The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999. Since then, the ceremony for the Independent Games Festival is held just prior to the Choice Awards ceremony.
Winner selection process Nominations for games are made by International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), a group of leading game creators. Votes are then additionally made by editors of Game Developer. Any video game released in the preceding calendar year, regardless of medium, is eligible to be nominated, though upgrades, expansions, and mission packs are not eligible to be nominated.
The top nominated games are assembled into the list of nominees, typically presented in December, are then voted on by final voting body, made up of ICANs, and editors of Game Developer. In this final stage of voting, games with the highest votes in a category are the winners.
Winners for Special Awards (Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer, Ambassador) are decided by a "Special Awards Jury", which appears to consist of a variety of 5 people. This group may consider recommendations from ICAN members.
The winners are announced during the Game Developers Conference, which is typically held in March of the calendar year.
GDC related properties are owned by the UBM technology group.
Historical process
In 2007, gamasutra.com took over management of the awards from the IGDA. An advisory board selected by the editors of gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine oversees the selection process.
In the past, nominations are accepted from registered gamasutra.com users, confirmed to be game developers, and from the advisory board. Once the nomination process is complete, the advisory board identifies five finalists for each regular category.
The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer (formerly known as First Penguin) and Maverick awards are selected by the advisory board. For the other awards, a vote open to all those who participated in the nomination process chooses a recipient from each category's finalists.
List of winners Note: Events held for awards are held early in the following year. Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.
Game of the Year
The Game of the Year Award recognizes the overall best game released during the previous calendar year, as interpreted by the members of the Game Developers Conference.
Year Game Genre Developer(s) 2000 The Sims Life simulation Maxis 2001 Grand Theft Auto III Action-adventure DMA Design 2002 Metroid Prime Action-adventure Retro Studios 2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Role-playing BioWare 2004 Half-Life 2 First-person shooter Valve 2005 Shadow of the Colossus Action-adventure Team Ico 2006 Gears of War Third-person shooter Epic Games 2007 Portal Puzzle-platformer Valve 2008 Fallout 3 Action role-playing Bethesda Game Studios 2009 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Action-adventure Naughty Dog 2010 Red Dead Redemption Action-adventure Rockstar San Diego 2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Action role-playing Bethesda Game Studios 2012 Journey Adventure Thatgamecompany 2013 The Last of Us Action-adventure Naughty Dog 2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Action-adventure Monolith Productions 2015 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Action role-playing CD Projekt Red 2016 Overwatch First-person shooter Blizzard Entertainment 2017 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Adventure Nintendo 2018 God of War Action-adventure Santa Monica Studio 2019 Untitled Goose Game Puzzle House House 2020 Hades Action role-playing Supergiant Games 2021 Inscryption Roguelike Deck-Builder Daniel Mullins Games 2022 Elden Ring Action role-playing FromSoftware 2023 Baldur's Gate 3 Role-playing Larian Studios 2024 Balatro Roguelike Deck-Builder LocalThunk2025 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33Role-playingSandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive Best Audio Best Audio award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in a game, including sound effects, musical composition, sound design and orchestration.
2000: Diablo II 2001: Halo: Combat Evolved 2002: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault 2003: Call of Duty 2004: Halo 2 2005: Guitar Hero 2006: Guitar Hero II 2007: BioShock 2008: Dead Space 2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2010: Red Dead Redemption 2011: Portal 2 2012: Journey 2013: BioShock Infinite 2014: Alien: Isolation 2015: Crypt of the NecroDancer 2016: Inside 2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2018: Celeste 2019: Control 2020: Hades 2021: Unpacking 2022: God of War Ragnarök 2023: Hi-Fi Rush 2024: Astro Bot 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Best Debut The Best Debut Award recognizes the best game from any development studio which released its first publicly available title during the calendar year. This was formerly known as the New Studio of the Year Award. In years prior to 2008, the award was awarded to the studio name, as opposed to the game title.
2000: Valve / Minh Le / Jess Cliffe (for Counter-Strike) 2001: Bohemia Interactive (for Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis) 2002: Retro Studios (for Metroid Prime) 2003: Infinity Ward (for Call of Duty) 2004: Crytek (for Far Cry) 2005: Double Fine Productions (for Psychonauts) 2006: Iron Lore Entertainment (for Titan Quest) 2007: Realtime Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios (for Crackdown) 2008: Media Molecule (for LittleBigPlanet) 2009: Runic Games (for Torchlight) 2010: Mojang (for Minecraft) 2011: Supergiant Games (for Bastion) 2012: Subset Games (for FTL: Faster Than Light) 2013: The Fullbright Company (for Gone Home) 2014: Stoic (for The Banner Saga) 2015: Moon Studios (for Ori and the Blind Forest) 2016: Campo Santo (for Firewatch) 2017: Studio MDHR (for Cuphead) 2018: Mountains (for Florence) 2019: ZA/UM (for Disco Elysium) 2020: Kinetic Games (for Phasmophobia) 2021: Iron Gate Studio (for Valheim) 2022: BlueTwelve Studio (for Stray) 2023: Visai Games (for Venba) 2024: PlayThunk (for Balatro) 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive
Best Design Best Design award recognizes the overall excellence of design in a game, including gameplay, mechanics, puzzles, play balancing, and scenarios.
2000: Deus Ex 2001: Grand Theft Auto III 2002: Battlefield 1942 2003: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2004: Katamari Damacy 2005: Shadow of the Colossus 2006: Wii Sports 2007: Portal 2008: LittleBigPlanet 2009: Batman: Arkham Asylum 2010: Red Dead Redemption 2011: Portal 2 2012: Journey 2013: The Last of Us 2014: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft 2015: Rocket League 2016: Overwatch 2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2018: Into the Breach 2019: Baba Is You 2020: Hades 2021: It Takes Two 2022: Elden Ring 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 2024: Balatro 2025: Blue Prince
Best Mobile/Handheld Game Best Mobile/Handheld Game Award recognizes the overall best game commercially released on any handheld platform.
2007: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass 2008: God of War: Chains of Olympus 2009: Scribblenauts 2010: Cut the Rope 2011: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP 2012: The Room 2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 2014: Monument Valley 2015: Her Story 2016: Pokémon Go 2017: Gorogoa 2018: Florence 2019: What the Golf? 2020: Genshin Impact
Innovation Award The Innovation Award recognizes games that demonstrate innovation and push the boundaries of games as an expressive medium. Multiple awards per year were given before 2007.
2000: Counter-Strike; Crazy Taxi; Deus Ex; Jet Grind Radio; No One Lives Forever 2001: Black and White; Grand Theft Auto III; ICO; Majestic; Rez 2002: Animal Crossing; Battlefield 1942; Medal of Honor: Allied Assault; The Thing 2003: EyeToy: Play; Viewtiful Joe; WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! 2004: Donkey Konga; I Love Bees; Katamari Damacy 2005: Nintendogs; Guitar Hero 2006: Line Rider; Ōkami; Wii Sports 2007: Portal 2008: LittleBigPlanet 2009: Scribblenauts 2010: Minecraft 2011: Johann Sebastian Joust 2012: Journey 2013: Papers, Please 2014: Monument Valley 2015: Her Story 2016: No Man's Sky 2017: Gorogoa 2018: Nintendo Labo 2019: Baba Is You 2020: Dreams 2021: Unpacking 2022: Immortality 2023: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 2024: Balatro 2025: Blue Prince
Social Impact Recognition for a game that advances equality, justice, intersectionality and/or sustainability, and works to positively impact the lives of its players in a meaningful way.
2025: Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia)
Best Narrative Best Narrative award recognizes the quality of writing in a game, including story, plot construction, dialogue, and branching narratives.
2002: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2004: Half-Life 2 2005: Psychonauts 2006: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 2007: BioShock 2008: Fallout 3 2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2010: Mass Effect 2 2011: Portal 2 2012: The Walking Dead 2013: The Last of Us 2014: Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3 2015: Her Story 2016: Firewatch 2017: What Remains of Edith Finch 2018: Return of the Obra Dinn 2019: Disco Elysium 2020: The Last of Us Part II 2021: Psychonauts 2 2022: Pentiment 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 2024: Metaphor: ReFantazio 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Best Technology Best Technology award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in a game, including graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking, and physics.
2004: Half-Life 2 2005: Nintendogs 2006: Gears of War 2007: Crysis 2008: LittleBigPlanet 2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2010: Red Dead Redemption 2011: Battlefield 3 2012: Far Cry 3 2013: Grand Theft Auto V 2014: Destiny 2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2016: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End 2017: Horizon Zero Dawn 2018: Red Dead Redemption 2 2019: Control 2020: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2021: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart 2022: God of War Ragnarök 2023: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 2024: Astro Bot 2025: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Best Visual Art Best Visual Art award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in a game, including animation, modeling, art direction, and textures.
2000: Jet Grind Radio 2001: ICO 2002: Kingdom Hearts 2003: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 2004: World of Warcraft 2005: Shadow of the Colossus 2006: Gears of War 2007: BioShock 2008: Prince of Persia 2009: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2010: Limbo 2011: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception 2012: Journey 2013: BioShock Infinite 2014: Monument Valley 2015: Ori and the Blind Forest 2016: Inside 2017: Cuphead 2018: Gris 2019: Control 2020: Ghost of Tsushima 2021: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart 2022: Elden Ring 2023: Alan Wake 2 2024: Black Myth: Wukong 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Best VR/AR Game 2016: Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives 2017: Superhot VR 2018: Beat Saber 2019: Vader Immortal 2020: Half-Life: Alyx Special Awards Recipients
Audience Award These awards are voted by the audience for best game of that year.
2012: Dishonored 2013: Kerbal Space Program 2014: Elite Dangerous 2015: Life Is Strange 2016: Battlefield 1 2017: Nier: Automata 2018: Beat Saber 2019: Sky: Children of the Light 2020: Ghost of Tsushima 2021: Valheim 2022: God of War Ragnarök 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 2024: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 2025: And Roger
The Pioneer Award Known as the First Penguin award until 2007, the Pioneer Award celebrates individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept or gameplay design.
2000: Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, creators of LucasArts's Habitat 2001: Hubert Chardot, "for his risk-taking work on Alone in the Dark" 2002: David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Jim Levy, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead, founders of Activision