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

The D.I.C.E. Award for Fighting Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the D.I.C.E. Awards. This award recognizes "titles that offer the use the virtual experience of controlling a character engaging in individual combat with another character usually from a fixed camera perspective. The opponent can either be controlled by another player or by the game".^[1] All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category.^[2] It was originally titled Console Fighting Game of the Year,^[3] before it was simplified to just Fighting Game of the Year. It is one of two categories, the other being Online Game of the Year, that is not limited to release within the calendar year but must be supported by significant new content.^[4]

D.I.C.E. Award for Fighting Game of the Year
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
First award	1998
Currently held by	Tekken 8
Website	www.interactive.org

The award's most recent winner is Tekken 8, developed and published by Bandai Namco.

Winners and nominees

1990s

Table key

Indicates the winner

Year	Game	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Ref.
1997/1998 (1st)	WCW vs. nWo: World Tour	Asmik Ace Entertainment	THQ	[5][6]
	Bloody Roar	Hudson Soft	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Bushido Blade	Lightweight
	Street Fighter EX Plus α	Arika	Capcom
	WCW Nitro	Inland Productions	THQ
1998/1999 (2nd)	WCW/nWo Revenge	AKI Corporation	THQ	[7][8]
	Bushido Blade 2	Lightweight	Square Electronic Arts
	WWF War Zone	Iguana West	Acclaim Entertainment
1999/2000 (3rd)	Soulcalibur	Namco	Namco	[9]
	Ready 2 Rumble Boxing	Midway Studios San Diego	Midway Games
	Super Smash Bros.	HAL Laboratory	Nintendo
	WWF WrestleMania 2000	AKI Corporation	THQ

2000s

Year	Game	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Ref.
2000 (4th)	Dead or Alive 2	Team Ninja	Tecmo, Acclaim Entertainment	[10][11]
	Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2	Midway Studios San Diego	Midway Games
	Tekken Tag Tournament	Namco	Namco
	Ultimate Fighting Championship	Anchor Inc.	Crave Entertainment
	WWF No Mercy	AKI Corporation	THQ
2001 (5th)	Dead or Alive 3	Team Ninja	Tecmo	[12][13] [14][15]
	Super Smash Bros. Melee	HAL Laboratory	Nintendo
	Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory	New Corporation	Empire Interactive
2002 (6th)	Tekken 4	Namco	Namco	[16][17]
	Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO	Capcom	Capcom
	Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee	Pipeworks Software	Infogrames, Atari
	Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance	Midway Games	Midway Games
	Virtua Fighter 4	Sega AM2	Sega
2003 (7th)	Soulcalibur II	Namco	Namco	[18][19] [20][21]
	Def Jam Vendetta	EA Canada, AKI Corporation	Electronic Arts
	Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2	Dimps	Atari
	Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution	Sega AM2	Sega
	War of the Monsters	Incognito Entertainment	Sony Computer Entertainment
	WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain	Yuke's	THQ
2004 (8th)	Mortal Kombat: Deception	Midway Games	Midway Games	[22][23]
	Def Jam: Fight for NY	EA Canada, AKI Corporation	Electronic Arts
	Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3	Dimps	Atari
2005 (9th)	Soulcalibur III	Namco	Namco	[24][25] [26][27]
	Fight Night Round 2	EA Chicago	EA Sports
	Tekken 5	Namco	Namco
	WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006	Yuke's	THQ
2006 (10th)	Fight Night Round 3	EA Chicago	EA Sports	[28][29]
	Mortal Kombat: Armageddon	Midway Games	Midway Games
	Tekken: Dark Resurrection	Namco, Eighting	Namco Bandai Games
	WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2007	Yuke's	THQ
2007 (11th)
	No award given
2008 (12th)	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Sora Ltd.	Nintendo	[1][30]
	Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe	Midway Games	Midway Games
	Soulcalibur IV	Namco Bandai Games	Namco Bandai Games
	Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix	Backbone Entertainment	Capcom
	WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009	Yuke's	THQ
2009 (13th)	Street Fighter IV	Dimps, Capcom	Capcom	[31][32][33]
	Fight Night Round 4	EA Canada	EA Sports
	Punch-Out!!	Next Level Games	Nintendo
	Tekken 6	Namco Bandai Games	Namco Bandai Games
	UFC 2009 Undisputed	Yuke's	THQ

2010s

Year	Game	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Ref.
2010 (14th)	Super Street Fighter IV	Dimps, Capcom	Capcom	[34][35][36]
	BlazBlue: Continuum Shift	Arc System Works	Aksys Games
	EA Sports MMA	EA Tiburon	EA Sports
	UFC Undisputed 2010	Yuke's	THQ
2011 (15th)	Mortal Kombat	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	[37][38][39]
	Fight Night Champion	EA Canada	EA Sports
	The King of Fighters XIII	SNK	Atlus
	Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition	Dimps, Capcom	Capcom
	Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3	Capcom, Eighting
2012 (16th)	PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale	SuperBot Entertainment	Sony Computer Entertainment	[40][41]
	Persona 4 Arena	Arc System Works, P-Studio	Atlus
	Soulcalibur V	Namco Bandai Games	Namco Bandai Games
	Street Fighter X Tekken	Dimps, Capcom	Capcom
	Tekken Tag Tournament 2	Namco Bandai Games	Namco Bandai Games
2013 (17th)	Injustice: Gods Among Us	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	[42][43]
	Divekick	Iron Galaxy, One True Game Studios	Iron Galaxy
	Killer Instinct	Double Helix Games	Microsoft Studios
2014 (18th)	Super Smash Bros. for Wii U	Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco Studios	Nintendo	[44][45]
	Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-	Arc System Works	Aksys Games
	Nidhogg	Messhof	Messhof
	Ultra Street Fighter IV	Dimps, Capcom	Capcom
2015 (19th)	Mortal Kombat X	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	[46][47]
	Dead or Alive 5 Last Round	Team Ninja	Koei Tecmo
	Rising Thunder	Radiant Entertainment	Riot Games
2016 (20th)	Street Fighter V	Dimps, Capcom	Capcom	[48][49]
	EA Sports UFC 2	EA Canada	EA Sports
	Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-	Arc System Works	Aksys Games
	Killer Instinct Season 3	Iron Galaxy	Microsoft Studios
	Pokkén Tournament	Bandai Namco Studios	Nintendo, The Pokémon Company
2017 (21st)	Injustice 2	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	[50][51][52]
	Arms	Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
	Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite	Capcom	Capcom
	Nidhogg 2	Messhof	Messhof
	Tekken 7	Bandai Namco Studios	Bandai Namco Entertainment
2018 (22nd)	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco Studios	Nintendo	[53][54]
	BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle	Arc System Works	Arc System Works
	Dragon Ball FighterZ		Bandai Namco Entertainment
	Soulcalibur VI	Bandai Namco Studios, Dimps
2019 (23rd)	Mortal Kombat 11	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	[55][56]
	Dead or Alive 6	Team Ninja	Koei Tecmo
	Jump Force	Spike Chunsoft	Bandai Namco Entertainment
	Samurai Shodown	SNK	Deep Silver

2020s

Year	Game	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Ref.
2020 (24th)	Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	[57][58]
	EA Sports UFC 4	EA Vancouver	EA Sports
	Granblue Fantasy Versus	Arc System Works	Xseed Games, Cygames, Marvelous
	Them's Fightin' Herds	Mane6	Maximum Games
2021 (25th)	Guilty Gear Strive	Arc System Works	Arc System Works	[59][60]
	Melty Blood: Type Lumina	French-Bread	Delightworks
	Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl	Ludosity, Fair Play Labs	GameMill Entertainment
2022 (26th)	MultiVersus	Player First Games	Warner Bros. Games	[61][62][63]
	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R	CyberConnect2	Bandai Namco Entertainment
	Rumbleverse	Iron Galaxy	Epic Games
	Spiderheck	Neverjam	tinyBuild
	The King of Fighters XV	SNK	SNK
2023 (27th)	Street Fighter 6	Capcom	Capcom	[64][65] [66][67]
	Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising	Arc System Works	Cygames
	Mortal Kombat 1	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Games
	Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2	Fair Play Labs	GameMill Entertainment
	Pocket Bravery	Statera Studio	Pqube
2024 (28th)	Tekken 8	Bandai Namco Studios	Bandai Namco Entertainment	[68][69][70]
	Blazing Strike	RareBreed Makes Games	Aksys Games
	Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero	Spike Chunsoft	Bandai Namco Entertainment
	Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns	NetherRealm Studios	Warner Bros. Games
	Underdogs	One Hamsa	One Hamsa

Multiple nominations and wins

Developers and publishers

The combined nominations of Namco and Bandai Namco makes them the most nominated and award-winning developer. As a publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Warner Bros. Games has won the most awards. There have been numerous developer/publishers with back-to-back wins:

• Team Ninja and Tecmo won in 2001 with Dead or Alive 2, and 2002 with Dead or Alive 3.
• Namco won in 2003 with Tekken 4, and 2004 with Soulcalibur II.
• Dimps and Capcom won in 2010 with Street Fighter IV, and 2011 with Super Street Fighter IV.
• NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment won in 2020 with Mortal Kombat 11, and 2021 with Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate.

THQ is the only publisher with back-to-back wins with different developers:

• 1998: WCW vs. nWo: World Tour developed by Asmik Ace Entertainment.
• 1999: WCW/nWo Revenge developed by AKI Corporation.

Developers

Developer	Nominations	Wins
Namco/Bandai Namco	18	7
NetherRealm Studios	8	6
Capcom	10	4
Dimps	9	3
Sora Ltd.	3	3
Team Ninja	4	2
Arc System Works	9	1
Midway Games	6	1
AKI Corporation	5	1
EA Chicago	2	1
Yuke's	6	0
EA Canada	5	0
Iron Galaxy	3	0
SNK	3	0
Eighting	2	0
Fair Play Labs	2	0
HAL Laboratory	2	0
Messhof	2	0
Sega AM2	2	0

Publishers

Publisher	Nominations	Wins
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Warner Bros. Games	9	7
Namco/Bandai Namco	18	5
Capcom	12	4
Nintendo	8	3
THQ	11	2
Tecmo/Koei Tecmo	4	2
Electronic Arts	10	1
Midway Games	5	1
Sony Computer Entertainment	4	1
Acclaim Entertainment	2	1
Arc System Works	2	1
Aksys Games	4	0
Atari	3	0
Atlus	2	0
Cygames	2	0
GameMill Entertainment	2	0
Messhof	2	0
Microsoft Studios	2	0
Sega	2	0

Franchises

The most nominated franchises are Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Tekken. The Mortal Kombat franchise has won the most awards, with Street Fighter having the second-most wins. The WWE (formerly WWF) has garnered the most nominations without a win. There have been numerous franchises with back-to-back wins:

• WCW vs. nWo: World Tour in 1998, and WCW/nWo Revenge in 1999
• Dead or Alive 2 in 2001, and Dead or Alive 3 in 2002
• Street Fighter IV in 2010, and Super Street Fighter IV in 2011
• Mortal Kombat 11 in 2020, and Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate in 2021

Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat 11 are two games with multiple wins with re-releases. Virtua Fighter 4, Tekken 5, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear Xrd, and Mortal Kombat 1 have had multiple nominations with re-releases and DLC expansions.

Franchise

Franchise	Nominations	Wins
Mortal Kombat	10	5
Street Fighter	9	4
Soulcalibur	6	3
Super Smash Bros.	5	3
Tekken	9	2
Dead or Alive	4	2
WCW/nWo	3	2
Injustice	2	2
Fight Night	4	1
Guilty Gear	3	1
WWF/WWE	7	0
Ultimate Fighting Championship	5	0
Dragon Ball	4	0
BlazBlue	2	0
Bushido Blade	2	0
Def Jam	2	0
Granblue Fantasy	2	0
Killer Instinct	2	0
Marvel vs. Capcom	2	0
Nickelodeon Brawl	2	0
Nidhogg	2	0
Ready 2 Rumble	2	0
The King of Fighters	2	0
Virtua Fighter	2	0