D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year
{{Short description|Annual video game award}}
{{Infobox award
| name = D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year
| country = United States
| presenter = Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
| year = 1998
| holder = Astro Bot
| website = {{URL|https://www.interactive.org/}}
}}
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 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". All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category.{{cite web |title=D.I.C.E. Awards Voting Rules & Procedures |url=https://www.interactive.org/awards/voting_rules.asp |website=Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |access-date=10 December 2023}}
The most recent winner of the award is Astro Bot, developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
History
=Category name changes=
The 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony was held on May 28, 1998, with the licensed adaptation of GoldenEye 007, 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.{{cite web |title=1998 Awards Category Details |url=https://www.interactive.org/awards/award_category_details.asp?idAward=1998&idGameAwardType=71 |website=Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |access-date=6 April 2022 |archive-date=18 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318151957/https://www.interactive.org/awards/award_category_details.asp?idAward=1998&idGameAwardType=71 |url-status=live }} It would be renamed Game of the Year at the following year's awards ceremony. For a brief period between 2006 and 2009, the award was presented as Overall Game of the Year.
=Indie Games=
{{See also|D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game}}
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 had won were Untitled Goose Game and Hades. On a yearly basis since 2016, there had 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
- 2024: Cocoon
- 2025: Balatro
2019, 2020 and 2023 were the only years that had more than one indie game nominee, with 2020 being the first year of an indie game majority.
=Genres=
The most frequently nominated and winning genres for Game of the Year had been action, adventure, and role-playing games. No strategy game had ever won the award, but fourteen had 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, Sid Meier's Civilization III, Command & Conquer: Generals, Rise of Nations, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Hearthstone, Into the Breach, Inscryption, and Balatro. The Sims was the only simulation game to win the top award, with six others also being nominated: MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes, Black & White, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Four rhythm games had been nominated: PaRappa the Rapper, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, and Rock Band. The only fighting games that had been nominated were 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 were the only sports games nominated after 2001. Only three expansion packs had ever been nominated (all during the awards ceremony in 2001): Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, and RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes. The only compilation pack that received a nomination for Game of the Year was The Orange Box (which included Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, as well as previously released titles of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One).
=Platforms=
Nearly every Game of the Year nominee had 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 were the only nominees that were released for handheld game consoles. There had been six nominees that were released for mobile devices at the time of their nomination: Angry Birds HD, The Walking Dead, Hearthstone, Pokémon Go, Vampire Survivors, and Balatro. 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 would also win the award for their respective genre/platform category; the only exceptions had been The Sims, Battlefield 1942, Untitled Goose Game, and It Takes Two. Of the four exceptions, Battlefield 1942 and Untitled Goose Game did not receive any nominations for their respective genre-related category (although the former did win the award for Online Gameplay of the Year, while the latter won for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game). There had been seven winners for Family Game of the Year that were also nominated for Game of the Year: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Rock Band, LittleBigPlanet, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Astro Bot, with LittleBigPlanet and Astro Bot being the only winners for Game of the Year. Angry Birds HD and Journey were the only winners for Casual Game of the Year that were also nominated for Game of the Year, the latter of which won both awards.
List of Winners and nominees
=1990s=
| class="wikitable"
|+ Table key |
| style="background:#FAEB86; height:20px; width:20px"|
|Indicates the winner |
=2000s=
=2010s=
=2020s=
Multiple nominations and wins
Nintendo EAD/EPD has developed the most Game of the Year nominees with fourteen. Nintendo EAD/EPD is also tied with Infinity Ward, Santa Monica Studio, Naughty Dog, BioWare, and Bethesda Game Studios for each developing two Game of the Year winners, being the most of any developer. Developer Insomniac Games has the most nominations without a win.
Sony has published the most Game of the Year nominees and winners. Sony has twice had 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. The only other publisher with back-to-back wins is Nintendo with GoldenEye 007 in 1998, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 1999. Rockstar Games has published the most Game of the Year nominees without having a single winner.
{{col-float}}
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" background: #f6e39c;
|+ {{nowrap|Developers}} |
| scope="col" | Developer
! scope="col" | Nominations ! scope="col" | Wins |
|---|
| Nintendo EAD/EPD
| 14 | 2 |
| BioWare
| 5 | 2 |
| Naughty Dog
| 5 | 2 |
| Bethesda Game Studios
| 4 | 2 |
| Infinity Ward
| 4 | 2 |
| Santa Monica Studio
| 4 | 2 |
| Rare
| 4 | 1 |
| Valve
| 4 | 1 |
| Blizzard Entertainment
| 3 | 1 |
| Bungie
| 3 | 1 |
| DICE
| 2 | 1 |
| Epic Games
| 2 | 1 |
| FromSoftware
| 2 | 1 |
| Insomniac Games
| 6 | 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 |
| Harmonix
| 3 | 0 |
| Remedy Entertainment
| 3 | 0 |
| Guerrilla Games
| 2 | 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 |
| Rocksteady Studios
| 2 | 0 |
| Sega AM2/AM3
| 2 | 0 |
| Westwood Pacific/EA Pacific
| 2 | 0 |
{{col-float-break}}
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" background: #f6e39c;
|+ Publishers |
| scope="col" | Publisher
! scope="col" | Nominations ! scope="col" | Wins |
|---|
| Sony Interactive Entertainment
| 30 | 7 |
| Electronic Arts
| 18 | 5 |
| Nintendo
| 20 | 3 |
| Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios
| 11 | 2 |
| Activision
| 8 | 2 |
| Bethesda Softworks
| 5 | 2 |
| Blizzard Entertainment
| 3 | 2 |
| Namco/Bandai Namco Entertainment
| 4 | 1 |
| Vivendi Universal Games
| 2 | 1 |
| Rockstar Games
| 7 | 0 |
| Ubisoft
| 6 | 0 |
| 2K Games
| 5 | 0 |
| Sega
| 4 | 0 |
| SquareSoft/Square Enix
| 4 | 0 |
| Annapurna Interactive
| 3 | 0 |
| LucasArts
| 3 | 0 |
| Valve
| 3 | 0 |
| Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
| 3 | 0 |
| Interplay Entertainment
| 2 | 0 |
| Konami
| 2 | 0 |
| RedOctane
| 2 | 0 |
{{col-float-end}}
=Franchises=
The most nominated franchise is The Legend of Zelda, with eight 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 has garnered the most nominations without winning a single award in this category. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first and only remake that has been nominated, let alone a remake of a previous nominee.
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" background: #f6e39c;
|+ {{nowrap|Franchises}} |
| scope="col" | Franchise
! scope="col" | Nominations ! scope="col" | Wins |
|---|
| The Legend of Zelda
| 8 | 2 |
| Call of Duty
| 5 | 2 |
| God of War
| 4 | 2 |
| Half-Life{{efn|includes Half-Life 2: Episode Two as part of The Orange Box.}}
| 3 | 1 |
| Uncharted
| 3 | 1 |
| Baldur's Gate
| 2 | 1 |
| Battlefield
| 2 | 1 |
| Dragon Age
| 2 | 1 |
| Fallout
| 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 |
| Marvel's Spider-Man
| 2 | 0 |
| Metal Gear
| 2 | 0 |
| Pokémon
| 2 | 0 |
| Portal{{efn|includes the original Portal as part of The Orange Box.}}
| 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
{{notelist}}