes → 3 pts · jury 4 pts

    3.7

  4. Nominee D

    4th

    98,400 fan votes → 2 pts · jury 2 pts

    2.0

  5. Nominee E

    5th

    61,200 fan votes → 1 pt · jury 1 pt

    1.0

Nominee A wins the fan vote, but only by 23,180 votes — so it earns 5 fan points to B's 4. The jury ranks B first. Blended at 70/30, Nominee B wins with 4.7 points (70% × 5 jury + 30% × 4 fan).

Illustrative only — mock numbers and a simple 5-4-3-2-1 points scale to show the method. Not real results. The real points scale is set with KRAFTON.

Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off

The awards that aren't blended

  • Result: 100 percent KIE performance data. No fan vote.

    Esports Player, Team, IGL and Emerging Star of the Year

    100% KIE performance data. No vote, no jury weighting — the numbers decide.

  • Result: 100 percent peer vote by the pros. No fan vote.

    Players' Choice Award

    100% peer vote by a pool of 15–20 pros. No one can vote for themselves; the pool and the criteria are published.

    Criteria

    • Who was the hardest opponent to play against in 2026?
    • Consistency across every KRAFTON event of the season — not one great weekend.
    • Impact on their team's results: fragging, utility and comms.
    • Sportsmanship and professionalism, on and off the server.
    Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off
  • Result: 100 percent fans.

    Clutch Moment of the Year

    The jury shortlists five clips. From there it's 100% fan vote.

  • Result: 100 percent fans.

    The Fan Verdict Award

    A bracket of about 70 names drawn from every other category, settled head-to-head. 100% fans, round by round.

    7 rounds, from the play-in (24–27 Nov) to the final (2–6 Jan). Each round is open for about a week, and you can pick once per matchup per day.

    Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off
  • Result: 100 percent fans.

    Host of the Year

    Longlist, shortlist and winner — all decided by the fan vote.

  • Result: 100 percent jury.

    Legacy Award

    100% jury. No public nominees; the name is revealed live on KIA Night.

04. Vote integrity

One fan, one verified vote per category, per day. The rules every ballot runs on.

  • Krafton ID + mobile OTP

    Verify your Krafton ID with a one-time code before your first vote; every vote is tied to that ID.

    How often a code is asked for is KRAFTON's call. This demo can also ask for a code on every vote.

    Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off

  • One vote per category, per day

    Vote in every open category once a day. Days run midnight to midnight IST — come back tomorrow to vote again.

  • Multiplier days

    On a multiplier day every vote carries extra weight. Multiplier days are announced in advance, so every fan gets the same chance.

    • 2×24 Nov
    • 2×25 Dec
    • 2×1 Jan

    Placeholder dates. KRAFTON announces the real calendar.

    Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off

  • Same-day editing

    Changed your mind? Change today's pick until midnight IST. It replaces your vote — it never adds a second one.

  • Daily streaks

    Vote on consecutive voting days to build a streak. Days when no ballot is open don't break it.

2 honors

05. Off-ballot honors

Two honors sit outside the public vote and the longlists.

  • Off-ballot honor

    Social Impact / CSR Award

    Awarded off-ballot. Recognises community and social-impact work in Indian gaming.

  • Off-ballot honor

    KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI) Recognition

    Awarded off-ballot to a KIGI studio.

    Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off

06. FAQ

The questions fans ask most.

Fans with a Krafton ID. The exact eligibility rules (for example age and region) are to be confirmed by KRAFTON. You verify your Krafton ID with a one-time code sent to your mobile before your first vote, and every vote is tied to that ID.

Proposed · pending KRAFTON sign‑off

That's how every winner is decided. You can vote once a day in every open category, every day the ballot is open.

Go to the ballot