Masahiro Sakurai revealed that the Game Designers Award won’t return to the Japan Game Awards, as he has failed to find an adequate replacement to take up his mantle.
The Game of the Year Division of the Japan Game Awards took place yesterday, September 14, recognizing the best and brightest in Japanese game development. While numerous titles and creative minds were celebrated, one accolade is standing out from the rest — and that’s because it’s not coming back for future JGA shows.
Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Kirby and Super Smash Bros., founded the Game Designers Award in 2010. As told by the CESA’s official website, this award recognizes games based on their creativity and originality. Games that are considered for the award must incorporate “new ideas that are a clear departure from existing works” and “expand the form of game software by presenting new ways for the user to enjoy and play with the game.”
The Game Designers Award is ultimately granted to “the title that reached out to a wide range of people, including those who don’t usually play games actively, and that made the memorable achievement of the year, will be selected as the award-winning title.”
This year, that title was Word Game, a project from independent studio Team9. Word Game is a text-based puzzle game originally made with Traditional Chinese characters, but was localized for Japanese players — something that impressed the judging committee (made up of eleven members of industry veterans like Hideki Kamiya, Yoko Taro, Toby Fox, and more) so much that it won the Game Designers Award.
“This work won by an overwhelming majority of votes even in the second round of judging, where the selection was narrowed down to specific titles,” the CESA’s website says. “Even more astonishingly, while the game seems like it could only work in Japanese, it is actually a localized version of a Traditional Chinese title. I am sure it took advanced skills and clever solutions to complete the transmission. I believe this unique and inimitable game is a fitting choice for the final Game Designers Award.”
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