D.I.C.E. Awards

The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an annual awards show in the video game industry, and commonly referred to as the video game equivalent of the Academy Awards.^[1][2][3] The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and held during the AIAS' annual D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. "D.I.C.E." is a backronym for "Design Innovate Communicate Entertain". The D.I.C.E. Awards recognizes games, individuals, and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry.^[4]

D.I.C.E. Awards
Current: 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards
Awarded for	Video game industry achievements
Venue	Aria Convention Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Country	United States
Hosted by	Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
Formerly called	Interactive Achievement Awards (1998–2013)
First award	May 28, 1998; 26 years ago (1998-05-28)
Final award	February 13, 2025; 3 months ago (2025-02-13)
Website	https://www.interactive.org/

Format

The Academy encourages submissions from any individual or company providing that submission eligibility requirements are met. Each application enters the submitted game or title for consideration in at least one Craft category and only one Genre category. For most categories, the title must be publicly released in North America within the past calendar year. The exceptions to this rule are submissions for "Online Game of the Year" and "Fighting Game of the Year".^[5]

The finalists in each category are selected by a peer panel, assembled by AIAS, of over 100 video game professionals across several facets of the industry, including developers, programmers, artists, and publishers, which is published on the AIAS website each year. The nominees are then voted on by the full membership of AIAS (over 33,000 members) via a confidential and secured voting system, and winners are subsequently announced during the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, typically in February of that year.^[6][7][8]

Academy active Creative/Technical, Business, and Affiliate members are qualified to vote in all genre categories along with "Game of the Year", "Mobile Game of the Year", "Online Game of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game". Creative/Technical members of the Academy may also vote on craft categories related to their expertise:^[9]

• Game designers and producers vote for the categories of "Story", "Character", "Audio Design", "Game Direction", and "Game Design".
• Artists, animators, and programmers vote for the categories of "Animation", "Art Direction", "Character", and "Technical".
• Audio designers and musicians vote for the categories of "Audio Design", "Original Music Composition", and "Character".

Due to this approach, the D.I.C.E. Awards are considered the main peer-based recognition within the video games industry compared to other major awards.^[10]

Award ceremonies

#	Date	Game of the Year	Host(s)	Venue	Ref.
1st	May 28, 1998	GoldenEye 007	—	Georgia World Congress Center	[11][12][13]
2nd	May 13, 1999	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	—	Variety Arts Theater	[14]
3rd	May 11, 2000	The Sims	Martin Short	Millennium Biltmore Hotel	[15]
4th	March 22, 2001	Diablo II	Martin Lewis	Polly Esther's	[16]
5th	February 28, 2002	Halo: Combat Evolved	Patton Oswalt	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino	[17][18][19]
6th	February 27, 2003	Battlefield 1942	Dave Foley		[20]
7th	March 4, 2004	Call of Duty	Diane Mizota	Palms Casino Resort	[21][22][23]
8th	February 1, 2005	Half-Life 2	Kurt Scholler, Cory Rouse	Green Valley Ranch	[24]
9th	February 9, 2006	God of War	Jay Mohr	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino	[25][26]
10th	February 7, 2007	Gears of War			[27][28]
11th	February 8, 2008	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare		Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa	[29]
12th	February 19, 2009	LittleBigPlanet			[30]
13th	February 18, 2010	Uncharted 2: Among Thieves			[31][32]
14th	February 11, 2011	Mass Effect 2			[33]
15th	February 9, 2012	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim			[34]
16th	February 7, 2013	Journey	Chris Hardwick		[35][36]
17th	February 6, 2014	The Last of Us	Felicia Day, Freddie Wong	Hard Rock Hotel and Casino	[37]
18th	February 5, 2015	Dragon Age: Inquisition	Pete Holmes		[38]
19th	February 18, 2016	Fallout 4		Mandalay Bay Convention Center	[39]
20th	February 23, 2017	Overwatch	Greg Miller, Jessica Chobot		[40]
21st	February 22, 2018	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild			[41][42]
22nd	February 13, 2019	God of War		Aria Resort and Casino	[43][44]
23rd	February 13, 2020	Untitled Goose Game			[45]
24th	April 22, 2021	Hades	Greg Miller, Jessica Chobot, Kahlief Adams	none[a]	[46]
25th	February 24, 2022	It Takes Two	Greg Miller, Jessica Chobot	Mandalay Bay Convention Center	[47]
26th	February 23, 2023	Elden Ring	Stella Chung, Greg Miller	Resorts World Las Vegas	[48]
27th	February 15, 2024	Baldur's Gate 3		Aria Resort and Casino	[49][50][51]
28th	February 13, 2025	Astro Bot			[52][53][54]

Award categories

Game of the Year Awards

Timeline of Game of the Year awards categories. The most characteristic one -- Game of the Year or GOTY award -- only changed its name a few times since 1998. In blue, discontinued, renamed or merged categories. In green, current ones (2023). First year of publication of awards indicated.

• Game of the Year
• Online Game of the Year
• Mobile Game of the Year
• Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game
• Immersive Reality Game of the Year
• Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

Craft Awards

Timeline of Craft awards categories. In purple, discontinued, renamed or merged categories. In green, current ones (2023). First year of publication of awards indicated.

• Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
• Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
• Outstanding Achievement in Animation
• Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
• Outstanding Achievement in Character
• Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
• Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design
• Outstanding Achievement in Story
• Outstanding Technical Achievement

Genre Awards

Timeline of Genre awards categories. In red, discontinued, renamed or merged categories. In green, current ones (2023). First year of publication of awards indicated.

• Action Game of the Year
• Adventure Game of the Year
• Family Game of the Year
• Fighting Game of the Year
• Racing Game of the Year
• Role-Playing Game of the Year
• Sports Game of the Year
• Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

Discontinued, renamed, or merged categories

Game of the Year

• Console Game of the Year: 1998-2009
• Computer Game of the Year 1998-2009
• Innovation in Console Gaming 2001-2005
• Innovation in Computer Gaming 2001-2005
• Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: 2006-2015
• Handheld Game of the Year: 2007-2009, 2012-2018
• Portable Game of the Year: 2010-2011, 2019-2020
• Downloadable Game of the Year: 2012-2014
• Web Based Game of the Year: 2013

Craft Awards

• Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics: 1998-1999
• Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music: 1998-1999
• Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering: 1998-1999
• Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering: 2000–2014
• Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: 2000–2014
• Outstanding (Achievement in) Character Performance - Female: 2004–2007
• Outstanding (Achievement in) Character Performance - Male: 2004–2007
• Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack: 2004–2011
• Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: 2005–2013
• Outstanding Achievement in Original Story: 2009–2010
• Outstanding Achievement in Adapted Story: 2009–2010
• Outstanding Achievement in Portable Game Design: 2010
• Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity: 2012-2013

Genre Awards

• Action/Adventure Game of the Year: 2006–2007
• Casual Game of the Year: 2009–2014
• Cellular/Mobile Game of the Year: 2006-2009
• Children's Game of the Year: 2006–2007
• Downloadable Game of the Year: 2004–2008
• First-Person Action Game of the Year: 2006–2007
• Handheld Game of the Year: 2001-2006
• Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year: 2000–2009
• Social Networking Game of the Year: 2010–2012
• Strategy Game of the Year: 1998–2007
• Simulation Game of the Year: 1998–2007
• Wireless Game of the Year: 2005

Console

• Console Action Game of the Year: 1998–2000
• Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year: 2001–2005
• Console Adventure Game of the Year: 1998–1999
• Console Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year: 2000
• Console Children's/Family Title of the Year: 2000
• Console Children's Title of the Year: 2002, 2004-2005
• Console Family Title/Game of the Year: 2001, 2004-2005
• Console First-Person Action Game of the Year: 2003–2005
• Console Platform Action/Adventure Game of the Year: 2003-2005
• Console Role-Playing Game of the Year: 1998–1999, 2001–2005
• Console Sports Game of the Year: 1998–2003
• Console Action Sports Game of the Year: 2004-2005
• Console Sports Simulation Game of the Year: 2004–2005

Computer

• Computer Action Game of the Year: 1998–2000
• Computer Action/Adventure Game of the Year: 2001–2005
• Computer Adventure Game of the Year: 1998–1999
• Computer Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year: 2000
• Computer Children's (Entertainment) Title of the Year: 1999-2000, 2002, 2005
• Computer Family Game of the Year: 1998–2001, 2004-2005
• Computer First-Person Action Game of the Year: 2003–2005
• Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year: 1998–1999, 2001–2005
• Computer Sports Game of the Year: 1998–2005
• Computer Creativity Title of the Year: 1998–2000
• Computer Edutainment Title of the Year: 1998
• Computer Skills Building Title of the Year: 1998
• Computer Educational Title of the Year (0-8 years): 1999
• Computer Educational Title of the Year (9-16 years): 1999
• Computer Educational Title of the Year: 2000, 2002

Online

• Online Action/Strategy Game of the Year: 1999
• Online Family/Board Game of the Year: 1999
• Online Role-Playing Game of the Year: 1999
• Entertainment Site of the Year: 1998–2000
• News/Information Site of the Year: 1998–2000
• Online Gameplay of the Year: 2001-2003

Special categories

Hall of Fame

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has annually inducted into its "Hall of Fame" video game developers that have made revolutionary and innovative achievements in the video game industry.^[55]

Year	Person	Company/role	Notable games
1998	Shigeru Miyamoto	Nintendo	Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, Star Fox, Pikmin, and Wii series
1999	Sid Meier	Founder of Firaxis Games and MicroProse	Pirates!, Railroad Tycoon, Civilization, and Alpha Centauri
2000	Hironobu Sakaguchi	Originally at Square (renamed Square Enix), Founder of Mistwalker	Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story
2001	John D. Carmack	Founder of id Software	Commander Keen, Doom, Quake, and Rage
2002	Will Wright	Founder of Maxis	SimCity, Spore, and The Sims
2003	Yu Suzuki	Sega (head of Sega AM2 division)	Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, After Burner, Power Drift, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Virtua Cop, and Shenmue series
2004	Peter Molyneux	Founder of Lionhead Studios and Bullfrog Productions	Black & White, Populous, Magic Carpet, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, and Fable
2005	Trip Hawkins	Founder of Electronic Arts and Digital Chocolate	Madden Football
2006	Richard Garriott	Founder of Origin Systems	Ultima series and Tabula Rasa
2007	Dani Bunten (posthumous)	Founder of Ozark Softscape	M.U.L.E.
2008	Michael Morhaime	President & Co-Founder of Blizzard Entertainment	Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo
2009	Bruce Shelley	Ensemble Studios	Age of Empires
2010	Mark Cerny	Cerny Games	Marble Madness, Ratchet & Clank, and Jak & Daxter
2011	Ray Muzyka & Greg Zeschuk	Co-Founders of BioWare	Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age
2012	Tim Sweeney	Founder and CEO of Epic Games	Unreal and Gears of War series
2013	Gabe Newell	Co-Founder and CEO of Valve	Portal, Half-Life, and Left 4 Dead
2014	Sam Houser, Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies	Co-Founders of Rockstar Games	Grand Theft Auto and Bully
2016	Hideo Kojima	Founder of Kojima Productions	Metal Gear, Snatcher, Policenauts, Zone of the Enders, and Boktai
2017	Todd Howard	Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios	The Elder Scrolls and the Fallout series
2019	Bonnie Ross	Corporate Vice-President at Microsoft, Head of 343 Industries	Halo series
2020	Connie Booth	Vice-President of Product Development at Sony Interactive Entertainment	Advocate for several of Sony's first-party franchises, including Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper
2022	Ed Boon	Creative director of NetherRealm Studios	Co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series
2023	Tim Schafer	Co-founder of Double Fine Productions	Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Broken Age, and Psychonauts 2
2024	Koji Kondo	Nintendo composer and sound designer	Works include numerous games, including those in the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda franchise[56]
2025	Ted Price	Founder and CEO of Insomniac Games	Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Marvel's Spider-Man series[57]

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given "for individuals whose accomplishments span a broad range of disciplines over a lengthy career in the industry".^[58]

Year	Person	Company/role
2007	Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln	Former presidents of Nintendo of America
2008	Ken Kutaragi	Former Chairman/CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment and considered the "Father of the PlayStation"
2010	Doug Lowenstein	Launched and served as president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, which became the Entertainment Software Association
2011	Bing Gordon	Former Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts
2016	Satoru Iwata (posthumous)	Former president of Nintendo
2018	Genyo Takeda	Former General Manager of Nintendo Integrated Research & Development[59]
2022	Phil Spencer	CEO of Microsoft Gaming[60]
2025	Don James	Former Executive Vice-President of Nintendo of America. Heavily contributed to the creation of the ESRB and Interactive Digital Software Association, now known as the Entertainment Software Association, and its signature trade show, E3[61][62]

Pioneer Awards

The Pioneer Award is given "for individuals whose career spanning work has helped shape and define the interactive entertainment industry".^[58]

Year	Person	Company/role
2010	David Crane	Founder of Activision
2011	Bill Budge	Developer of Raster Blaster and Pinball Construction Set
2012	Ed Logg	Co-developer of many arcade games including Asteroids, Centipede and Gauntlet
2013	Dave Lebling & Marc Blank	Co-founders of Infocom
2014	Eugene Jarvis	Developer of arcade games Defender and Robotron: 2084
2015	Allan Alcorn	Developer of Pong and co-developed several Atari home consoles
	Ralph H. Baer	Creator of the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey

Technical Impact Award

The Technical Impact Award was added for the 2015 awards ceremony to recognize "unique innovations that contribute to the ongoing progress of interactive media".^[63]

Year	Winner
2015	Apple App Store
2016	Visual Basic[64]

Notable highest wins and nominations

By game

Most award-winning games: Wins Game Year 10 The Last of Us 2014 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2010 9 God of War 2019 Half-Life 2 2005 8 Gears of War 2007 Journey 2013 LittleBigPlanet 2009 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor 2015 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2004 7 God of War 2006 God of War Ragnarök 2023 6 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 2024 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1999

Most nominated games: Nominations Game Year 15 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2010 13 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2004 The Last of Us 2014 12 BioShock 2008 God of War 2006 God of War 2019 God of War Ragnarök 2023 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception 2012 11 Half-Life 2 2005 Journey 2013 Marvel's Spider-Man 2019 The Last of Us Part II 2021

By franchise

Most award-winning franchises: Franchise Wins Games God of War 26 6 Mario 23 23 The Legend of Zelda 17 8 Uncharted 17 3 Half-Life[b] 15 5 FIFA/FC 13 13 Final Fantasy 13 7 Call of Duty 12 6 Halo 12 4 The Last of Us 12 2 Marvel 11 5 Middle-earth/The Lord of the Rings 11 3

Most nominated franchises: Franchise Nominations Games Call of Duty 79 21 Mario[c] 71 49 The Legend of Zelda 52 16 Uncharted 50 6 God of War 48 8 Assassin's Creed 45 12 Star Wars 43 21 Final Fantasy 41 16 Marvel 40 15 Ratchet & Clank 36 8 Tom Clancy's 35 15 Battlefield 35 10

By developer

Most award-winning developers: Developer Wins Games Nintendo EAD/EPD 38 24 Naughty Dog 29 5 Santa Monica Studio 24 4 EA Canada/Vancouver 23 18 Valve 20 6 Blizzard Entertainment 17 11 BioWare 17 7 Ubisoft Montreal 16 8 Harmonix 14 7 Insomniac Games 14 6 SquareSoft/Square Enix 13 7 Bethesda Game Studios 13 5 Bungie 12 3

Most nominated developers: Developer Nominations Games Nintendo EAD/EPD 126 50 Ubisoft Montreal 103 32 Naughty Dog 85 12 EA Canada/Vancouver 77 50 Insomniac Games 77 17 SquareSoft/Square Enix 66 31 Blizzard Entertainment 57 22 BioWare 48 17 Valve 48 11 Santa Monica Studio 48 7 DICE 47 16 Infinity Ward 45 8

By publisher

The most award-winning publishers: Publisher Wins Games Sony Interactive Entertainment 142 54 Electronic Arts 114 80 Nintendo 80 61 Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios 64 41 Activision 27 17 Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment 23 12 Ubisoft 21 13 Blizzard Entertainment 19 11 Bethesda Softworks 16 7

The most nominated publishers: Publisher Nominations Games Sony Interactive Entertainment 523 173 Electronic Arts 411 224 Nintendo 294 161 Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios 248 117 Ubisoft 185 81 Activision 173 69 SquareSoft/Square Enix 89 42 2K Games 73 40 Sega 68 41 Rockstar Games 65 13

Notes

1. Held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2. includes Half-Life 2: Episode Two sharing with Portal and Team Fortress 2 in The Orange Box compilation's win for "Computer Game of the Year" in 2008.
3. includes the Luigi's Mansion games