This year’s Game of the Year was awarded to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by Nintendo, which takes players on a world of adventure as they travel across vast fields, through forests and over mountain peaks as they discover what has become of the kingdom of Hyrule.
The Academy membership honored games in 24 award categories, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild receiving four awards, making it the night’s most awarded game. Cuphead earned a total of three awards. Games honored with two awards each included Horizon Zero Dawn, Lone Echo/Echo Arena, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS and Snipperclips. Other top honorees were Fire Emblem Heroes for Mobile Game of the Year, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Racing Game of the Year, Injustice 2 for Fighting Game of the Year, FIFA 18 for Sports Game of the Year, Snipperclips for the Sprite Award, and PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS for Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay.
“Every year, the D.I.C.E. Awards brings the global interactive entertainment industry under one roof to recognize and honor the very best in video games – the games that captivated and inspired us, and kept us entertained for hours on end,” said Meggan Scavio, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “On behalf of the Academy, I am thrilled to congratulate this year’s winners of the 21st D.I.C.E. Awards.”
In addition to the awards for the industry’s best games and creators from the previous year, the D.I.C.E. Awards also celebrated Genyo Takeda, Special Corporate Advisor at Nintendo, with a Lifetime Achievement Award, the seventh recipient to receive the honor from the Academy. Takeda was recognized for having been at the forefront of shaping the video games hardware industry in his career-long tenure at Nintendo with the development of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube and the Wii system.
The 21st annual D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony, which was co-hosted for the second time by Greg Miller, co-founder of internet video show and podcast Kinda Funny, and Jessica Chobot of Nerdist News, included industry professionals who attended the event live and game fans worldwide who tuned in for the live stream. The show was the culmination of the annual three-day D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit (#DICE18), which is known for drawing many of the interactive entertainment industry’s most respected and influential leaders, decision makers and visionaries.
The complete list of winners includes:
Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction : The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Immersive Reality Technical Achievement: Lone Echo/Echo Arena (Ready At Dawn)
Immersive Reality Game of the Year: Lone Echo/Echo Arena (Ready At Dawn)
Mobile Game of the Year: Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems)
Handheld Game of the Year: Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam)
D.I.C.E. Sprite Award: Snipperclips (SFB Games)
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft)
Sports Game of the Year: FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts)
Role-Playing Game of the Year: NierR: Automata (PlatinumGames)
Racing Game of the Year: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo)
Fighting Game of the Year: Injustice 2 (NetherRealm Studios)
Family Game of the Year: Snipperclips (SFB Games)
Adventure Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Action Game of the Year: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
Outstanding Technical Achievement: Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games)
Outstanding Achievement in Story: Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games)
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
Outstanding Achievement in Character: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - Senua (Ninja Theory)
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
Outstanding Achievement in Animation: Cuphead (StudioMDHR)