Is it time to rethink the “Game of the Year” award for mobile?
Written in collaboration with Deconstructor of Fun and JadeInferno Consulting
Have you ever been sitting in a meeting — or listening to a podcast, perhaps — where the merits of a game were being discussed and the topic of “Game of the Year” was raised?
Like our peers in film, music, and television, the games industry loves to partake in annual celebrations of talent and creativity, culminating in a singular product that stands above the competition as the year’s most outstanding achievement.
Unlike these other formats, however, the games industry produces experiences that can differ vastly from one platform to the next. The Academy Award for Best Picture is essentially the same product whether viewed in the theaters or on a mobile device, but the Game of the Year award is evaluated quite differently for mobile games than it is for PC and console titles.
The Game Awards, perhaps the industry’s most well-known annual awards gala, characterizes the Game of the Year award as “recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.” The Best Mobile Game award, on the other hand, is simply “for the best game playable on a mobile device.”
