The Korea Game Awards () is an annual South Korean awards ceremony that recognizes "individuals and businesses that have contributed to domestic game industry." The ceremony is organized by the Korea Association of Game Industry (K-GAMES) and presented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, The Electronic Times and The Sports Chosun in conjunction with the G-Star game trade fair held in Busan in November. It is the largest and most prestigious awards ceremony for games in the country, and has been held yearly since 1996.
Winners are decided by a combination of judges, game experts and online votes. The Grand Prize, given to the overall best game of the year (also called the President's Award) has historically been won almost exclusively by PC games; 2004's Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders is the only console game to win the award. However, in 2014, Blade for Kakao became the first mobile game to win, and since then several mobile games have won the award.
Winners of the Grand Prize (President's Award) Year Game Genre Developer 1996 Pee & Gity 2: The Industrial Age Beat 'em up Family Production 1997 Wangdo-ui Bimil Action-adventure Digital Dream Studios 1998 Lineage MMORPG NCSoft 1999 EZ2DJ Rhythm AmuseWorld 2000 Fortress 2 Artillery CCR Inc 2001 The War of Genesis III: Part 2 Tactical role-playing Softmax 2002 Navy Field MMORTS SDEnterNet 2003 Lineage II MMORPG NCSoft 2004 Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders Hack and slash, real-time tactics Phantagram 2005 Scions of Fate (Yulgang) MMORPG Mgame Corp 2006 Granado Espada MMORPG IMC Games 2007 Alliance of Valiant Arms (A.V.A) First-person shooter Red Duck 2008 Aion: The Tower of Eternity MMORPG NCSoft 2009 Continent of the Ninth Seal (C9) MMORPG Webzen 2010 Vindictus (Mabinogi Heroes) MMORPG Nexon 2011 TERA MMORPG Bluehole Studio 2012 Blade & Soul MMORPG NCSoft 2013 ArcheAge MMORPG XL Games 2014 Blade for Kakao Action RPG Action Square 2015 EvilBane: Rise of Ravens (Raven) Action RPG Netmarble 2016 Heroes of Incredible Tales (HIT) Action RPG NAT Games 2017 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Battle royale PUBG Corporation 2018 Black Desert Mobile MMORPG Pearl Abyss 2019 Lost Ark MMORPG Smilegate RPG 2020 V4 (Victory For) MMORPG NAT Games 2021Odin: Valhalla RisingMMORPGLionheart Studio2022Dungeon & Fighter MobileBeat 'em upNexon2023Lies of PAction RPGNeowiz Games2024 Solo Leveling: ARISE Action Netmarble 2025 Mabinogi Mobile MMORPG Nexon
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