Sony Santa Monica’s God of War wins “Game of the Year” at 2019 DICE Awards

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced the winners of the 2019 DICE Awards last night… and Sony Santa Monica’s God of War almost had a clean sweep.

The action-adventure game was competing in an astounding 11 categories, but even more astounding is that it claimed victory in nine of them, including “Game of the Year” and “Adventure Game of the Year.” God of War also picked up “Outstanding Achievements” in “Game Design,” “Game Direction,” “Original Music Composition” “Sound Design,” “Story,” and “Art Direction,” and Kratos himself won “Outstanding Achievement in Character.”

A few other games managed to snag some trophies (mostly in categories God of War wasn’t competing in), and that list included games such as Matt Makes Games’s Celeste (“Action Game of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game”), Mountains’s Florence (“Portable Game of the Year”), and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (“Fighting Game of the Year”). Not surprisingly, Fortnite won “Online Game of the Year.”

You can find the full list of winners at the 2019 DICE Awards after the break.

Game of the Year

  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Into the Breach (Subset Games)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 / Lucas Pope)

Portable Game of the Year

  • Dandara (Raw Fury / Long Hat House)
  • Donut County (Annapurna Interactive / Ben Esposito)
  • Dragalia Lost (Nintendo / Cygames and Nintendo)
  • WINNER: Florence (Annapurna Interactive / Mountains)
  • Oddmar (Mobge)

Action Game of the Year

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
  • WINNER: Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
  • Destiny 2: Forsaken (Activision / Bungie and High Moon Studios)
  • Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Square Enix / Eidos Montreal)

Adventure Game of the Year

  • Detroit: Become Human (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Quantic Dream)
  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 / Lucas Pope)

Family Game of the Year

  • Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Japan Studio)
  • Kirby: Star Allies (Nintendo / HAL Laboratory and Nintendo EPD)
  • Lego DC Super-Villains (WB Games / TT Games)
  • Starlink: Battle For Atlas (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Toronto)
  • WINNER: Unravel Two (Electronic Arts / ColdWood Interactive)

Fighting Game of the Year

  • BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ (Bandai Namco / Arc System Works)
  • Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco)
  • WINNER: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo / Nintendo, Sora, and Bandai Namco)

Racing Game of the Year

  • F1 2018 (Codemasters)
  • WINNER: Forza Horizon 4 (Microsoft Studios / Playground Games)
  • Wreckfest (THQ Nordic / Bugbear Entertainment)

Online Game of the Year

  • Destiny 2: Forsaken (Activision / Bungie and High Moon Studios)
  • WINNER: Fortnite (Epic Games)
  • Laser League (505 Games / Roll7)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Sea of Thieves (Microsoft Studios / Rare)

Role-Playing Game of the Year

  • Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Quebec)
  • Draon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix)
  • WINNER: Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
  • Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Bandai Namco / Level-5)
  • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Versus Evil / Obsidian Entertainment)

Sports Game of the Year

  • FIFA 19 (EA Sports / EA Vancouver and EA Bucharest)
  • WINNER: Mario Tennis Aces (Nintendo / Camelot and Nintendo)
  • MLB The Show 18 (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony San Diego)

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

  • Bad North (Raw Fury / Plausible Concept)
  • Frostpunk (11 Bit Studios)
  • WINNER: Into the Breach (Subset Games)
  • Northgard (Shiro Games)
  • RimWorld (Ludeon Studios)

Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game

  • WINNER: Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
  • Florence (Annapurna Interactive / Mountains)
  • Into the Breach (Subset Games)
  • Minit (Devolver Digital / Kitty, JW, Jukio, and Dom)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 / Lucas Pope)

Outstanding Achievement in Character

  • Kassandra – Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Quebec)
  • Atreus – God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • WINNER: Kratos – God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Peter Parker / Spider-Man – Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Arthur Morgan – Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Into the Breach (Subset Games)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 / Lucas Pope)
  • Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

  • Florence (Annapurna Interactive / Mountains)
  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 / Lucas Pope)

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

  • Detroit: Become Human (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Quantic Dream)
  • Forgotten Anne (Square Enix Collective / ThroughLine Games)
  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Tetris Effect (Enhance / Monstars and Resonair)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

  • Battlefield V (Electronic Arts / EA DICE)
  • Detroit: Become Human (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Quantic Dream)
  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Moss (Polyarc)

Outstanding Achievement in Story

  • Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Quebec)
  • Florence (Annapurna Interactive / Mountains)
  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 / Lucas Pope)

Outstanding Technical Achievement

  • Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Japan Studio)
  • Battlefield V (Electronic Arts / EA DICE)
  • God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)
  • WINNER: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

  • God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Gris (Devolver Digital / Nomada Studio)
  • Moss (Polyarc)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • WINNER: Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

  • Detroit: Become Human (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Quantic Dream)
  • WINNER: God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Sony Santa Monica)
  • Gris (Devolver Digital / Nomada Studio)
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Spider-Man (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games)

Immersive Reality Technical Acievement

  • Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Japan Studio)
  • Beat Saber (Beat Games)
  • Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders (Magic Leap / Weta Workshop and Magic Leap)
  • WINNER: Tonandi (Magic Leap / Magic Leap Studios and Sigur Ros)
  • Torn (Aspyr Media)

Immersive Reality Game of the Year

  • Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (Sony Interactive Entertainment / Japan Studio)
  • WINNER: Beat Saber (Beat Games)
  • Moss (Polyarc)
  • Sprint Vector (Survios)
  • Transference (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal and SpectreVision)
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John Scalzo is Warp Zoned's Editor-In-Chief and resident retro gaming expert. You can email him at john AT warpzoned DOT com.