The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...

for outstanding game developers and

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the

Spotlight Awards The Spotlight Awards was hosted annually by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) from 1997 to 1999. Its focus was on the video and computer game industry. GDC now hosts another video game award ceremony called Game Developers Choice Awards since ...

, which were presented from 1997 to 1999. Since then, the ceremony for the

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

is held just prior to the Choice Awards ceremony.

Winner selection process

Nominations for games are made by International Choice Awards Network (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

, which is typically held in March of the calendar year. GDC related properties are owned by the

UBM technology group UBM Technology Group, formerly CMP Publications, was a business-to-business multimedia company that provided information and integrated marketing services to technology professionals worldwide. It offered marketers and advertisers services such a ...

Historical process

In 2007,

gamasutra.com ''Game Developer'' (known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021) is a website created in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget and acted as the online sister publication to the print magaz ...

took over management of the awards from the

IGDA The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers." The IGDA is incorp ...

. 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 ''Diablo II'' is a 2000 action role-playing game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and OS X. The game, with its dark fantasy and horror themes, was conceptualized and des ...

'' * 2001: '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' * 2002: '' Medal of Honor: Allied Assault'' * 2003: ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

'' * 2004: ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclai ...

'' * 2005: ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead guitar, lead, bass guitar, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match ...

'' * 2006: ''

Guitar Hero II ''Guitar Hero II'' is a 2006 rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 and Activision for the Xbox 360. It is the sequel to ''Guitar Hero (video game), Guitar Hero'' (2005) and the second installment in t ...

'' * 2007: ''

BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 ...

'' * 2008: ''

Dead Space ''Dead Space'' is a science fiction horror franchise created and directed by Glen Schofield. ''Dead Space'' was developed by Visceral Games and published and owned by Electronic Arts. The franchise's chronology is not presented in a linear format ...

'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: ''

Red Dead Redemption ''Red Dead Redemption'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. A successor to 2004's ''Red Dead Revolver'', it is the second game in the ''Red Dead'' series. ''Red Dead Redemption'' is se ...

'' * 2011: ''

Portal 2 ''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform game developed by Valve for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC versions are distributed online by Valve's Steam service, while all retail editions are distributed by Elect ...

'' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: ''

BioShock Infinite ''BioShock Infinite'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K. The third installment of the ''BioShock'' series, ''Infinite'' was released worldwide for the PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360, a ...

'' * 2014: '' Alien: Isolation'' * 2015: ''

Crypt of the NecroDancer ''Crypt of the NecroDancer'' is a 2015 roguelike rhythm game created by Brace Yourself Games. The game takes fundamental elements of a roguelike dungeon exploration game and adds a beat-matching rhythm game set to an original soundtrack written ...

'' * 2016: ''

Inside Inside may refer to: Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 film), a Canadian prison drama film * ''Inside'' (2006 film), an American thriller film starri ...

'' * 2017: '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: ''

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 Celes ...

'' *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: ''

Control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlling ...

'' *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: ''

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

'' *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

: '' Unpacking'' *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: ''

God of War Ragnarök ''God of War Ragnarök'' is a 2022 action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released worldwide on November 9, 2022, for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, marking the ...

'' *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

: ''

Hi-Fi Rush ''Hi-Fi Rush'' is a 2023 rhythm-based action game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game's story follows self-proclaimed "future rock star" Chai (voiced by Robbie Daymond in English and Hiro Shimono in Japanes ...

'' *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: ''

Astro Bot is a 2024 Platformer, platform game developed and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5 to coincide with PlayStation's 30th anniversary. Following ''Astro's Playroom'' (2020), it is the fifth overall installment in ...

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 Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

Minh Le Minh Le ( Vietnamese: Lê Minh; born June 27, 1977), also known by his online nickname Gooseman, is a Vietnamese-Canadian video game programmer who co-created the ''Half-Life'' mod ''Counter-Strike'' with Jess Cliffe in 1999 and started the ' ...

Jess Cliffe Jess A. Cliffe (born June 27, 1981) is a video game designer who co-created the ''Half-Life'' mod ''Counter-Strike'' with Minh Le and started the ''Counter-Strike'' series. In the first entry of the series, he is the voice of the radio commands, ...

(for ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, '' Counte ...

'') * 2001:

Bohemia Interactive Bohemia Interactive a.s. is a Czech video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Prague. The company focuses on creating military simulation games such as ''Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' and the ''Arma (series), A ...

(for '' Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'') * 2002:

Retro Studios Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Nintendo based in Austin, Texas. The studio is best known for its work on the '' Metroid Prime'' and ''Donkey Kong'' series and has contributed to several other Nintendo- ...

(for ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main '' Metroid'' game and the first to use 3D computer graphics and a first-person perspec ...

'') * 2003:

Infinity Ward Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game '' Call of Duty'', along with seven other installments in the ''Call of Duty'' series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity W ...

(for ''

'') * 2004:

Crytek Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek operates additional studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. It ...

(for ''

Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequently, Ubisoft obtained ...

'') * 2005:

Double Fine Productions Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. It is a first-party developer of Xbox Game Studios. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double F ...

(for ''

Psychonauts ''Psychonauts'' is a 2005 platformer, platform game developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Xbox (console), Xbox and PlayStation 2. Set in a Retrofuturism, retro-futuristic version of t ...

'') * 2006:

Iron Lore Entertainment Iron Lore Entertainment was a video game developer that was founded in October 2000 by Brian Sullivan (game designer), Brian Sullivan and Paul Chieffo. History In late June 2006, the company released ''Titan Quest'', an action role-playing video ...

(for ''

Titan Quest ''Titan Quest'' is a 2006 action role-playing game developed by Iron Lore Entertainment and published by THQ for Windows, first physically and then in 2007 through Steam. A mobile port was developed by DotEmu and published in 2016, and versio ...

'') * 2007:

Realtime Worlds Realtime Worlds Ltd. (formerly Rage Games (Scotland) Limited and Real Time Worlds Ltd.) was a British video game developer based in Dundee. The studio was formed in February 2000 when Rage Software hired David Jones to lead its Scottish opera ...

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

(for '' Crackdown'') * 2008:

Media Molecule Media Molecule Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey. Founded in 2006 by Mark Healey, Alex Evans, David Smith, and Kareem Ettouney, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired the firm in 2010. It became part of SCE Worldw ...

(for ''

LittleBigPlanet ''LittleBigPlanet'' (''LBP''; stylised as ''LittleBIGPlanet'') is a Puzzle video game, puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in th ...

'') * 2009:

Runic Games Runic Games was an American video game developer based in Seattle. It was formed by former Flagship Studios developers in August 2008. In 2009, the company released ''Torchlight'', a single-player action role-playing game. It was acquired by Perf ...

(for ''

Torchlight ''Torchlight'' is an action role-playing hack and slash dungeon crawler video game developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World Entertainment. It was originally released for Windows in October 2009. The fantasy-themed game is set in ...

'') * 2010:

Mojang Mojang AB, trading as Mojang Studios, is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. A first-party developer for Xbox Game Studios, the studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game ''Minecraft'', the best-selli ...

(for ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

'') * 2011:

Supergiant Games Supergiant Games, LLC is an American independent video game developer and publisher based in San Francisco. It was founded in 2009 by Amir Rao and Gavin Simon, and is known for the games ''Bastion'', ''Transistor'', ''Pyre'', ''Hades'' and '' ...

(for ''

Bastion A bastion 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 fire from the ...

'') * 2012: Subset Games (for '' FTL: Faster Than Light'') * 2013: The Fullbright Company (for ''

Gone Home ''Gone Home'' is a first-person exploration video game developed and published by The Fullbright Company. ''Gone Home'' was first released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux computers in August 2013, followed by console releases for the Pla ...

'') * 2014:

Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed i ...

(for ''

The Banner Saga ''The Banner Saga'' is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Stoic and published by Versus Evil. It was released for personal computers and mobile phones in 2014, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016 and for Nintendo Switch in 2018. ...

'') * 2015:

Moon Studios Moon Studios GmbH is an Austrian video game developer founded in 2010. They are best known for their 2015 title ''Ori and the Blind Forest'', for which the studio was awarded the Best Debut award at the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards. In 202 ...

(for ''

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

'') * 2016: Campo Santo (for ''

Firewatch ''Firewatch'' is an adventure game developed by Campo Santo (company), Campo Santo and published by the developer in partnership with Panic Inc., Panic. The game was released in February 2016 for Linux, OS X, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox ...

'') * 2017: Studio MDHR (for ''

Cuphead ''Cuphead'' is a 2017 run and gun video game developed and published by Canadian developer Studio MDHR. The game follows its titular teacup-headed character and his brother Mugman, as they make a deal with the Devil to pay casino losses by r ...

'') *

: Mountains (for ''

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

'') *

: ZA/UM (for ''

Disco Elysium ''Disco Elysium'' is a 2019 role-playing video game developed and published by ZA/UM. The game was written and designed by a team led by Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz and executive producer Kaur Kender, featuring an art style based on oil pain ...

'') *

: Kinetic Games (for '' Phasmophobia'') *

: Iron Gate Studio (for ''

Valheim ''Valheim'' is an upcoming survival and sandbox video game by the Swedish developer Iron Gate Studio and published by Coffee Stain Studios. It was released in early access on 2 February 2021 for Linux and Windows via Steam, and for Xbox One and ...

'') *

BlueTwelve Studio ''Stray'' is a 2022 adventure game developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive. The story follows a stray cat who falls into a walled city populated by robots, machines, and mutant bacteria; the cat sets out to return ...

(for ''

Stray Stray or The Stray or ''variation'', may refer to: Animals * A feral (abandoned or escaped) domestic animal; see also estray * A stray or free-ranging dog Places * Areas of open grassland in North Yorkshire: ** Strays of York ** The Stray (Harro ...

'') *

: Visai Games (for '' Venba'') *

: PlayThunk (for ''

Balatro ''Balatro'' is a 2024 poker-themed roguelike deck-building game developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack. It was released on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February ...

'')

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 ''Deus Ex'' is a series of cyberpunk role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technol ...

'' * 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 was the first 3D game in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series. Set in Liberty City, loosely based on New York City, the story follo ...

'' * 2002: ''

Battlefield 1942 ''Battlefield 1942'' is a 2002 first-person shooter game developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game can be played in single-player mode against the video game AI or in multip ...

'' * 2003: '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' * 2004: ''

Katamari Damacy () is a 2004 action-puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. The game's plot concerns a diminutive prince on a mission to rebuild stars, constellations, and the Moon, which were inadvertently destroyed by his f ...

'' * 2005: ''

Shadow of the Colossus ''Shadow of the Colossus'' is a 2005 action-adventure game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It takes place in a fantasy setting and follows Wander, a young man who enters an isolated and abandoned r ...

'' * 2006: ''

Wii Sports ''Wii Sports'' is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game was released in North America along with the Wii on 19 November 2006, and in Japan, Australia, and Europe the fo ...

'' * 2007: ''

Portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

'' * 2008: ''

'' * 2009: '' Batman: Arkham Asylum'' * 2010: ''

'' * 2011: ''

'' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States ...

'' * 2014: '' Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft'' * 2015: ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a 2015 vehicular Association football, soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. A sequel to 2008's ''Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars'', ''Rocket League ...

'' * 2016: ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

'' * 2017: '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' *

: ''

Into the Breach ''Into the Breach'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by indie studio Subset Games, consisting of Jay Ma and Matthew Davis. ''Into the Breach'' is their second game, following '' FTL: Faster Than Light''. It features ...

'' *

: ''

Baba Is You ''Baba Is You'' is a puzzle video game created by Arvi Teikari (known professionally as Hempuli), a Finnish independent developer. The game centers around the manipulation of "rules"—represented in the play area by movable tiles with words w ...

'' *

: ''

'' *

: '' It Takes Two'' *

: ''

Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by the American fantasy writer George R. R. Martin. It was released o ...

'' *

: ''

Baldur's Gate 3 ''Baldur's Gate 3'' is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment of the ''Baldur's Gate'' series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons''. A partial ...

'' *

: ''

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 ''Scribblenauts'' is a series of Action game, action Puzzle video game, puzzle video games primarily developed by independent studio 5th Cell. The series is owned and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The first game in the seri ...

'' * 2010: ''

Cut the Rope Cut or CUT may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** ...

'' * 2011: '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP'' * 2012: ''

The Room ''The Room'' is a 2003 American independent romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Tommy Wiseau, who also stars in the film alongside Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centered around a ...

'' * 2013: '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'' * 2014: ''

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

'' * 2015: '' Her Story'' * 2016: ''

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game originally developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. It uses mobile devic ...

'' * 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 on 22 May 2018, and short ...

'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''What the Golf?'' *

: ''

Genshin Impact ''Genshin Impact'' is a 2020 action role-playing game produced by MiHoYo, MiHoYo/HoYoverse. The game features an anime-style open world environment and an action-based Role-playing battle systems, battle system using Classical element, element ...

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: ''

''; ''

Crazy Taxi ''Crazy Taxi'' is a series of racing games developed by SEGA Hitmaker, Hitmaker and published by Sega. It was first available as an arcade video game in 1999, then released for the Dreamcast console in 2000. It is the third best-selling Dreamc ...

''; ''

''; '' Jet Grind Radio''; ''

No One Lives Forever ''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' (abbreviated as ''NOLF'') is a first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Fox Interactive, released for Windows in 2000. The game was Porting, ported later to the P ...

'' * 2001: ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

''; ''

ICO is a 2001 action-adventure game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, who wanted to create a minimalist game based on a "boy meets girl" concept. Originally ...

''; '' Majestic''; '' Rez'' * 2002: ''

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. It was created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. The player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals and can ...

''; ''

''; '' Medal of Honor: Allied Assault''; '' The Thing'' * 2003: '' EyeToy: Play''; ''

Viewtiful Joe is a side scrolling beat 'em up video game franchise created by Japanese game designer Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom and its subsidiary Clover Studio. Games ''Viewtiful Joe'' (2003) The first game in the ...

''; '' WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!'' * 2004: ''

Donkey Konga is a series of rhythm video games developed by Namco and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. A spin-off of the '' Donkey Kong'' series, they are played with a special controller called the DK Bongos that resemble two small bongo drums ...

''; ''

I Love Bees ''I Love Bees'' (also known as ''ilovebees'' or ''ILB'' for short) was an alternate reality game (ARG) that served as both a real-world experience and viral marketing campaign for the release of developer Bungie's 2004 video game ''Halo 2''. ...

''; ''

'' * 2005: ''

Nintendogs (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2005 real-time pet simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was released in Japan, and was later released in: North America, Australia, New ...

''; ''

'' * 2006: ''

Line Rider ''Line Rider'' is a browser game or software toy, with versions available for Microsoft Silverlight, JavaScript, Javascript, Windows, and Adobe Flash, Flash. It was originally created in September 2006 by Boštjan Čadež (also known as "fšk"), ...

''; ''

Ōkami is a 2006 action-adventure game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for PlayStation 2 in 2006 in Japan and North America, and in 2007 in Europe and Australia. After the closure of Clover Studio a few months afte ...

''; ''

'' * 2007: ''

'' * 2008: ''

'' * 2009: ''

'' * 2010: ''

'' * 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: ''

'' * 2015: '' Her Story'' * 2016: ''

No Man's Sky ''No Man's Sky'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure survival game developed and published by Hello Games. It was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Windows in August 2016, for Xbox One in July 2018, for the PlayStation 5 an ...

'' * 2017: ''

'' *

: ''

Nintendo Labo is a series of toys-to-life video games developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Gameplay consists of players constructing Toy-Cons from kits that include cardboard cut-outs and other materials in combination with the consol ...

'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

Dreams A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5–20 minutes, althou ...

'' *

: '' Unpacking'' *

: ''

Immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...

'' *

: '' The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom'' *

: ''

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 ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...

'' * 2003: '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' * 2004: ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played ent ...

'' * 2005: ''

'' * 2006: '' The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'' * 2007: ''

'' * 2008: ''

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: ''

Mass Effect 2 ''Mass Effect 2'' is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Microsoft Game Studios and Electronic Arts. It was released for Windows and the Xbox 360 in January 2010, as well as the PlayStation 3 the following ye ...

'' * 2011: ''

'' * 2012: '' The Walking Dead'' * 2013: ''

'' * 2014: '' Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3'' * 2015: '' Her Story'' * 2016: ''

'' * 2017: ''

What Remains of Edith Finch ''What Remains of Edith Finch'' is a First-person (video games), first-person adventure game, exploration video game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and ...

'' *

: '' Return of the Obra Dinn'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Set four years after '' The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable characters in a post-apo ...

'' *

: ''

Psychonauts 2 ''Psychonauts 2'' is a 2021 platformer, platform game developed by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was announced at The Game Awards 2015 ceremony, and released on August 25, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and ...

'' *

: ''

Pentiment Pentiment may refer to: * ''Pentiment'' (video game), a 2022 release *Pentimento In painting, a ; from the verb , meaning 'to repent'; plural ''pentimenti'') is "the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been cha ...

'' *

: ''

'' *

: '' Metaphor: ReFantazio''

Best Technology

Best Technology award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in a game, including graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking, and physics. * 2004: ''

'' * 2005: ''

'' * 2006: ''

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' (also referred to as ''Gears'') is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition (company), The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The ...

'' * 2007: ''

Crysis ''Crysis'' is a first-person shooter video game series created by Crytek. The series revolves around a group of military protagonists with " nanosuits", technologically advanced suits of armor that give them enhanced physical strength, speed, ...

'' * 2008: ''

'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: ''

'' * 2011: ''

Battlefield 3 ''Battlefield 3'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sixth main installment in the '' Battlefield'' series and a follow-up to '' Battlefield 2'' (2005). The game was released on Micr ...

'' * 2012: ''

Far Cry 3 ''Far Cry 3'' is a 2012 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the third main installment in the '' Far Cry'' series after ''Far Cry 2''. The game takes place on the fictional Rook Islands, a t ...

'' * 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 also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

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

Horizon Zero Dawn ''Horizon Zero Dawn'' is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. A port to Windows was released in 2020 as the first in a series of PlayStation exclusi ...

'' *

: ''

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 a fictiona ...

'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

Microsoft Flight Simulator ''Microsoft Flight Simulator'' is a series of Flight simulation video game, flight simulator programs for MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and diff ...

'' *

: '' Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart'' *

: ''

'' *

: '' The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom'' *

: ''

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: ''

'' * 2002: ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square) and owned by The Walt Disney Company. A collaboration between the two companies, it was conceptualized by Square employees, Japanese gam ...

'' * 2003: '' The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'' * 2004: ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'' * 2005: ''

'' * 2006: ''

'' * 2007: ''

'' * 2008: ''

Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two ga ...

'' * 2009: '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'' * 2010: ''

Limbo The unofficial term Limbo (, or , referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition in medieval Catholic theology, of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. However, it has become the gene ...

'' * 2011: '' Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'' * 2012: '' Journey'' * 2013: ''

'' * 2014: ''

'' * 2015: ''

'' * 2016: ''

'' * 2017: ''

'' *

: '' Gris'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

Ghost of Tsushima In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucen ...

'' *

: '' Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart'' *

: ''

'' *

: '' Alan Wake 2'' *

: '' Black Myth: Wukong''

Best VR/AR Game

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

: ''

Beat Saber ''Beat Saber'' is a virtual reality rhythm game developed by Ján Ilavský, Vladimír Hrinčár, and Peter Hrinčár. The game was published by Czech game developer Beat Games and was later obtained by Oculus Studios. It takes place in many di ...

'' *

: '' Vader Immortal'' *

: '' Half-Life: Alyx''

Special Awards Recipients

Audience Award

These awards are voted by the audience for best game of that year. * 2012: ''

Dishonored ''Dishonored'' is a 2012 action-adventure game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Set in the fictional, plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall, ''Dishonored'' follows the story of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to th ...

'' * 2013: ''

Kerbal Space Program ''Kerbal Space Program'' is a 2015 Space flight simulation game, space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican studio Squad for Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. In the game, players dir ...

'' * 2014: ''

Elite Dangerous ''Elite Dangerous'' is an online game, online space flight simulation game developed and published by Frontier Developments. The player commands a spaceship and explores a realistic 1:1 Scale (ratio), scale, open-world representation of the Mi ...

'' * 2015: ''

Life Is Strange ''Life Is Strange'' is a series of adventure games published by Square Enix's Square Enix External Studios, External Studios. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the Life Is Strange (video game), eponymous first install ...

'' * 2016: ''

Battlefield 1 ''Battlefield 1'' is a 2016 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the tenth installment in the ''Battlefield'' series and the first main entry in the series since ''Battlefield 4'' in 2013. It was ...

'' * 2017: '' Nier: Automata'' *

: ''

'' *

: '' Sky: Children of the Light'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

'' *

: ''

'' * 2024: ''

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a 2024 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The game is a sequel to ''Final Fantasy VII Remake'' (2020) and the second in a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game ''Final Fantasy VII''. Like ...

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. * 2001:

Chip Morningstar Chip Morningstar is an American software architect, mainly for online entertainment and communication. Morningstar held many jobs throughout his career in the research and development of technology and programs. Most notably was Morningstar's ...

and

Randy Farmer Frank Randall "Randy" Farmer (born October 16, 1961) is an American game developer, co-creator with Chip Morningstar of one of the first graphical online games, 1985's ''Habitat''. In 2001 he and Morningstar were the first recipients of the Pion ...

, creators of

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...

's ''

Habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

'' * 2002: Hubert Chardot, "for his risk-taking work on ''

Alone in the Dark ''Alone in the Dark'' is a survival horror video game series originally developed by Infogrames. In most of the games, the player controls private investigator Edward Carnby, who goes to investigate a haunted house or town that is full of undea ...

''" * 2003: David Crane,

Larry Kaplan Larry Kaplan is an American video game designer and video game programmer. Kaplan studied at the University of California, Berkeley from 1968 through 1974 and graduated with a degree in Computer Science. Larry was inspired to work in the game de ...

Jim Levy Jim Levy is an American businessman who began his career as a music industry executive before he became the founding chief executive officer for Activision.(14 July 2011)When arcades ruled the Bay Area (photos) SFgate ("That's legendary game des ...

, Alan Miller,

Bob Whitehead Robert A. Whitehead (born November 1, 1953) is an American video game designer and programmer. While working for Atari, Inc. he wrote two of the nine Atari Video Computer System launch titles: ''Blackjack'' and '' Star Ship''. After leaving Atari ...

, 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 o ...

* 2004:

Masaya Matsuura (born June 16, 1961) is a Japanese musician and video game designer based in Tokyo, Japan. He was born in Osaka on June 16, 1961, and majored in Industrial Society at Ritsumeikan University. He has worked extensively with music production, sound ...

, founder of

NanaOn-Sha is a Japanese video game developer founded by Masaya Matsuura in 1993. History In 1993, Matsuura founded the Tokyo-based production company, NanaOn-Sha, which began the development of video games. He was mainly involved in the development of ...

, pioneer of music/game integration * 2005:

Richard Bartle Richard Allan Bartle (born 10 January 1960) is a British writer, professor and game researcher in the massively multiplayer online game industry. He co-created ''MUD1'' (the first MUD) in 1978, and is the author of the 2003 book ''Designing Vir ...

, co-creator of

MUD Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

, ancestor to MMOs * 2006:

Don Woods Donald Woods (1933–2001) was a South African journalist and activist. Donald or Don Woods may also refer to: * Donald Woods (actor) (1906–1998), Canadian-born American film and television actor * Donald Devereux Woods (1912–1964), British ...

Will Crowther William Crowther (born 1936) is an American computer programmer, caver, and rock climber. He is the co-creator of ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' from 1975 onward, a seminal computer game that influenced the first decade of video game design and in ...

, creators of the early text game ''

Colossal Cave Adventure ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' (also known as ''Adventure'' or ''ADVENT'') is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the ...

'' * 2007:

Alexey Pajitnov Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (born April 16, 1955) is a Russian-American computer engineer and video game designer. He is best known for creating, designing, and developing ''Tetris'' in 1985 while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre un ...

, creator of ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

'' * 2008:

Ralph Baer Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, game developer, and engineer. Baer's Jewish family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war ...

, inventor of the

Magnavox Odyssey The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...

* 2009:

Alex Rigopulos Alexander Peter Rigopulos (born 1970s in Boxford, Massachusetts) is an American video game designer and musician, best known as the former CEO and current creative director of Harmonix Music Systems, a company he founded with Eran Egozy in 199 ...

and

Eran Egozy Eran Egozy is an Israeli chief technical officer and VP of engineering of Harmonix Music Systems, a company he founded with Alex Rigopulos in 1995. He also works as professor of the practice at MIT. Biography Egozy is a native of Israel. He mo ...

, founders of

Harmonix Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as bein ...

* 2010:

Gabe Newell Gabe Logan Newell (born November 3, 1962), also known by his nickname Gaben, is an American video game developer and businessman. He is the president and co-founder of the video game company Valve Corporation. Newell was born in Colorado and ...

, co-founder of

* 2011:

Yu Suzuki is a Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer, who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the first auteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega's arcade hits, including three-dimensi ...

, lead of

Sega AM2 previously known as is a video game development team within the Japanese multinational video game developer Sega. Yu Suzuki, who had previously developed arcade games for Sega including ''Hang-On'' and ''Out Run'', was the first manager of th ...

development team responsible for several arcade games and the ''

Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. ''Shenmue II'' was released in 2002 in Western m ...

'' series * 2012:

Dave Theurer David Theurer is a game designer and computer programmer. In 1980, he created the ''Missile Command'' and '' Tempest'' arcade games for Atari, Inc., considered two of the major releases from the Golden age of arcade games. Theurer also designed ' ...

, developer of ''

Missile Command ''Missile Command'' is a 1980 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. Sega released the game outside North America. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game '' Tempest'' from ...

'' and '' Tempest'' * 2013:

Steve Russell Steve or Steven Russell may refer to: * Steve Russell (politician) (born 1963), American politician in Oklahoma * Steve Russell (computer scientist) (born 1937), American computer scientist * Steve Russell (writer), Cherokee journalist and academic ...

, creator of ''

Spacewar! ''Spacewar!'' is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 minicomputer at the ...

'' * 2014: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, creators of

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on to develop ...

* 2015:

David Braben David John Braben (born 2 January 1964) is an English video game developer and designer, founder and President of Frontier Developments, and co-creator of the ''Elite'' series of space trading video games, first published in 1984. He is also ...

, founder of

Frontier Developments Frontier Developments plc is a British video game developer founded by David Braben in January 1994 and based at the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, England. Frontier develops management simulators '' Planet Coaster'' and '' Planet Zoo'', ...

, co-creator of the ''Elite'' series * 2016:

Markus "Notch" Persson Markus Alexej Persson ( , ; born 1 June 1979), known by the pseudonym Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is the creator of ''Minecraft'', which is the best-selling video game in history. He founded the video game deve ...

, creator of ''

'' * 2017:

Jordan Mechner Jordan Mechner (born June 4, 1964) is an American video game designer, author, screenwriter, filmmaker, and former video game programmer. A major figure in the development of cinematic video games and a pioneer in video game animation, he began ...

, creator of ''

'' * 2018: None (see below) *

Rieko Kodama , also known as Phoenix Rie, was a Japanese video game artist, director, and producer employed by Sega from 1984 until her death. She is primarily known for her work on role-playing video games including the original ''Phantasy Star'' series, t ...

, graphic artist/director/producer for several Sega titles *

Roberta Williams Roberta Lynn Williams (; born February 16, 1953) is an American video game designer and writer, who co-founded Sierra On-Line with her husband, game developer Ken Williams. In 1980, her first game, '' Mystery House'', became a modest commer ...

, co-founder of

Sierra On-line Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game ge ...

and early developer of the

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

genre *

Tom Fulp Thomas Charles Fulp (born April 30, 1978) is an American programmer. He created the website Newgrounds and co-founded the video game company The Behemoth. Fulp has been credited with "changing the landscape of the Internet forever" by kickstart ...

, creator of

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an American entertainment website founded by Tom Fulp in 1995 and owned by Newgrounds.com, Inc. The site hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and ...

and co-founder of

The Behemoth The Behemoth is an American video game development company that was founded in 2003 by John Baez, artist Dan Paladin, and programmers Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, and Nick Dryburgh. Dryburgh and LaCava later left the company. The Behemoth developme ...

: None given *

Mabel Addis Mabel Addis Mergardt (21 May 1912 – 13 August 2004) was an American writer, teacher and the first video game writer. She designed ''The Sumerian Game'', programmed by William McKay, for the IBM 7090 in 1964, which inspired other kingdom manage ...

, first female video game designer * 2025:

Lucas Pope Lucas Pope (born ) is an American video game designer. He is best known for experimental indie games, notably ''Papers, Please'' and '' Return of the Obra Dinn'', both of which won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize alongside other awards. Early l ...

, developer of ''

'' and '' The Return of the Obra Dinn'' GDC had announced their intention to award

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consu ...

(co-founder of

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

) the 2018 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 2007. * 2008:

Jason Della Rocca Jason Della Rocca (born 1974) is the former executive director of the Montreal chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA): Della Rocca supervised the daily operations, outreach initiatives, and membership programs of the orga ...

(former head of

International Game Developers Association The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers." The IGDA is incorp ...

) * 2009:

Tommy Tallarico Tommy Tallarico (born 1967 or 1968) is an American video game music composer, sound designer, and television producer. Since the 1990s, his company Tommy Tallarico Studios has produced audio for many video games. He co-hosted the television ser ...

(video game musician and composer) * 2010:

Jerry Holkins Jerry Holkins (born Parkinson"Holkins is a combination of Holcomb (hers) and Parkinson (mine)." https://twitter.com/TychoBrahe/status/12073336701 on February 6, 1976) is an American writer. He is the co-creator and writer of the webcomic '' Penny ...

Mike Krahulik Michael Krahulik (; born September 25, 1977) is an American artist for the webcomic '' Penny Arcade'' and co-founder with Jerry Holkins of Child's Play, a charity that organizes toy drives for children's hospitals. He goes by the online moniker ...

and

Robert Khoo Robert Khoo was the President of Operations and Business Development of ''Penny Arcade'' from 2002 until 2016. He was the Business Manager for the company and the Show Director for PAX, the largest consumer gaming show in the United States. Khoo ...

(creators and founders of ''

Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...

'') * 2011: Tim Brengle and Ian Mackenzie (Organizers of the

volunteer program for 20+ years) * 2012: Kenneth Doroshow and Paul M. Smith (the lawyers which argued '' Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association'' to the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

supporting the video game industry) * 2013: Chris Melissinos (developer at

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

leading gaming-related

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

initiatives) * 2014:

Anita Sarkeesian Anita Sarkeesian ( ; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of ''#Feminist Frequency, Feminist Frequency'', a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. Her v ...

(creator of '' Feminist Frequency'') * 2015:

Brenda Romero Brenda Louise Romero (née Garno; born October 12, 1966), previously known as Brenda Brathwaite, is an American game designer and video game developer, developer. She was born in Ogdensburg, New York and is a graduate of Clarkson University. R ...

(game developer, one of the leads of

Romero Games Romero Games Ltd. is an Irish independent video game development studio that was established on 11 August 2015 by husband-and-wife team John Romero and Brenda Romero and is located in Galway, Ireland. This is the ninth game studio Romero has es ...

) * 2016:

Tracy Fullerton Tracy Fullerton (born June 21, 1965) is an American game designer, educator and writer, best known for '' Walden, a game'' (2017). She is a Professor in the USC Interactive Media & Games Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Director ...

(game developer and professor at USC Interactive Media & Games Division) * 2017: 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 The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government, part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President (EOP), established by United States Congres ...

) * 2018:

Rami Ismail Rami Ismail (born 30 October 1988) is a Dutch-Egyptian independent video game developer. He is further known for being a spokesperson within the video game industry on the topics of diversity and reaching out to game developers from developing ...

(co-founder of

Vlambeer Vlambeer is a Dutch independent video game developer based in Utrecht. Founded in 2010, the studio was composed of Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman. The studio is known for the games ''Super Crate Box'' (2010), ''Serious Sam: The Random Encount ...

, assistance to indie game development) * 2019: None given * 2020:

Kate Edwards Kate Edwards (born 1965) is a geographer, writer, and content culturalization strategist, most active in information-based cartography and video game content. She was the executive director of the International Game Developers Association from ...

(former head of the

) * 2021: None given * 2022: Steven Spohn (founder of

AbleGamers 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 charit ...

) * 2023: None given * 2024: Fawzi Mesmar (creative director, game designer, leader, and author, known for his work in the video game industry)

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the achievements of a developer who has impacted games and game development. * 2001: Will Wright ( ''Sim'' games) * 2002:

Yuji Naka , credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game designer and programmer. He is the co-creator of the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and was the president of Sonic Team at Sega until his departure in 2006. Naka joined Sega in 1984 and w ...

(''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'' series) * 2003:

Gunpei Yokoi , sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the ...

(1941–1997) (

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

, ''

Super Mario Land is a 1989 platform game developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, Nintendo R&D1, the same team that designed the Game Boy. It was published by Nintendo as Game Boy#Launch titles, one of the first four games released for the console. I ...

'' series, ''Metroid'' series) * 2004:

Mark Cerny Mark Evan Cerny ( ; born 1964 or 1965) is an American video game designer, programmer, producer and media proprietor. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cerny attended UC Berkeley before dropping out to pursue a career in video games. In h ...

(''

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

'' and ''

Spyro the Dragon ''Spyro the Dragon'' is a 1998 platform game originally developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The first game in the ''Spyro'' series, it stars the title character, a young purple dragon ...

'') * 2005:

Eugene Jarvis Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Williams Electronics and video games for Atari. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' ...

('' 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 w ...

'') * 2006:

Richard Garriott Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born 4 July 1961) is a British-born American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Garriott, who is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, was originally a game designer ...

(''

Ultima Ultima may refer to: Places * Ultima, Victoria, a town in Australia * Pangaea Ultima, a supercontinent to occur in the future * ''Ultima'', the larger lobe of the trans-Neptunian object 486958 Arrokoth, nicknamed ''Ultima Thule'' Companies and ...

'') * 2007:

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...

(creator of ''

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

'', ''

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

'', ''

The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...

'', ''

Star Fox ''Star Fox'' is a rail shooter, space flight simulator, and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic a ...

'', ''

F-Zero is a series of racing games published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo EAD and other third-party companies. The first game was released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1990. Its success prompted Nintendo to create sequels on subsequent co ...

'', 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 to collect items by destroying obstacles, avoiding hazards, ...

'') * 2008:

Sid Meier Sidney K. Meier ( ; born February 24, 1954) is an American businessman and computer programmer. A programmer, designer, and producer of many strategy video games and simulation video games, including the ''Civilization'' series, Meier co-found ...

('' Civilization series'' and many different simulators) * 2009:

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...

('' Metal Gear series'') * 2010:

John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 21, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Do ...

('' Doom series'') * 2011:

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: Wh ...

(''

God games A god game is an life simulation game, artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with Divinity, divine and supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified chara ...

'') * 2012:

Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...

(''

'', ''

System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...

'', '' Thief: The Dark Project'') * 2013:

Ray Muzyka Raymond Alexander Muzyka is a Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician. Originally trained as a medical doctor and practicing as an emergency department and family physician after graduation, he is the co-founder of video game developer Bi ...

and

Greg Zeschuk Gregory Zeschuk (born 1969) is a Canadian businessman who was a VP at Electronic Arts and General Manager at BioWare Austin until 2012. He co-founded video game developer BioWare in Edmonton in 1995 with Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip, after all ...

(co-founders of

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American ...

) * 2014:

Ken Kutaragi is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman, currently president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. Formerly the chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the video game division of Sony, Kutaragi is known as "The Father ...

("father" of the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

console line) * 2015:

Hironobu Sakaguchi is a Japanese game designer, director, producer, and writer. Originally working for Square (later Square Enix) from 1983 to 2003, he departed the company and founded independent studio Mistwalker in 2004. He is known as the creator of the ''Fi ...

(''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'' series) * 2016:

Todd Howard Todd Andrew Howard (born 1970) is an American video game designer, Creative director, director, and Video game producer, producer. He serves as director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has led the development of the ...

(''

Elder Scrolls ''The Elder Scrolls'' is a series of action role-playing games, action role-playing video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series focuses on Nonlinear gameplay, free-form gameplay in an ...

'', ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...

'') * 2017: Tim Sweeney (founder of

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

) * 2018:

Tim Schafer Timothy John Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games '' ...

(developer for

LucasArts adventure games From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which got high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous, often irrevere ...

, founder of

Double Fine Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. It is a first-party developer of Xbox Game Studios. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double F ...

) *

Amy Hennig Amy Hennig (born August 19, 1964) is an American video game writer and director, formerly for the video game company Naughty Dog. She began her work in the industry on the Nintendo Entertainment System, with her design debut on the Super Ninten ...

(video game writer/director, notably for the ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...

'' series) *

: Laralyn McWilliams, creative director of ''

Free Realms ''Free Realms'' was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) set in a fantasy-themed world called Sacred Grove. The game was first released on April 28, 2009 for Microsoft Windows. Ve ...

'' and lead director of '' Full Spectrum Warrior'' *

Yuji Horii is a Japanese author, video game designer, writer and director best known as the creator of the ''Dragon Quest'' franchise, supervising and writing the scenario for ''Chrono Trigger'', and '' The Portopia Serial Murder Case'', released in 1983 ...

, creator of the ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing video games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii (Armor Project), character designer Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio), and composer Koi ...

'' series *

John Romero Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992), ''Doom (1993 video game), Doom'' (1993), ''Doom II'' (1994), ''Hexen ...

, co-founder of

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

and

Ion Storm Ion Storm, L.P. was an American video game developer founded in Dallas, Texas in November 1996 by John Romero and Tom Hall, both formerly of id Software ; a branch in Austin, Texas was opened in 1997. In April 1999, Eidos Interactive acquired 5 ...

, and co-creator of the

Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a 1992 first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen for DOS. It was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game '' Castle Wolfenstein'', and is the third installment ...

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...

, and Quake series * 2024:

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. Shimomura wrote music for severa ...

, composer of ''

Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...

'' and the ''

'' series * 2025:

Sam Lake Sami Antero Järvi (; born 28 March 1970), better known by his pen name Sam Lake ('Järvi' is Finnish for lake), is a Finnish video game writer and director. He is the creative director at Remedy Entertainment, known for his writing (as well a ...

, Creative Director at

Remedy Entertainment Remedy Entertainment Oyj, trading internationally as Remedy Entertainment Plc, is a Finnish video game developer based in Espoo. Notable games the studio has developed include the first two entries in the ''Max Payne'' franchise, '' Alan Wake' ...

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 (psyc ...

'' * 2008: ''

World of Goo ''World of Goo'' is a physics-based puzzle video game developed and published by independent game developer 2D Boy. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and Wii on October 13, 2008, with releases on Nintendo Switch, Mac OS X, Linux, and ...

'' * 2009: ''

Flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

'' * 2011: ''

'' * 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: ''

'' * 2005: ''

'' * 2006: ''

Excellence in Level Design

* 2000: ''

American McGee's Alice ''American McGee's Alice'' is a 2000 third-person dark fantasy action-adventure video game developed by Rogue Entertainment under the direction of designer American McGee and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Games banner. The game ...

'' * 2001: ''

'' * 2002: ''

Excellence in Programming

* 2000: ''

The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and Video game publisher, published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and is one of the List of best-selling video game fran ...

'' * 2001: ''

'' * 2002: ''

Neverwinter Nights ''Neverwinter Nights'' is a series of video games developed by BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment, based on the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Aside from also being set around the city Nev ...

'' * 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) and recognizes individuals whose excellence and leadership in research, education, and innovation have significantly advanced Earth an ...

replaced it after 2007. * 2000:

* 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 Doug Church (born November 16, 1968, in Evanston, Illinois), is an American video game designer and producer. He attended MIT in the late 1980s, but left and went to work with Looking Glass Studios, when they were making primarily MS-DOS-based im ...

(

Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Limited (formerly Domark Limited) was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Among its franchises were '' Championship Manager'', '' Deus Ex'', ''Hitman'', '' Thief'' and ''Tomb Raider''. Domark was founded ...

) * 2003:

and

* 2004:

Sheri Graner Ray Sheri Graner Ray is an American computer game designer. Active since 1990, she has worked for such companies as Electronic Arts, Origin Systems, Sony Online Entertainment, and Cartoon Network, and has worked on such licenses as ''Star Wars Galax ...

* 2005: Chris Hecker * 2006: George Sanger

Original Game Character of the Year

* 2000: Seaman from ''

Seaman Seaman may refer to: * Sailor, a member of a marine watercraft's crew * Seaman (rank), a military rank in some navies * Seaman (name) (including a list of people with the name) * ''Seaman'' (video game), a 1999 simulation video game for the Seg ...

'' * 2001:

Daxter This is a list of characters in the ''Jak and Daxter'' series, a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 2. Currently, six games in the series have been released, with Jak as the primary playable character in ...

from '' Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy'' * 2002:

Sly Cooper ''Sly Cooper'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games created by Sucker Punch Productions and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series follows the adventures of Sly Cooper, an anthropomorphic raccoon and master thief ...

from ''

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus ''Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus'' (known as ''Sly Raccoon'' in PAL region, PAL regions) is a 2002 Stealth game, stealth Platformer, platform video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment f ...

'' * 2003:

HK-47 HK-47 is a fictional droid in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced in the 2003 video game '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'', he is an extremely efficient assassin droid constructed by Revan to assist them in hunting Jedi, until bo ...

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 Jason Kapalka (born 1970) is a Canadian game developer and entrepreneur based in the Comox Valley and Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known as one of the founders, along with John Vechey and Brian Fiete, of the video game studio PopCap Ga ...

, and John Vechey ( PopCap Games) * 2004:

Matt Adams Matthew James Adams (born August 31, 1988) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Nicknamed "Big City" for his imposing size and ability to regularly hit long home runs, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Adams in the 23rd rou ...

, Ju Row Farr, and Nick Tandavanitj (

Blast Theory Blast Theory is an artists' group that specializes in work that 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 c ...

) * 2005: Mike Dornbrook,

, Greg LoPiccolo, and

(

Harmonix Music Systems Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as bein ...

) * 2006:

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959), 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 wargames, role-playing ...

Best New Social/Online Game

* 2009: ''

FarmVille ''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network games developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to '' Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plo ...

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 fro ...

and

casual game A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...

s. The Game Developers Choice Online Awards were also introduced to recognize technical excellence and innovation in

online game An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, a ...

s. 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 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'' by

led the winners with five awards from six nominations, including the publicly voted Audience Award.

received the Online Game Legend award for his work on the first

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 A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

(MMORPG) ''

Ultima Online ''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems. Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat syste ...

'' 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. ''

'' 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-graben ...

'' by

and

Trion Worlds Trion Worlds was an American video game developer. It focused primarily on MMOs, particularly of the MMORPG and MMORTS genres. The company was founded in 2006 by Lars Buttler and Jon Van Caneghem, who had each previously worked for NCSoft and ...

respectively took home the most awards, with two each.

Kelton Flinn Kelton Flinn is an American computer game designer who is a major pioneer in online games. He is a co-founder (with his University of Virginia classmate John Taylor) of the seminal online game company Kesmai, which they began in 1982. His be ...

and

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...

received the special Online Game Legend award as founders of

Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim '' Air Warrior'' on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphica ...

and creators of ''

Island of Kesmai ''Island of Kesmai'' is a discontinued multi-user dungeon (MUD) online game. An early entry in the genre, the game was innovative in its use of roguelike pseudo-graphics. It is considered a major forerunner of modern massively multiplayer o ...

'' and '' Air Warrior''. Additionally, the MMORPG ''

EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, ...

'' 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 Raphael "Raph" Koster (born September 7, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, computer game designer, game designer, and author of ''A Theory of Fun for Game Design''. Koster is widely recognized for his work as the lead designer of ''Ultima Onlin ...

, developer of previous Hall of Fame inductee ''Ultima Online'' as well as '' Star Wars: Galaxies''. MMORPG ''

'' was inducted into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Game Developers Choice Awards Video game awards Awards established in 2001 Informa brands