The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an annual awards show in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

, and commonly referred to as the video game equivalent of the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

. The awards are arranged 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 ...

(AIAS) and held during the AIAS' annual D.I.C.E. Summit in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. "D.I.C.E." is a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

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.

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". 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. 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: *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.

Award ceremonies

Award categories

''Game of the Year'' Awards

DICE Awards Game of the Year Categories Timeline

* 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

''Genre'' Awards

Discontinued, renamed, or merged categories

Game of the Year

Craft Awards

Genre Awards

Console

Computer

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 developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

s that have made revolutionary and innovative achievements in the video game industry.

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".

Pioneer Awards

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

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".

Notable highest wins and nominations

By game

Most award-winning games: Most nominated games:

By franchise

Most award-winning franchises: Most nominated franchises:

By developer

Most award-winning developers: Most nominated developers:

By publisher

The most award-winning publishers: The most nominated publishers:

Notes

References

{{DICE GOTY Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Awards established in 1998 D.I.C.E. Awards Video game awards