D.I.C.E. Award for Game of the Year

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.^[3] 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.^[4][5][6][7]

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 had won were Untitled Goose Game and Hades. 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

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 of the nominees.

Genres

The most frequently nominated and winning genres for Game of the Year had been action, adventure, and role-playing. No strategy game had ever won the award, but thirteen 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, and Inscryption. The Sims was the only simulation game to had won 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 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 would win the award for their respective genre/platform; 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 five winners for Family Game of the Year that had 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 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.

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Nintendo has developed the most Game of the Year nominees with fourteen. Nintendo is also tied with 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. 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.

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.