The D.I.C.E. Award for Sports Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

during the

D.I.C.E. Awards The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Academy Awards, Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Ac ...

. This award recognizes games that "offer the user the opportunity to virtually reproduce a sporting experience: either a realistic portrayal of an actual sport or games that reproduce for the user experience of participating in an existing competitive sport". All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category. The award initially had separate awards for console games and computer games at the 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998, with the first winners being ''

International Superstar Soccer 64 ''International Superstar Soccer 64'' (officially abbreviated as ''ISS 64'', originally released in Japan as and then later adapted as ) is a video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka in the ''International Superstar Soccer'' s ...

'' for console and '' FIFA: Road to World Cup 98'' for computer. There have been numerous mergers and additions of sports-related games during the early years of the annual awards ceremony. The current version was established in 2006, with its winner being ''

SSX on Tour ''SSX on Tour'' is a snowboarding and skiing game, the fourth title in the '' SSX'' series of video games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. It was released in North America on October 11, 2005 and in the PAL region o ...

''. The award's most recent winner is ''

OlliOlli World ''OlliOlli World'' is a sports video game developed by Roll7 and published by Private Division. The third game in the ''OlliOlli'' series, the game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series ...

'', developed by

roll7 Rollingmedia Limited (trade name: Roll7) is a British video game developer based in London. Founded in 2008 by Simon Bennett, Tom Hegarty, and John Ribbins, the company initially developed educational games on a contract basis before shifting t ...

and published by

Private Division Private Division is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The brainchild of Take-Two Interactive's Michael Worosz, the subsidiary was founded by Worosz and Allen Murray, and officially announced on December 14, 2017. Private ...

History

Initially the Interactive Achievement Awards had separate awards for Console Sports Game of the Year and Computer Sports Game of the Year. In 2004, there were separate console categories for Action Sports and Sports Simulation. In 2006, all sports categories would be merged together as part of a single Sports Game of the Year, which has been used ever since. *Console Sports Game of the Year (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

—

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

) *Computer Sports Game of the Year (

—

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

) *Console Action Sports Game of the Year (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

—

) *Console Sports Simulation Game of the Year (

—

) *Sports Game of the Year (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

—present) There was a tie between ''

FIFA 2001 ''FIFA 2001'' (known as ''FIFA 2001: Major League Soccer'' in North America and ''FIFA 2001: World Championship'' in Japan) is a football simulation video game and the sequel to ''FIFA 2000''. It was succeeded by '' FIFA Football 2002''. It featur ...

'' and ''

Motocross Madness 2 ''Motocross Madness 2'' is a motocross racing video game that was developed by Rainbow Studios and published by Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Games. This sequel to 1998's ''Motocross Madness (1998 video game), Motocross Madness'' was released in M ...

'' for PC Sports Game of the Year at the

2001 Awards 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

Winners and nominees

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominations and wins

Developers and publishers

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

has published the most nominees and award winners, while

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...

has developed the most nominees and award winners. EA Canada is also the only developer that has won console and computer awards with different games, being '' SSX'' for console and ''

'' for computer in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

EA Tiburon EA Tiburon is an Electronic Arts video game development studio located in Orlando, Florida, United States founded in 1994. It was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by EA in 1998. EA had already purchased a minority eq ...

is the second most nominated and award-winning developer. EA Tiburon is also the only developer to win both console and computer awards with the same game, being ''

Madden NFL 2003 ''Madden NFL 2003'' is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the ''Madden NFL series'', the game features former St. ...

'' in

and ''

Madden NFL 2004 ''Madden NFL 2004'' is the 15th installment of the ''Madden NFL'' series of American football video games. Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is on the cover. Gameplay New features in ''Madden 2004'' include a new owner mode option th ...

'' in

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

has been the most nominated publisher that has never won Sports Game of the Year, with its

San Diego Studio San Diego Studio is an American video game developer based in Sorrento Valley, San Diego. A first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment, it is responsible for '' MLB: The Show'' games. The studio also developed the '' NBA'' series, ' ...

being the most nominated developer that has never won.

Franchises

' ''

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

''/'' FC'' series has received the most nominations and won the most awards. The ''FIFA/FC'' series won Computer Sports Game of the Year five years in a row from

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, and later won Sports Game of the Year six years in a row from

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...

'' has the second-most nominations and awards, and was the only franchise to win both console and computer awards in the same year, first in

and second in

. The '' Tony Hawk's'' franchise is tied with ''Madden NFL'' for second-most wins in this category. '' MLB: The Show'' and ''

NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball, and more specifically, the National Basketball A ...

'' are the most nominated franchises that have never won an award in this category.

Notes

References

{{DICE Awards D.I.C.E. Genre Awards Awards established in 1998