D.I.C.E. Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year

Annual award presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

The D.I.C.E. Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the D.I.C.E. Awards. "This award honors a title, single-player or multi-player, where an individual assumes the role of one or more characters and develops those characters in terms of abilities, statistics, and/or traits as the game progresses. Gameplay involves exploring, acquiring resources, solving puzzles, and interacting with player or non-player characters in the persistent world. Through the player's actions, his/her virtual characters' statistics or traits demonstrably evolve throughout the game".^[1] All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category.^[2] The award initially had separate awards for console games and computer games at the 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998, with the first winners being Final Fantasy VII for console and Dungeon Keeper for computer. Throughout the history of this category, there have been numerous mergers and changes for role-playing related games. The current version was established at the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in 2018, which was awarded to Nier: Automata.

The award's most recent winner is Baldur's Gate 3, developed and published by Larian Studios.

History

Initially the Interactive Achievement Awards had separate categories for Console Role-Playing Game of the Year and Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year.^[3] The 1999 awards ceremony featured genre specific Online awards, including Online Role-Playing Game of the Year.^[4] There was only one Online Game of the Year category in 2000. The console and PC Role-Playing game categories were merged with the Adventure game categories at the 2000 awards ceremony;^[5] this was most likely because the previous console adventure game winners also won the award for console role-playing, which were Final Fantasy VII in 1998^[6][7] and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 1999.^[8] In the following year, the Adventure game category was eventually merged with the Action game category, so a separate award for Role-Playing games resumed.^[9][10] In addition, an online category for Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year was introduced in 2001.^[11][12] This may have been the result of the MMORPGs Ultima Online and EverQuest winning Online Game of the Year in 1998 and 2000, respectively.^[6][13] Starting in 2005, genre-specific awards would no longer have separate awards for console and computer games, so it simply became Role-Playing Game of the Year.^[14] In 2010, Role-Playing Game of the Year was merged with Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year, since most massively multiplayer online games were MMORPGs.^[15] The award would later be simplified back to Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2018.^[16]

• Console Role-Playing Game of the Year (1998—1999, 2001—2005)
• Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year (1998—1999, 2001—2005)
• Online Role-Playing Game of the Year (1999)
• Console Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year (2000)
• Computer Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year (2000)
• Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year (2001—2009)
• Role-Playing Game of the Year (2006—2009, 2018—present)
• Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year (2010—2017)

Winners and nominees

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominations and wins

Developers and publishers

Square Enix has received the most nominations as a publisher, including nominations before the merger of SquareSoft and Enix. Electronic Arts has published the most award winners for the RPG genre, which included titles under collaboration with SquareSoft before their merger with Enix. Sega has published the most nominees without winning a single award.

SquareSoft/Square Enix has developed the most finalists in this category, while BioWare has developed the most winners. Level-5 has developed the most nominations without a single win. BioWare, SquareSoft and Square Enix are the only developers to have consecutive wins for RPG awards. ArenaNet, Blizzard Entertainment, SquareSoft, Square Enix, and Electronic Arts are the only publishers with back-to-back wins for RPG awards.

• SquareSoft won Console Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2000 with Final Fantasy VIII, and won Console Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2001 with Final Fantasy IX; both were published by Square Electronic Arts, a subsidiary of EA that was part of a partnership with SquareSoft.
• BioWare won Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year four years in row from 2002—2005, and technically won a fifth year, winning Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2006.
  • Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2002)
  • Neverwinter Nights (2003)
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Repuplic (2004)
  • Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (2005)
  • Jade Empire (2006)
• ArenaNet tied for Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year in 2006 with Guild Wars, and won in 2007 with Guild Wars Nightfall.
• Blizzard Entertainment won Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year with the World of Warcraft expansions The Burning Crusade in 2008, and Wrath of the Lich King in 2009.
• BioWare, now owned by Electronic Arts, won Role-Playing Game of the Year back-to-back again in 2010 with Dragon Age: Origins, and in 2011 with Mass Effect 2.
• Square Enix also won Role-Playing Game of the Year back-to-back again in 2021 with Final Fantasy VII Remake, and in 2022 with Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker.

In 2003, BioWare became the only developer to win both Console Role-Playing Game of the Year and Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year within the same year with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was published by LucasArts. Black Isle Studios has also published the winners for console and computer RPGs in 2002, but with different developers: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for console, developed by Snowblind Studios, and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal for computer, developed by BioWare. NCSoft has published both games that had tied for Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in 2006.

Franchises

The Dungeons & Dragons franchise has won the most awards in this category, which consists of multiple gaming sub-series based on the fantasy setting (such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights). Final Fantasy is the most nominated franchise. Deus Ex, Eve Online, and Pokémon have received the most nominations without winning a single award. EverQuest, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age have won every single time they have been nominated.

There have been a few franchises with back-to-back wins:

• Final Fantasy had two back-to-back wins for RPG awards:
  • Final Fantasy VIII won Console Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2000, and Final Fantasy IX won Console Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2001.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker won in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
• Games based on Dungeons & Dragons won Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year with Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal in 2002, and Neverwinter Nights in 2003.
• Guild Wars tied for Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year in 2006, and Guild Wars Nightfall won in 2007.
• World of Warcraft had back-to-back wins for Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year with the expansion packs The Burning Crusade in 2008, and Wrath of the Lich King in 2009.

Numerous games receives multiple nominations, mostly for expansion packs.

• The Ultima Online expansion, The Second Age, won the Online Role-Playing Game of the Year in 1999, and the Renaissance expansion was nominated for Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in 2001.
• Asheron's Call won PC Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2000, was nominated for Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in 2001, and the expansion pack Dark Majesty was nominated in 2002.
• Diablo II won Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2001, and the expansion pack Lord of Destruction was nominated in 2002.
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was nominated for Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2001, and the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal won in 2002.
• The EverQuest expansions The Ruins of Kunark and Lost Dungeons of Norrath won Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in 2001 and 2004, respectively.
• Dark Age of Camelot won Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in 2002, and the expansion pack Shrouded Isles was nominated in 2003.
• Neverwinter Nights won Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year in 2003, the expansion pack Shadows of Undrentide was nominated in 2004, and the expansion pack Kingmaker won in 2005.
• Eve Online had four expansions nominated for Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year: Second Genesis (2004), Revelations (2007), Trinity (2008), and Quantum Rise (2009).
• World of Warcraft won Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year in 2005, and the expansion packs The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King won in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Since the award for Massively Multiplayer merged with Role-Playing, the other expansion packs that had been nominated were Cataclysm in 2011, Warlords of Draenor in 2015, Legion in 2017, and Dragonflight in 2023.
• City of Heroes was nominated for Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year in 2005, and the City of Villains expansion tied for the award the following year in 2006.
• The Final Fantasy XI expansion Chains of Promathia and compilation The Vana'diel Collection were nominated for Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
• Guild Wars tied for Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year in 2006, and the Eye of the North expansion was nominated in 2008.
• Diablo III was nominated in 2013, and won in 2014.
• Persona 5 was nominated in 2018, and the enhanced edition, Persona 5 Royal, was nominated in 2021.
• Final Fantasy XIV expansion packs included Shadowbringers being nominated in 2020, and Endwalker won in 2022.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the only game to win both console and computer RPG awards in the same year in 2004. Baldur's Gate (as a sub-series of Dungeons & Dragons) is the only franchise to be nominated for and win both console and computer awards with different games in 2002: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for console, and the Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal expansion pack for computer. The original Final Fantasy VII won Console Role-Playing Game of the Year in 1998, and Final Fantasy VII Remake won in 2021.

Notes

1. Tie between finalists.
2. Nintendo DS version.
3. Console version.
4. Includes Verant Entertainment.
5. includes games based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting such as Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights, as well as the Planescape, Greyhawk (The Temple of Elemental Evil) and Ebberon (Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach) campaign settings.
6. Persona is a spin-off series of the Megami Tensei franchise.

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