The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...

. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999. Since then, the ceremony for the Independent Games Festival is held just prior to the Choice Awards ceremony.

Winner selection process

Nominations for games are by made by

International Choice Awards Network International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(ICAN), a group of leading game creators. Votes are then additionally made by editors of Game Developer. Any video game released in the preceding calendar year, regardless of medium, is eligible to be nominated, though upgrades, expansions, and mission packs are not eligible to be nominated. The top nominated games are assembled into the list of nominees, typically presented in December, are then voted on by final voting body, made up of ICANs, and editors of Game Developer. In this final stage of voting, games with the highest votes in a category are the winners. Winners for Special Awards (Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer, Ambassador) are decided by a "Special Awards Jury", which appears to consist of a variety of 5 people. This group may consider recommendations from ICAN members. The winners are announced during the Game Developers Conference, which is typically held in March of the calendar year. GDC related properties are owned by the UBM technology group.

Historical process

In 2007, gamasutra.com took over management of the awards from the IGDA. An advisory board selected by the editors of gamasutra.com and '' Game Developer'' magazine oversees the selection process. In the past, nominations are accepted from registered gamasutra.com users, confirmed to be game developers, and from the advisory board. Once the nomination process is complete, the advisory board identifies five finalists for each regular category. The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer (formerly known as First Penguin) and Maverick awards are selected by the advisory board. For the other awards, a vote open to all those who participated in the nomination process chooses a recipient from each category's finalists.

List of winners

''Note: Events held for awards are held early in the following year. Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.''

Game of the Year

The Game of the Year Award recognizes the overall best game released during the previous calendar year, as interpreted by the members of the Game Developers Conference.

Best Audio

Best Audio award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in a game, including sound effects, musical composition, sound design and orchestration. * 2000: '' Diablo II'' * 2001: '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' * 2002: '' Medal of Honor: Allied Assault'' * 2003: ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic ...

'' * 2004: '' Halo 2'' * 2005: '' Guitar Hero'' * 2006: '' Guitar Hero II'' * 2007: '' BioShock'' * 2008: '' Dead Space'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: '' Red Dead Redemption'' * 2011: '' Portal 2'' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: '' BioShock Infinite'' * 2014: '' Alien: Isolation'' * 2015: '' Crypt of the NecroDancer'' * 2016: '' Inside'' * 2017: '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' * 2018: ''

Celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...

'' *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: '' Control'' *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

: ''

Hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...

'' * 2021: ''

Unpacking Unpacking may refer to: * Unpacking (linguistics), the separation of the features of a segment into distinct segments * ''Unpacking'' (video game), a 2021 puzzle game * Unpacking (computer science), unpacking programming variables See also * ...

Best Debut

The Best Debut Award recognizes the best game from any development studio which released its first publicly available title during the calendar year. This was formerly known as the New Studio of the Year Award. In years prior to 2008, the award was awarded to the studio name, as opposed to the game title. * 2000:

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

/ Minh Le / Jess Cliffe (for '' Counter-Strike'') * 2001: Bohemia Interactive (for '' Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'') * 2002: Retro Studios (for ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the ''Metroid'' franchise and the first game in the series to use 3D co ...

'') * 2003: Infinity Ward (for ''

'') * 2004: Crytek (for '' Far Cry'') * 2005: Double Fine Productions (for '' Psychonauts'') * 2006: Iron Lore Entertainment (for '' Titan Quest'') * 2007: Realtime Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios (for ''

Crackdown Crackdown may refer to * ''Crackdown'' (web series) * ''Crackdown'' (video game series) ** ''Crackdown'' (video game) ** '' Crackdown 2'' ** '' Crackdown 3'' * ''Crackdown'' (podcast) * '' The Crackdown'', a 1983 album {{dab ...

'') * 2008: Media Molecule (for '' LittleBigPlanet'') * 2009: Runic Games (for '' Torchlight'') * 2010: Mojang (for '' Minecraft'') * 2011: Supergiant Games (for ''

Bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

'') * 2012:

Subset Games ''FTL: Faster Than Light'' is a real-time strategy roguelite game created by independent game development, indie developer Subset Games, which was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux in September 2012. In the game, the player contro ...

(for '' FTL: Faster Than Light'') * 2013: The Fullbright Company (for '' Gone Home'') * 2014: Stoic Studio (for '' The Banner Saga'') * 2015: Moon Studios (for ''

Ori and the Blind Forest ''Ori and the Blind Forest'' is a platform-adventure Metroidvania video game developed by Moon Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The game was released for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows in March 2015, and for Nintendo Switch in Septemb ...

'') * 2016: Campo Santo (for '' Firewatch'') * 2017: Studio MDHR (for '' Cuphead'') * 2018: Mountains (for ''

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

'') *

: ZA/UM (for '' Disco Elysium'') *

: Kinetic Games for ''

Phasmophobia The fear of ghosts in many human cultures is based on beliefs that some ghosts may be malevolent towards people and dangerous ''(within the range of all possible attitudes, including mischievous, benign, indifferent, etc.''). It is related to fe ...

'' * 2021: Iron Gate Studio for '' Valheim''

Best Design

Best Design award recognizes the overall excellence of design in a game, including gameplay, mechanics, puzzles, play balancing and scenarios. * 2000: '' Deus Ex'' * 2001: ''

Grand Theft Auto III ''Grand Theft Auto III'' is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third main entry in the '' Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 1999's '' Grand Theft Auto 2'', and the fifth instalme ...

'' * 2002: '' Battlefield 1942'' * 2003: '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' * 2004: '' Katamari Damacy'' * 2005: '' Shadow of the Colossus'' * 2006: ''

Wii Sports ''Wii Sports'' is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The 1.0 (pre-release) version of the game was released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and the ...

'' * 2007: '' Portal'' * 2008: '' LittleBigPlanet'' * 2009: '' Batman: Arkham Asylum'' * 2010: '' Red Dead Redemption'' * 2011: '' Portal 2'' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: '' The Last of Us'' * 2014: '' Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft'' * 2015: ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for Windows and PlayStation 4 in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. In June 2016, ...

'' * 2016: '' Overwatch'' * 2017: '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' * 2018: '' Into the Breach'' *

: '' Baba Is You'' *

: ''

'' * 2021: '' It Takes Two''

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

Best Mobile/Handheld Game Award recognizes the overall best game commercially released on any handheld platform. * 2007: '' The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass'' * 2008: '' God of War: Chains of Olympus'' * 2009: '' Scribblenauts'' * 2010: '' Cut the Rope'' * 2011: '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP'' * 2012: '' The Room'' * 2013: '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'' * 2014: '' Monument Valley'' * 2015: '' Her Story'' * 2016: '' Pokémon Go'' * 2017: ''

Gorogoa ''Gorogoa'' is a puzzle video game developed by Jason Roberts and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and iOS on 14 December 2017, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2018, and sho ...

'' * 2018: ''

'' *

: ''

What the Golf ''What the Golf?'' (stylized in all caps as ''WHAT THE GOLF?'') is a video game developed and published by Triband. It was originally published on Apple Arcade subscription by The Label on 19 September 2019. Gameplay The game revolves around ...

?'' *

: '' Genshin Impact''

Innovation Award

The Innovation Award recognizes games that demonstrate innovation and push the boundaries of games as an expressive medium. Multiple awards per year were given before 2007. * 2000: '' Counter-Strike''; ''

Crazy Taxi ''Crazy Taxi'' is a series of racing video games that was developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. The first game appeared in arcades in 1999 and was very successful, prompting Sega to port the arcade version to their Dreamcast consol ...

''; '' Deus Ex''; '' Jet Grind Radio''; ''

No One Lives Forever ''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' (abbreviated as ''NOLF'') is a first-person shooter video game with stealth gameplay elements, developed by Monolith Productions and published by Fox Interactive, released for Windows in 2000. The game w ...

'' * 2001: ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

''; ''

''; '' ICO''; '' Majestic''; '' Rez'' * 2002: '' Animal Crossing''; '' Battlefield 1942''; '' Medal of Honor: Allied Assault''; '' The Thing'' * 2003: '' EyeToy: Play''; '' Viewtiful Joe''; '' WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!'' * 2004: '' Donkey Konga''; '' I Love Bees''; '' Katamari Damacy'' * 2005: '' Nintendogs''; '' Guitar Hero'' * 2006: '' Line Rider''; '' Ōkami''; ''

'' * 2007: '' Portal'' * 2008: '' LittleBigPlanet'' * 2009: '' Scribblenauts'' * 2010: '' Minecraft'' * 2011: '' Johann Sebastian Joust '' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: ''

Papers, Please ''Papers, Please'' is a puzzle simulation video game created by indie game developer Lucas Pope, developed and published through his production company, 3909 LLC. The game was released on August 8, 2013 for Microsoft Windows and OS X, for ...

'' * 2014: '' Monument Valley'' * 2015: '' Her Story'' * 2016: '' No Man's Sky'' * 2017: ''

'' * 2018: Nintendo Labo *

: '' Baba Is You'' *

: '' Dreams'' * 2021: ''

Best Narrative

Best Narrative award recognizes the quality of writing in a game, including story, plot construction, dialogue and branching narratives. * 2002: '' Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' * 2003: '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' * 2004: '' Half-Life 2'' * 2005: '' Psychonauts'' * 2006: '' The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'' * 2007: '' BioShock'' * 2008: '' Fallout 3'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: '' Mass Effect 2'' * 2011: '' Portal 2'' * 2012: '' The Walking Dead'' * 2013: '' The Last of Us'' * 2014: '' Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3'' * 2015: '' Her Story'' * 2016: '' Firewatch'' * 2017: '' What Remains of Edith Finch'' * 2018: '' Return of the Obra Dinn'' *

: '' Disco Elysium'' *

: '' The Last of Us Part II'' * 2021: '' Psychonauts 2''

Best Technology

Best Technology award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in a game, including graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking and physics. * 2004: '' Half-Life 2'' * 2005: '' Nintendogs'' * 2006: '' Gears of War'' * 2007: '' Crysis'' * 2008: '' LittleBigPlanet'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: '' Red Dead Redemption'' * 2011: '' Battlefield 3'' * 2012: '' Far Cry 3'' * 2013: ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

'' * 2014: ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although oft ...

'' * 2015: '' The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'' * 2016: '' Uncharted 4: A Thief's End'' * 2017: '' Horizon Zero Dawn'' * 2018: ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

'' *

: '' Control'' *

: '' Microsoft Flight Simulator'' * 2021: '' Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart''

Best Visual Art

Best Visual Art award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in a game, including animation, modeling, art direction and textures. * 2000: '' Jet Grind Radio'' * 2001: '' ICO'' * 2002: '' Kingdom Hearts'' * 2003: '' The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'' * 2004: '' World of Warcraft'' * 2005: '' Shadow of the Colossus'' * 2006: '' Gears of War'' * 2007: '' BioShock'' * 2008: '' Prince of Persia'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: '' Limbo'' * 2011: '' Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: '' BioShock Infinite'' * 2014: '' Monument Valley'' * 2015: ''

'' * 2016: '' Inside'' * 2017: '' Cuphead'' * 2018: ''

Gris ''Gris'' is a platform-adventure game by Spanish developer Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in December 2018, for iOS in August 2019, for PlayStation 4 in November 20 ...

'' *

: '' Control'' *

: '' Ghost of Tsushima'' * 2021: '' Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart''

Best VR/AR Game

* 2016: '' Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives'' * 2017: '' Superhot VR'' * 2018: '' Beat Saber'' *

: ''

Vader Immortal ''Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series'' is a series of three virtual reality adventure games originally released on May 21, September 25, and November 21, 2019, respectively, for the Oculus Quest and Rift systems. A Playstation VR version was ...

'' *

: '' Half-Life: Alyx''

Special Awards Recipients

Audience Award

These awards are voted by the audience for best game of that year. * 2012: '' Dishonored'' * 2013: '' Kerbal Space Program'' * 2014: '' Elite: Dangerous'' * 2015: ''

Life Is Strange ''Life Is Strange'' (abbreviated ''LIS'') is a series of primarily episodic graphic adventure games published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the eponymous first installment, ...

'' * 2016: '' Battlefield 1'' * 2017: '' Nier: Automata'' * 2018: '' Beat Saber'' *

: '' Sky: Children of the Light'' * 2020: '' Ghost of Tsushima'' * 2021: '' Valheim''

The Pioneer Award

Known as the First Penguin award until 2007, the Pioneer Award celebrates individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept or gameplay design. * 2000: Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer (creators of

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...

's ''

Habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

'') * 2001: Hubert Chardot ("for his risk-taking work on '' Alone in the Dark''") * 2002: David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Jim Levy, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead (founders of

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

) * 2003: Masaya Matsuura (founder of NanaOn-Sha, pioneer of music/game integration) * 2004: Richard Bartle (co-creator of MUD, ancestor to MMOs) * 2005: Don Woods, Will Crowther (creators of the early text game ''Adventure'') * 2006: Alexey Pajitnov (creator of '' Tetris'') * 2007: Ralph Baer (inventor of the '' Magnavox Odyssey'') * 2008: Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy (founders of Harmonix) * 2009: Gabe Newell (co-founder of

) * 2010: Yu Suzuki (lead of Sega AM2 development team responsible for several arcade games and the '' Shenmue'' series) * 2011: Dave Theurer (developer of '' Missile Command'' and '' Tempest'') * 2012: Steve Russell (creator of '' Spacewar!'') * 2013: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill (creators of Riot Games) * 2014: David Braben (founder of Frontier Developments, co-creator of the ''Elite'' series) * 2015: Markus "Notch" Persson (creator of '' Minecraft'') * 2016:

Jordan Mechner Jordan Mechner (born June 4, 1964) is an American video game designer, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He is best known for designing and programming the Broderbund Apple II games '' Karateka'' and ''Prince of Persia'' in the 1980s, the l ...

(creator of '' Prince of Persia'') * 2017: None (see below) * 2018: Rieko Kodama (graphic artist/director/producer for several Sega titles) *

: Roberta Williams (co-founder of Sierra On-line and early developer of the adventure game genre) *

: Tom Fulp (creator of Newgrounds and co-founder of The Behemoth) GDC had announced their intention to award Nolan Bushnell (co-founder of Atari) the 2017 Pioneer Award. However, after several people asked the GDC to reconsider this in light of documented sexist activities in Bushnell's past in light of the current #MeToo movement, GDC opted to not award the Pioneer Award and instead "will dedicate this year's award to honor the pioneering and unheard voices of the past".

Ambassador Award

The Ambassador Award is given to individuals within or outside the industry who helped video games "advance to a better place." It replaced the IGDA Award for Community Contribution after 2008. * 2007: Jason Della Rocca (former head of International Game Developers Association) * 2008: Tommy Tallarico (video game musician and composer) * 2009: Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Robert Khoo (creators and founders of '' Penny Arcade'') * 2010: Tim Brengle and Ian Mackenzie (Organizers of the Game Developers Conference volunteer program for 20+ years) * 2011: Kenneth Doroshow and Paul M. Smith (the lawyers which argued ''

Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association ''Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association'', 564 U.S. 786 (2011), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that struck down a 2005 California law banning the sale of certain violent video games to children without parental supervision ...

'' to the US Supreme Court supporting the video game industry) * 2012:

Chris Melissinos Christopher Robert Melissinos is a leading figure in the Java programming language community. He served as Sun Microsystems' Chief Evangelist and Chief Gaming Officer. During his tenure at Sun, he was responsible for the creation of their Game ...

(developer at

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...

leading gaming-related

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

initiatives) * 2013: Anita Sarkeesian (creator of '' Feminist Frequency'') * 2014: Brenda Romero (game developer, one of the leads of Romero Games) * 2015: Tracy Fullerton (game developer and professor at USC Interactive Media & Games Division) * 2016: Mark DeLoura (former editor of '' Game Developer'' and served as Senior Advisor for Digital Media for the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy) * 2017: Rami Ismail (co-founder of Vlambeer, assistance to indie game development) * 2018: None given * 2019: Kate Edwards (former head of the International Game Developers Association) * 2021:

Steven Spohn The AbleGamers Foundation (also known as The AbleGamers Charity) is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to improving accessibility in the video game space, enabling more people with disabilities to be able to play video games. The chari ...

(founder of AbleGamers)

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the achievements of a developer who has impacted games and game development. * 2000: Will Wright ( ''Sim'' games) * 2001: Yuji Naka ('' Sonic the Hedgehog'') * 2002: Gunpei Yokoi (1941–1997) (

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same te ...

, ''

Super Mario Land ''Super Mario Land'' is a 1989 side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch game for its Game Boy handheld game console. It is the first ''Mario'' platform game to have been released for a handheld cons ...

'' series, ''Metroid'' series) * 2003: Mark Cerny ('' Crash Bandicoot'' and '' Spyro the Dragon'') * 2004: Eugene Jarvis ('' Defender'' and ''

Robotron: 2084 ''Robotron: 2084'' (also referred to as ''Robotron'') is a multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 in a fictional wo ...

'') * 2005: Richard Garriott ('' Ultima'') * 2006: Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of ''

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the '' Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his c ...

'', ''

Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong and his clan of other apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of platform games—originally s ...

'', ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-releas ...

'', ''

Star Fox is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protago ...

'', '' F-Zero'', and ''

Pikmin is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and published by Nintendo. The games focus on directing a horde of plant-like creatures called Pikmin in order to collect items by destroying obstacles, avoidi ...

'') * 2007: Sid Meier (''

Civilization series ''Civilization'' is a series of turn-based strategy video games, first released in 1991. Sid Meier developed the first game in the series and has had creative input for most of the rest, and his name is usually included in the formal title of the ...

'' and many different simulators) * 2008: Hideo Kojima ('' Metal Gear series'') * 2009: John Carmack (''

Doom series ''Doom'' (stylized as ''DOOM'') is a video game series and media franchise created by John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud, and Tom Hall. The series focuses on the exploits of an unnamed space marine (often referred to as ...

'') * 2010:

Peter Molyneux Peter Douglas Molyneux (; born 5 May 1959) is an English video game designer and programmer. He created the god games '' Populous'', '' Dungeon Keeper'', and ''Black & White'', as well as ''Theme Park'', the ''Fable'' series, '' Curiosity: ...

('' God games'') * 2011: Warren Spector ('' Deus Ex'', '' System Shock'', '' Thief: The Dark Project'') * 2012: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (co-founders of BioWare) * 2013: Ken Kutaragi ("father" of the PlayStation console line) * 2014: Hironobu Sakaguchi ('' Final Fantasy series'') * 2015: Todd Howard ('' Elder Scrolls'', ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioa ...

'') * 2016:

Tim Sweeney Tim Sweeney may refer to: * Tim Sweeney (disc jockey), disc jockey and host of Beats in Space * Tim Sweeney (game developer) (born 1970), game developer and founder of Epic Games * Tim Sweeney (ice hockey) (born 1967), American ice hockey player * ...

(founder of

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, ...

) * 2017: Tim Schafer (developer for LucasArts adventure games, founder of Double Fine) * 2018: Amy Hennig (video game writer/director, notably for the '' Uncharted'' series) *

Laralyn McWilliams Laralyn McWilliams (born 25 February 1965 in Vicenza, Italy) is an American game designer and video game producer. She was creative director for Free Realms, a massively multiplayer virtual world for teens and 'tweens. In 2010, she was recog ...

, creative director of '' Free Realms'' and lead director of '' Full Spectrum Warrior'' * 2021: Yuji Horii, creator of the ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project ( Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo ( Koichi Sugiyama) to its pu ...

'' series

Retired awards

The following award categories have been retired or replaced with a different focus.

Best Downloadable Game

Best Downloadable Game Award recognizes the overall best game released on console or PC platforms specifically and solely for digital download - with an emphasis on smaller, more 'casual'-friendly titles. * 2007: ''

flOw Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psych ...

'' * 2008: '' World of Goo'' * 2009: ''

Flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

'' * 2011: '' Minecraft'' * 2012: ''

'' * 2013: '' Journey'' * 2014: ''

Character Design

The Character Design award recognizes the overall excellence of non-licensed character design in a game, including originality, character arc and emotional depth. * 2004: '' Half-Life 2'' * 2005: '' Shadow of the Colossus'' * 2006: '' Ōkami''

Excellence in Level Design

* 2000: '' American McGee's Alice'' * 2001: '' ICO'' * 2002: ''

Excellence in Programming

* 2000: '' The Sims'' * 2001: ''

'' * 2002: '' Neverwinter Nights'' * 2003: '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time''

IGDA Award for Community Contribution

The IGDA Award for Community Contribution recognized developers for significant efforts "building community, sharing knowledge, speaking on behalf of developers and/or contributing to the art form of game development". The

Ambassador Award The Ambassador Award is one of the most prestigious Union level awards of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) that recognizes individuals whose excellence and leadership in research, education and innovation have significantly advanced Earth an ...

replaced it after 2007. * 2000: John Carmack * 2001:

Jeff Lander Jeff Lander is an American video game programmer. He creates real-time 3D graphics at Darwin 3D, a game technology specialist company. He has written several articles on 3D graphics for Gamasutra and Game Developers Conference. In 2002, he receiv ...

* 2002: Doug Church ( Eidos Interactive) * 2003: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk * 2004: Sheri Graner Ray * 2005: Chris Hecker * 2006: George Sanger

Original Game Character of the Year

* 2000: Seaman from '' Seaman'' * 2001: Daxter from '' Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy'' * 2002: Sly Cooper from '' Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus'' * 2003: HK-47 from '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''

Maverick Award

The Maverick Award recognizes the current achievements of a developer who exhibits independence in thought and action while experimenting with alternate/emerging forms of digital games. * 2003: Brian Fiete, Jason Kapalka, and John Vechey ( PopCap Games) * 2004: Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr, and

Nick Tandavanitj Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Plac ...

(

Blast Theory Blast Theory is a Portslade-based artists' group, whose work mixes interactive media, digital broadcasting and live performance. Biography The group was founded in 1991 by Matt Adams, Niki Jewett, Will Kittow and Ju Row Farr. The group is curr ...

) * 2005:

Mike Dornbrook Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

, Eran Egozy, Greg LoPiccolo, and Alex Rigopulos ( Harmonix Music Systems) * 2006:

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based ...

Best New Social/Online Game

* 2009: '' FarmVille''

Game Developers Choice Online Awards

For its eight iteration in 2010, GDC Austin was rebranded as GDC Online, with a greater focus on MMOs, and

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and casual games. The Game Developers Choice Online Awards were also introduced to recognize technical excellence and innovation in online games. In addition to the awards of the competitive categories, special awards were given out to pioneering online games and creators. In 2012 it was announced that GDC Online would be replaced by GDC Next in Los Angeles in 2013, and the awards were subsequently discontinued.

2010

The 2010 awards ceremony took place on October 7, 2010. ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', Ri ...

'' by Riot Games led the winners with five awards from six nominations, including the publicly voted Audience Award. Richard Bartle received the Online Game Legend award for his work on the first MUD and the 2003 book ''

Designing Virtual Worlds ''Designing Virtual Worlds'' is a book about the practice of virtual world development by Richard Bartle. It has been noted as an authoritative source regarding the history of world-based online games. College courses have been taught using it. ...

''. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) '' Ultima Online'' was inducted into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame for being "a specific online game that has resulted in the long-term advancement of the medium, pioneering major shifts in online game development and games as a whole."

2011

Kelton Flinn - Game Developers Choice Online Awards

The 2011 awards ceremony took place on October 12, 2011. All the awards from the previous year returned, and a new award for Online Innovation was introduced. '' Minecraft'' and ''

Rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...

'' by Mojang and Trion Worlds respectively took home the most awards, with two each. Kelton Flinn and

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 *John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...

received the special Online Game Legend award as founders of Kesmai and creators of '' Island of Kesmai'' and '' Air Warrior''. Additionally, the MMORPG '' EverQuest'' was inducted into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame.

2012

The 2011 awards ceremony took place on October 10, 2012. '' Star Wars: The Old Republic'', developed by BioWare Austin, became the top winner at four awards, with ''League of Legends'' by Riot Games trailing slightly behind at three awards. The Online Game Legend award was given to Raph Koster, developer of previous Hall of Fame inductee ''Ultima Online'' as well as '' Star Wars: Galaxies''. MMORPG '' World of Warcraft'' was inducted into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame.

Winner selection process

Historical process

List of winners

Game of the Year

Best Audio

Best Debut

Best Design

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

Innovation Award

Best Narrative

Best Technology

Best Visual Art

Best VR/AR Game

Special Awards Recipients

Audience Award

The Pioneer Award

Ambassador Award

Lifetime Achievement Award

Retired awards

Best Downloadable Game

Character Design

Excellence in Level Design

Excellence in Programming

IGDA Award for Community Contribution

Original Game Character of the Year

Maverick Award

Best New Social/Online Game

Game Developers Choice Online Awards

2010

2011

2012

Notes

References

External links