TIGA, the network for video games developers and digital publishers and the trade association for the video games industry, has announced that its fifth annual Games Industry Awards are open for entry The deadline for entries is 23:59 p.m. on August 12th 2016.
A key question on the minds of the judges and organisers of this year’s awards will be whether any of the games categories will be won by a virtual reality game? 2016 will be the first year that the TIGA Awards will be fully able to recognise this exciting new gaming experience experience.
The TIGA Games Industry Awards 2016 will feature 35 Award Categories including the hotly contested categories of:
- Best Audio Design
- Best Visual Design
- Most Original Game
- Best Debut Game
- Best Creative Gameplay
- Game Of The Year
The awards recognise excellence across all platforms. Over the 5 years the awards have been in existence, winners of all games categories have been from a variety of platforms with Game Of The Year being won by both console and mobile games such as Rival Kingdoms in 2014, Minecraft: Console Edition in 2013 and Hungry Shark Evolution in 2012. The Game Of The Year category is voted for entirely by the public, with last year’s winner netting 30,000 individual votes.
TIGA member, nDreams CEO and leading VR games development expert Patrick O’Luanaigh will be entering nDream’s much anticipated VR title The Assembly into the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2016 with the hope of scooping the ceremonies first ever VR win:
“We’re incredibly excited to be submitting our first major VR game, The Assembly, to the TIGA awards. We’re especially proud of the game’s innovative movement mechanics, which we custom built for VR so that players can freely explore the world of The Assembly as easily and as comfortably as in a standard first-person game. We’re also eager to show off all the amazing work we’ve done with positional audio and how it really brings the game’s story to life. Above all, it’s fantastic to see TIGA embracing the exciting changes in gaming that VR has brought and we look forward to seeing dedicated VR categories emerge in the not-too-distant future.”
The 2016 awards ceremony will take place at the spectacular Christ Church Spitalifields, a restored Hawksmooor Baroque church situated in the heart of London’s vibrant East End.
The 2016 Awards are supported by some of the leading lights of the video games industry:
- Gold Sponsors: Playground Games and Sumo Digital;
- Silver Sponsors: Amiqus, AQA, Abertay University, GamesSparks, Grads in Games, Radiant Worlds, Space Ape Games, Supermassive Games, S-Tech Insurance, Stevens & Bolton the University of Portsmouth, Universally Speaking, and Weightmans LLP;
- Bronze Sponsors: Atomhawk, Creative England, University of Bath, University of Bournemouth and MMP Tax Ltd.
TIGA Award Categories:
- Best Action and Adventure Game
- Best Arcade Game
- Best Casual/Social Game
- Best Educational Game
- Best Racing Game
- Best Sports Game
- Best Strategy Game
- Best Role Playing Game
- Best Puzzle Game
- Best Creative Gameplay
- Best Debut Game
- Diversity Award
- Most Original Game
- Best Audio Design
- Best Visual Design
- Best Game by a Small Studio
- Best Art/Animation/Trailer Supplier
- Best Audio Supplier
- Best Education Initiative and Talent Development
- Best Educational Institution
- Best Independent Studio: large
- Best Independent Studio: small
- Best In-house Studio
- Outstanding Leadership Award
- Best Legal Services Supplier
- Best Publisher
- Best QA Provider
- Best Recruitment Agency
- Best Start Up
- Best Tax and Accountancy Firm
- UK Heritage Award
- Best Engines, Middleware, Tools and Technology Award
- Best Technical Innovation
- Outstanding Individual Award
- Game of the Year
A full list of terms and conditions can be found at www.tiga.org/awards/about