D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year
The D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the academy's annual D.I.C.E. Awards. It is given in honor of "the single game, without regard to system or delivery mechanism, voted by the membership of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences that best utilizes the chosen medium to entertain users".[1]
| D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |
| First awarded | 1998 |
| Currently held by | Elden Ring |
| Website | www |
The most recent winner of the award is Elden Ring developed by From Software and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
History
Category name changes
The 1st Interactive Achievement Award ceremony was held on May 28, 1998, with the licensed adaptation of GoldenEye007, that was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, receiving the first award. The award was originally known as Interactive Title of the Year for the 1998 ceremony.[2] It would be renamed Game of the Year. Between 2006 and 2009 the awarded was presented as the Overall Game of the Year.[3][4][5][6]
Indie Games
The first indie that was nominated for Game of the Year was Angry Birds HD. Journey would be the first indie game winner. The only other two indie games that have won, so far, are Untitled Goose Game and Hades. Since 2016, there has been at least one indie game nominee for Game of the Year:
- 2016: Ori and the Blind Forest
- 2017: Inside
- 2018: Cuphead
- 2019: Into the Breach, Return of the Obra Dinn
- 2020: Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, Untitled Goose Game
- 2021: Hades
- 2022: Inscryption
- 2023: Stray, Vampire Survivors
2019, 2020 and 2023 are the only years so far that have had more than one indie game nominee, with 2020 being the first year of an indie game majority of the nominees.
Genres
The most frequently nominated and winning genres for Game of the Year have been action, adventure, and role-playing. No strategy game has ever won the award, but twelve have been nominated: Age of Empires, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Sacrifice, Command & Conquer: Generals, Rise of Nations, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Hearthstone, Into the Breach, and Inscryption. The Sims is the only simulation game to have won the top award, with five others also being nominated: MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Four rhythm games have been nominated: PaRappa the Rapper, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, and Rock Band. The only fighting games that have been nominated are Soulcalibur, Tekken Tag Tournament, and WWF No Mercy. The awards ceremony in 2001 had six sports game nominees: FIFA 2001, Links 2001, Madden NFL 2001, SSX, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and Virtua Tennis; SSX 3 and Wii Sports are the only sports game nominated after 2001. Only three expansion packs have ever been nominated: Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark and RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes.
Platforms
Nearly every Game of the Year nominee has either been released for a home video game console or for personal computer. Pokémon Yellow, Nintendogs, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds are the only nominees that were released for handheld game consoles. There have been five nominees that were released for mobile devices at the time of their nomination: Angry Birds HD, The Walking Dead, Hearthstone, Pokémon Go, and Vampire Survivors. Journey, Borderlands 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Inside, and Into the Breach would eventually be released for mobile devices, but they were not at the time of their nomination.
Other Game of the Year Awards
Usually the winner for Game of the Year also wins the award for their respective genre/platform. The only exceptions have been The Sims, Battlefield 1942, and It Takes Two; Battlefield 1942 was not even nominated for its respective genre-related category. There have been five winners for Family Game of the Year that have also been nominated for Game of the Year: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Rock Band, LittleBigPlanet, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with LittleBigPlanet being the only winner for Game of the Year. Angry Birds HD and Journey are the only winners for Casual Game of the Year to have been nominated, the latter of which won both awards.
List of Winners and nominees
1990s
| Indicates the winner |
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple nominations and wins
Out of all the nominees and winners, Nintendo has developed thirteen Game of the Year nominees. Nintendo is also tied with Blizzard Entertainment, Infinity Ward, Santa Monica Studio, Naughty Dog, BioWare, and Bethesda Game Studio for each developing two Game of the Year winners, being the most of any developer so far. Sony has published the most Game of the Year nominees and winners. Sony is also the only publisher to have back-to-back wins for Game of the Year; the first for LittleBigPlanet in 2009 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2010, and the second time for Journey in 2013 and The Last of Us in 2014. Rockstar Games currently published the most Game of the Year nominees without having a single winner so far. Insomniac Games and Ubisoft Montreal are tied as the leading developers with the most nominations without a win.
| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo | 13 | 2 |
| BioWare | 5 | 2 |
| Naughty Dog | 5 | 2 |
| Bethesda Game Studios | 4 | 2 |
| Blizzard Entertainment | 4 | 2 |
| Infinity Ward | 4 | 2 |
| Santa Monica Studio | 4 | 2 |
| Rare | 4 | 1 |
| Valve | 4 | 1 |
| Bungie | 3 | 1 |
| DICE | 2 | 1 |
| Epic Games | 2 | 1 |
| FromSoftware | 2 | 1 |
| Insomniac Games | 5 | 0 |
| Ubisoft Montreal | 5 | 0 |
| Rockstar North | 4 | 0 |
| SquareSoft/Square Enix | 4 | 0 |
| EA Canada | 3 | 0 |
| Ensemble Studios | 3 | 0 |
| Firaxis Games | 3 | 0 |
| Guerrilla Games | 2 | 0 |
| Harmonix | 3 | 0 |
| 2K Boston/Irrational Games | 2 | 0 |
| LucasArts | 2 | 0 |
| Japan Studio | 2 | 0 |
| Kojima Productions | 2 | 0 |
| Monolith Productions | 2 | 0 |
| Namco | 2 | 0 |
| Remedy Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Rockstar San Diego[lower-alpha 4] | 2 | 0 |
| Rocksteady Studios | 2 | 0 |
| Sega AM2/AM3 | 2 | 0 |
| Westwood Pacific/EA Pacific | 2 | 0 |
| Publisher | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Sony Interactive Entertainment | 27 | 6 |
| Electronic Arts | 17 | 5 |
| Nintendo | 19 | 3 |
| Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios | 11 | 2 |
| Activision | 8 | 2 |
| Bethesda Softworks | 5 | 2 |
| Blizzard Entertainment | 3 | 2 |
| Namco/Bandai Namco Entertainment | 5 | 1 |
| Valve | 4 | 1 |
| Sierra Entertainment | 2 | 1 |
| Rockstar Games | 7 | 0 |
| Ubisoft | 6 | 0 |
| 2K Games | 5 | 0 |
| Sega | 4 | 0 |
| SquareSoft/Square Enix | 4 | 0 |
| LucasArts | 3 | 0 |
| Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | 3 | 0 |
| Acclaim Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Annapurna Interactive | 2 | 0 |
| Interplay Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Konami | 2 | 0 |
| RedOctane | 2 | 0 |
Franchises
There are several franchises that have been nominated multiple times for Game of the Year. So far the most nominated franchise is The Legend of Zelda franchise, with seven nominations. Call of Duty, The Legend of Zelda, and God of War are the only franchises to have won Game of the Year twice. The Grand Theft Auto franchise garnered the most nominations without winning a single award. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first and only remake that has been nominated so far, let alone a remake of a previous nominee.
| Franchise | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| The Legend of Zelda | 7 | 2 |
| Call of Duty | 5 | 2 |
| God of War | 4 | 2 |
| Uncharted | 3 | 1 |
| Battlefield | 2 | 1 |
| Dragon Age | 2 | 1 |
| Fallout | 2 | 1 |
| Half-Life | 2 | 1 |
| Halo | 2 | 1 |
| The Elder Scrolls | 2 | 1 |
| The Last of Us | 2 | 1 |
| Grand Theft Auto | 4 | 0 |
| Age of Empires | 3 | 0 |
| Final Fantasy | 3 | 0 |
| Ratchet & Clank | 3 | 0 |
| Animal Crossing | 2 | 0 |
| Assassin's Creed | 2 | 0 |
| Banjo-Kazooie | 2 | 0 |
| Batman: Arkham | 2 | 0 |
| BioShock | 2 | 0 |
| Command & Conquer | 2 | 0 |
| Far Cry | 2 | 0 |
| Guitar Hero | 2 | 0 |
| Horizon | 2 | 0 |
| Metal Gear | 2 | 0 |
| Pokémon | 2 | 0 |
| Red Dead | 2 | 0 |
| Sid Meier | 2 | 0 |
| SSX | 2 | 0 |
| Star Wars | 2 | 0 |
| Super Mario | 2 | 0 |
| Warcraft | 2 | 0 |
Notes
- Awarded as Interactive Title of the Year
- Finalists included all nominees for Console Game of the Year and Computer Game of the Year.
- Awarded as Overall Game of the Year
- Was one of eight Rockstar Studios working on Red Dead Redemption 2.
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