D.I.C.E. Awards
The D.I.C.E. Awards is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, 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".
Format
The nominees 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 via a confidential and secured voting system, and winners are subsequently announced during the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, typically the February of that year. Due to this approach, the D.I.C.E. awards are considered the main peer-based recognition within the video games compared to the other major awards.Award categories
The tables below are based on the awards cycle for the calendar year preceded the award ceremony date; for example, all awards given for "1997" were presented to winners in a 1998 ceremony.Game of the Year
Overall
Action Game of the Year
Adventure Game of the Year
Cellular/Mobile Game of the Year
Downloadable Game of the Year
Family Game of the Year
Handheld/Portable Game of the Year
Immersive Reality Game of the Year
The Immersive Reality Game of the Year was added for consideration of 2016 games to award those in the growing area of virtual reality and augmented reality games.Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
Referred to in the past as "Persistent World", "Online", or "Online Role-Playing" Game of the Year.| Year | Winner |
| 1997 | Ultima Online |
| 1998 | ' |
| 1999 | EverQuest |
| 2000 | ' |
| 2001 | Dark Age of Camelot |
| 2002 | The Sims Online |
| 2003 | ' |
| 2004 | World of Warcraft |
| 2005 | City of Villains and Guild Wars |
| 2006 | Guild Wars Nightfall |
| 2007 | ' |
| 2008 |
Racing Game of the Year
Role-Playing Game of the Year
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Sports Game of the Year
Fighting Game of the Year
Casual Game of the Year
Social Networking Game/Web Based Game of the Year
"Outstanding" Awards
Outstanding Animation
Outstanding Game Direction
Outstanding Art Direction
Outstanding Character Performance
Outstanding Game Design
Outstanding Gameplay Engineering
Immersive Reality Technical Achievement
This award was added to honor games from 2016 onward in technical achievements for virtual reality and augmented reality.| Year | Winner |
| 2016 | Eagle Flight |
| 2017 | Lone Echo/Echo Arena |
| 2018 | Tónandi |
| 2019 | Blood & Truth |
Outstanding Licensed Soundtrack
Outstanding Online Gameplay
Outstanding Original Music Composition
Outstanding Sound Design
Outstanding Story
Outstanding Visual Engineering
Outstanding Technical Achievement
Innovation in Gaming
Console Awards
Console Game of the Year
Console Innovation
Console Children's
Console First Person Action
Console Sports Simulation
Console Action Sports
Computer Awards
Computer Game of the Year
Computer Innovation
Computer Educational/Skills
Computer Family/Children's
Computer First Person Action
D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
The D.I.C.E. Sprite Award was added for the 2015 awards ceremony to honor "a game having disproportionate resources for development and exposure, represent a higher degree of risk tolerance and advances our industry with innovative gameplay and experiences".| Year | Winner |
| 2014 | Transistor |
| 2015 | Rocket League |
| 2016 | Inside |
| 2017 | Snipperclips |
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".| Year | Winner |
| 2014 | Apple App Store |
| 2015 | Visual Basic |
Award show hosts
Since 2000, the annual award show has been hosted by many notable figures from the entertainment world.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.| Year | Person | Company/role | Notable games |
| 1998 | Shigeru Miyamoto | Nintendo | Donkey Kong, Mario, 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, 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 | Arcade games such as Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, After Burner, Power Drift and Virtua Racing as well as the 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 | 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 | , 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 Solid. |
| 2017 | Todd Howard | Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios | The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series |
| 2018 | Bonnie Ross | Corporate Vice-President at Microsoft, Head of 343 Industries | Halo series |
| 2019 | 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 |
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".| Year | Person | Company/role |
| 2006 | Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln | Former presidents of Nintendo of America |
| 2007 | Ken Kutaragi | Former Chairman/CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment and considered the "Father of the PlayStation". |
| 2009 | Doug Lowenstein | Launched and served as president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, which became the Entertainment Software Association |
| 2010 | Bing Gordon | Former Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts |
| 2015 | Satoru Iwata | Former president of Nintendo |
| 2017 | Genyo Takeda | Former General Manager of Nintendo Integrated Research & Development |
Pioneer Awards
The Pioneer Award is given "for individuals whose career spanning work has helped shape and define the interactive entertainment industry".| Year | Person | Company/role |
| 2009 | David Crane | Founder of Activision |
| 2010 | Bill Budge | Developer of Raster Blaster and Pinball Construction Set |
| 2011 | Ed Logg | Co-developer of many arcade games including Asteroids, Centipede and Gauntlet |
| 2012 | Dave Lebling & Marc Blank | Co-founders of Infocom |
| 2013 | Eugene Jarvis | Developer of arcade games Defender and |
| 2014 | Allan Alcorn | Developer of Pong and co-developed several Atari home consoles |
| 2014 | Ralph H. Baer | Creator of the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey |
| 2018 | Dan Edwards, Martin “Shag” Graetz, Steven Winer, Steve “Slug” Russell, Peter Samson, Robert Sanders, and Wayne Wiitanen | Surviving developers of Spacewar! |
Milestones
Games with multiple wins
The following games received six or more D.I.C.E. Awards:| Wins | Game | Year |
| 10 | ' | 2009 |
| 10 | The Last of Us | 2013 |
| 9 | Half-Life 2 | 2004 |
| 9 | God of War | 2018 |
| 8 | LittleBigPlanet | 2008 |
| 8 | Journey | 2012 |
| 8 | ' | 2014 |
| 7 | God of War | 2005 |
| 6 | 1998 |