Nomination and voting process
In 2007, gamasutra.com took over management of the awards from the IGDA. An advisory board selected by the editors of gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine oversees the selection process.
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.
Note: Events held for awards are held early in the following year. Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.
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 award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in a game, including sound effects, musical composition, sound design and orchestration.
2000: Diablo II2001: Halo: Combat Evolved2002: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault2003: Call of Duty2004: Halo 22005: Guitar Hero2006: Guitar Hero II2007: BioShock2008: Dead Space2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves2010: Red Dead Redemption2011: Portal 22012: Journey2013: BioShock Infinite2014: Alien Isolation2015: Crypt of the NecroDancer2016: InsideThe Best Debut Award recognizes the best game from any development studio which released its first publicly available title during the calendar year. This was formally 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 Corporation / Minh Le / Jess Cliffe (for Counter-Strike)2001: Bohemia Interactive (for Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis)2002: Retro Studios (for Metroid Prime)2003: Infinity Ward (for Call of Duty)2004: Crytek (for Far Cry)2005: Double Fine Productions (for Psychonauts)2006: Iron Lore Entertainment (for Titan Quest)2007: Realtime Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios (for Crackdown)2008: Media Molecule (for LittleBigPlanet)2009: Runic Games (for Torchlight)2010: Mojang (for Minecraft)2011: Supergiant Games (for Bastion)2012: Subset Games (for FTL: Faster Than Light)2013: The Fullbright Company (for Gone Home)2014: Stoic Studio (for The Banner Saga)2015: Moon Studios (for Ori and the Blind Forest)2016: Campo Santo (for Firewatch)Best Design award recognizes the overall excellence of design in a game, including gameplay, mechanics, puzzles, play balancing and scenarios.
2000: Deus Ex2001: Grand Theft Auto III2002: Battlefield 19422003: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time2004: Katamari Damacy2005: Shadow of the Colossus2006: Wii Sports2007: Portal2008: LittleBigPlanet2009: Batman: Arkham Asylum2010: Red Dead Redemption2011: Portal 22012: Journey2013: The Last of Us2014: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft2015: Rocket League2016: OverwatchBest 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 Hourglass2008: God of War: Chains of Olympus2009: Scribblenauts2010: Cut the Rope2011: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP2012: The Room2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds2014: Monument Valley2015: Her Story2016: Pokémon GoThe Innovation Award recognizes games that demonstrate innovation and push the boundaries of games as an expressive medium. Multiple awards are given each year.
2000: Counter-Strike; Crazy Taxi; Deus Ex; Jet Grind Radio; No One Lives Forever2001: Black and White; Grand Theft Auto III; ICO; Majestic; Rez2002: Animal Crossing; Battlefield 1942; Medal of Honor: Allied Assault; The Thing2003: EyeToy: Play; Viewtiful Joe; WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!2004: Donkey Konga; I Love Bees; Katamari Damacy2005: Nintendogs; Guitar Hero2006: Line Rider; Ōkami; Wii Sports2007: Portal2008: LittleBigPlanet2009: Scribblenauts2011: Minecraft2012: Journey2013: Papers, Please2014: Monument Valley2015: Her Story2016: No Man's SkyBest Narrative award recognizes the quality of writing in a game, including story, plot construction, dialogue and branching narratives.
2002: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic2004: Half-Life 22005: Psychonauts2006: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess2007: BioShock2008: Fallout 32009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves2010: Mass Effect 22011: Portal 22012: The Walking Dead2013: The Last of Us2014: Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 32015: Her Story2016: FirewatchBest Technology award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in a game, including graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking and physics.
2004: Half-Life 22005: Nintendogs2006: Gears of War2007: Crysis2008: LittleBigPlanet2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves2010: Red Dead Redemption2011: Battlefield 32012: Far Cry 32013: Grand Theft Auto V2014: Destiny2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt2016: Uncharted 4: A Thief's EndBest Visual Art award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in a game, including animation, modeling, art direction and textures.
2000: Jet Grind Radio2001: ICO2002: Kingdom Hearts2003: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker2004: World of Warcraft2005: Shadow of the Colossus2006: Gears of War2007: BioShock2008: Prince of Persia2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves2010: Limbo2011: Uncharted 32012: Journey2013: BioShock Infinite2014: Monument Valley2015: Ori and the Blind Forest2016: Inside2016: Job Simulator: The 2050 ArchivesThese awards are voted by the audience for best game of that year.
2012: Dishonored2013: Kerbal Space Program2014: Elite: Dangerous2015: Life Is Strange2016: Battlefield 1Known as the First Penguin award until 2007, the Pioneer Award celebrates individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept or gameplay design.
2000: Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer (creators of LucasArts's Habitat)2001: Hubert Chardot ("for his risk-taking work on Alone in the Dark")2002: David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Jim Levy, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead (founders of Activision)2003: Masaya Matsuura (founder of NanaOn-Sha, pioneer of music/game integration)2004: Richard Bartle (co-creator of MUD, ancestor to MMOs)2005: Don Woods, Will Crowther (creators of the early text game Adventure)2006: Alexey Pajitnov (creator of Tetris)2007: Ralph Baer (inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey)2008: Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy (founders of Harmonix)2009: Gabe Newell (founder of Valve Corporation)2010: Yu Suzuki2011: Dave Theurer2012: Steve Russell (creator of Spacewar!)2013: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill (creators of Riot Games)2014: David Braben (founder of Frontier Developments, co-creator of the Elite series)2015: Markus "Notch" Persson (creator of Minecraft)2016: Jordan Mechner (creator of Prince of Persia)The Ambassador Award is given to individuals within or outside the industry who helped video games "advance to a better place." It replaced the IGDA Award for Community Contribution after 2008.
2007: Jason Della Rocca2008: Tommy Tallarico2009: Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Robert Khoo2010: Tim Brengle and Ian Mackenzie (Organizers of the Game Developers Conference volunteer program for 20+ years)2011: Kenneth Doroshow and Paul M. Smith (the lawyers in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association who argued for the Entertainment Merchants Association in the US Supreme Court.)2012: Chris Melissinos (Sun Microsystems)2013: Anita Sarkeesian (Feminist Frequency)2014: Brenda Romero2015: Tracy Fullerton2016: Mark DeLouraThe Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the achievements of a developer who has impacted games and game development.
2000: Will Wright (Sim games)2001: Yuji Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog)2002: Gunpei Yokoi (1941–1997) (Game Boy, Super Mario Land series, Metroid series)2003: Mark Cerny (Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon)2004: Eugene Jarvis (Defender and Robotron: 2084)2005: Richard Garriott (Ultima)2006: Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda)2007: Sid Meier (Civilization series and many different simulators)2008: Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear series)2009: John Carmack (Doom series)2010: Peter Molyneux (God games)2011: Warren Spector (Deus Ex, System Shock, Thief: The Dark Project)2012: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (Bioware)2013: Ken Kutaragi2014: Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy series)2015: Todd Howard (Bethesda Softworks founder)2016: Tim Sweeney (Epic Games founder)The following award categories have been retired or replaced with a different focus.
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: flOw2008: World of Goo2009: Flower2011: Minecraft2012: Bastion2013: Journey2014: Papers, PleaseThe Character Design award recognizes the overall excellence of non-licensed character design in a game, including originality, character arc and emotional depth.
2004: Half-Life 22005: Shadow of the Colossus2006: Ōkami2000: American McGee's Alice2001: ICO2002: Metroid Prime2000: The Sims2001: Black and White2002: Neverwinter Nights2003: Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeThe 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 replaced it after 2007.
2000: John Carmack2001: Jeff Lander2002: Doug Church (Eidos Interactive)2003: Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk2004: Sheri Graner Ray2005: Chris Hecker2006: George Sanger2000: Seaman from Seaman2001: Daxter from Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy2002: Sly Cooper from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus2003: HK-47 from Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicThe Maverick Award recognizes the current achievements of a developer who exhibits independence in thought and action while experimenting with alternate/emerging forms of digital games.
2003: Brian Fiete, Jason Kapalka, and John Vechey (PopCap Games)2004: Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr, and Nick Tandavanitj (Blast Theory)2005: Mike Dornbrook, Eran Egozy, Greg LoPiccolo, and Alex Rigopulos (Harmonix Music Systems)2006: Greg Costikyan2009: FarmVille