# 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards

The 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards was the 21st edition of the D.I.C.E. Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2017. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), and were held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Paradise, Nevada on February 22, 2018 (2018-02-22). It was also held as part of the Academy's 2018 D.I.C.E. Summit, and was co-hosted by Jessica Chobot of Nerdist News, and Kinda Funny co-founder Greg Miller.
"Role-Playing Game of the Year" dropped the "Massively Multiplayer" part of the category's title.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild won the most awards, including "Game of the Year", while Horizon Zero Dawn received the most nominations. Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment tied for being the most nominated publisher. Nintendo was the most award-winning developer and publisher, and had the most nominated and award-winning games. The Mario franchise became the first franchise to have three award-winning titles in a single year: Super Mario Odyssey won "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design", Mario Kart 8 Deluxe won "Racing Game of the Year", and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle won "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year".
Genyo Takeda, former CEO and long-time Special Corporate Advisor of Nintendo, received the "Lifetime Achievement Award".

## Winners and Nominees

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).

### Game of the Year Awards

Game of the Year
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Nintendo EPD‡
Cuphead — Studio MDHR
Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds — PUBG Corporation, Bluehole
Super Mario Odyssey — Nintendo EPD :
| Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds — PUBG Corporation, Bluehole‡ Call of Duty: WWII — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Destiny 2 — Bungie, Activision Fortnite — Epic Games Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands — Ubisoft Paris | D.I.C.E. Sprite Award Snipperclips — SFB Games, Nintendo‡ Everything — David OReilly, Double Fine Productions Gorogoa — Jason Roberts, Buried Signal, Annapurna Interactive Night in the Woods — Secret Lab, Infinite Fall, Finji Pyre — Supergiant Games |
| Handheld Game of the Year Metroid: Samus Returns — MercurySteam, Nintendo EPD‡ Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King — Square Enix, Nintendo Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth — Atlus Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia — Intelligent Systems, Nintendo Monster Hunter Stories — Capcom, Marvelous Inc., Nintendo | Mobile Game of the Year Fire Emblem Heroes — Intelligent Systems, Nintendo‡ Cat Quest — The Gentlebros, PQube Gorogoa — Jason Roberts, Buried Signal, Annapurna Interactive Monument Valley 2 — ustwo Splitter Critters — RAC7 Games |

### Immersive Reality Awards

| Immersive Reality Game of the Year Lone Echo — Ready at Dawn, Oculus Studios‡ Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin — Double Fine Productions Robo Recall — Epic Games Space Pirate Trainer — I-Illusions Wilson's Heart — Twisted Pixel Games, Oculus Studios | Immersive Reality Technical Achievement Lone Echo — Ready at Dawn, Oculus Studios‡ Robo Recall — Epic Games Star Trek: Bridge Crew — Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft The Invisible Hours — Tequila Works, GameTrust Games Wilson's Heart — Twisted Pixel Games, Oculus Studios |

### Craft Awards

| Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Nintendo EPD‡ Gorogoa — Jason Roberts, Buried Signal, Annapurna Interactive Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment What Remains of Edith Finch — Giant Sparrow, Annapurna Interactive | Outstanding Achievement in Game Design The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Nintendo EPD‡ Gorogoa — Jason Roberts, Buried Signal, Annapurna Interactive Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds — PUBG Corporation, Bluehole Super Mario Odyssey — Nintendo EPD |
| Outstanding Achievement in Animation Cuphead — Studio MDHR‡ For Honor — Ubisoft Montreal Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice — Ninja Theory Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment | Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Cuphead — Studio MDHR‡ Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice — Ninja Theory Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment Little Nightmares — Tarsier Studios, Bandai Namco Entertainment The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Nintendo EPD |
| Outstanding Achievement in Character Senua (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice) — Ninja Theory‡ Bayek (Assassin's Creed Origins) — Ubisoft Montreal Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn) — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment Iden Versio (Star Wars Battlefront II) — DICE, Motive Studios, Criterion Games, Electronic Arts Chloe Frazer (Uncharted: The Lost Legacy) — Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment | Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Cuphead — Studio MDHR‡ Call of Duty: WWII — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment RiME — Tequila Works, Grey Box Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus — MachineGames, Bethesda Softworks |
| Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design Super Mario Odyssey — Nintendo EPD‡ Destiny 2 — Bungie, Activision Injustice 2 — NetherRealm Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Star Wars Battlefront II — DICE, Motive Studios, Criterion Games, Electronic Arts Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment | Outstanding Achievement in Story Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment‡ Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice — Ninja Theory Night in the Woods — Secret Lab, Infinite Fall, Finji What Remains of Edith Finch — Giant Sparrow, Annapurna Interactive Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus — MachineGames, Bethesda Softworks |
| Outstanding Technical Achievement Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment‡ Assassin's Creed Origins — Ubisoft Montreal Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice — Ninja Theory Lone Echo — Ready at Dawn, Oculus Studios The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Nintendo EPD ||

### Genre Awards

| Action Game of the Year PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds — PUBG Corporation, Bluehole‡ Call of Duty: WWII — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Cuphead — Studio MDHR Destiny 2 — Bungie, Activision Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus — MachineGames, Bethesda Softworks | Adventure Game of the Year The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — Nintendo EPD‡ Assassin's Creed Origins — Ubisoft Montreal Horizon Zero Dawn — Guerrilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment Super Mario Odyssey — Nintendo EPD Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Family Game of the Year Snipperclips — SFB Games, Nintendo‡ DropMix — Harmonix, Hasbro Gnog — KO_OP, Double Fine Productions Just Dance 2018 — Ubisoft Paris SingStar Celebration — SIE London Studio | Fighting Game of the Year Injustice 2 — NetherRealm Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ ARMS — Nintendo EPD Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite — Capcom Nidhogg 2 — Messhof Tekken 7 — Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Racing Game of the Year Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Nintendo EPD‡ Dirt 4 — Codemasters Forza Motorsport 7 — Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios Gran Turismo Sport — Polyphony Digital, Sony Interactive Entertainment Project CARS 2 — Slightly Mad Studios, Bandai Namco Entertainment | Role-Playing Game of the Year Nier: Automata — PlatinumGames, Square Enix‡ Divinity: Original Sin II — Larian Studios Middle-earth: Shadow of War — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Persona 5 — Atlus Torment: Tides of Numenera — inXile Entertainment, Techland Publishing |
| Sports Game of the Year FIFA 18 — EA Vancouver, EA Romania‡ Everybody's Golf — SIE Japan Studio, Clap Hanz Golf Clash — Playdemic Madden NFL 18 — EA Tiburon MLB The Show 17 — SIE San Diego | Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle — Ubisoft Milan, Ubisoft Paris‡ Endless Space 2 — Amplitude Studios, Sega Halo Wars 2 — Creative Assembly, Microsoft Studios Total War: Warhammer II — Creative Assembly, Sega XCOM 2: War of the Chosen — Firaxis Games, 2K Games |

### Special Awards
#### Lifetime Achievement

* Genyo Takeda

### Multiple nominations and awards
#### Multiple Nominations

Games that received multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Game |
| 10 | Horizon Zero Dawn |
| 6 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |
| 5 | Cuphead |
| 5 | Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice |
| 5 | Uncharted: The Lost Legacy |
| 4 | Gorogoa |
| 4 | PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds |
| 4 | Super Mario Odyssey |
| 3 | Assassin's Creed Origins |
| 3 | Call of Duty: WWII |
| 3 | Destiny 2 |
| 3 | Lone Echo |
| 3 | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus |
| 2 | Injustice 2 |
| 2 | Night in the Woods |
| 2 | Robo Recall |
| 2 | Snipperclips |
| 2 | Star Wars Battlefront II |
| 2 | What Remains of Edith Finch |
| 2 | Wilson's Heart |
Nominations by company :
| Nominations | Games | Company |
| 19 | 10 | Nintendo |
| 19 | 6 | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 10 | 1 | Guerrilla Games |
| 8 | 6 | Ubisoft |
| 6 | 2 | Activision |
| 6 | 2 | Annapurna Interactive |
| 5 | 2 | Oculus Studios |
| 5 | 1 | Naughty Dog |
| 5 | 1 | Ninja Theory |
| 5 | 1 | Studio MDHR |
| 4 | 3 | Electronic Arts |
| 4 | 1 | Bluehole |
| 4 | 1 | Buried Signal |
| 4 | 1 | Jason Roberts |
| 4 | 1 | PUBG Corporation |
| 3 | 3 | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 3 | 3 | Double Fine Productions |
| 3 | 2 | Epic Games |
| 3 | 2 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| 3 | 1 | Bethesda Softworks |
| 3 | 1 | Bungie |
| 3 | 1 | Sledgehammer Games |
| 3 | 1 | MachineGames |
| 3 | 1 | Ready at Dawn |
| 2 | 2 | Atlus |
| 2 | 2 | Capcom |
| 2 | 2 | Creative Assembly |
| 2 | 2 | Intelligent Systems |
| 2 | 2 | Microsoft Studios |
| 2 | 2 | Sega |
| 2 | 2 | Square Enix |
| 2 | 2 | Tequila Works |
| 2 | 1 | Criterion Games |
| 2 | 1 | DICE |
| 2 | 1 | Finji |
| 2 | 1 | Giant Sparrow |
| 2 | 1 | Infinite Fall |
| 2 | 1 | Motive Studios |
| 2 | 1 | NetherRealm Studios |
| 2 | 1 | Secret Lab |
| 2 | 1 | SFB Games |
| 2 | 1 | Twisted Pixel Games |

#### Multiple awards

Games that received multiple awards :
| Awards | Game |
| 4 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild |
| 3 | Cuphead |
| 2 | Horizon Zero Dawn |
| 2 | Lone Echo |
| 2 | PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds |
| 2 | Snipperclips |
Awards by company :
| Awards | Games | Company |
| 10 | 6 | Nintendo |
| 3 | 1 | Studio MDHR |
| 2 | 1 | Bluehole |
| 2 | 1 | Guerrilla Games |
| 2 | 1 | Oculus Studios |
| 2 | 1 | PUBG Corporation |
| 2 | 1 | Ready at Dawn |
| 2 | 1 | SFB Games |
| 2 | 1 | Sony Interactive Entertainment |