Game Designers Award Ends After 17 Winners
An award built around a single criterion, originality, is closing after 17 winners, and its founder announced the end rather than a successor, so the beat loses a recurring measure of design novelty.
Reporting from 1 source: Denfaminicogamer.
The Game Designers Award, founded in 2010 by game director Masahiro Sakurai, will end in 2026. Sakurai, who is chief judge, announced the close at a ceremony on September 15. Seventeen works won the award across its run, from Heavy Rain in 2010 to Moji Yuge in 2026. The theme is the evaluation of games' originality and novelty.
The Game Designers Award was founded in 2010 by game director Masahiro Sakurai. Its stated theme is the evaluation of games' originality and novelty, and Sakurai sits as chief judge. He announced the award will end in 2026, speaking at the ceremony on September 15. The judging panel includes Kazutoshi Iida, Jiro Ishii, Hideki Kamiya, Keiichiro Toyama and Toby Fox, alongside a longer roster of creators who have worked on original games.
- Heavy Rain: Quantic Dream / Sony Computer Entertainment, 2010
- Scribblenauts: 5TH Cell Media, LLC. / Konami Digital Entertainment, 2011
- Journey: thatgamecompany / Sony Computer Entertainment, 2012
- The Unfinished Swan: Giant Sparrow / Sony Computer Entertainment, 2013
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: Starbreeze Studios / Spike Chunsoft, 2014
- Ingress: Niantic, Inc., 2015
- Life Is Strange: DONTNOD Entertainment, 2016
- INSIDE: Playdead, 2017
- Gorogoa: Annapurna Interactive, 2018
- ASTRO BOT: RESCUE MISSION: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc., 2019
- Baba Is You: Hempuli, 2020
- Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit: Nintendo Co., Ltd., 2021
- Inscryption: Daniel Mullins Games, 2022
- RPG Time: The Legend of Wright: DeskWorks Inc., 2023
- Viewfinder: Sad Owl Studios, 2024
- INDIKA: Odd Meter, 2025
- Moji Yuge: Team9, 2026
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.