On 22 May 2014, Nordic Game presented the eighth annual Nordic Game Awards during the conference in Malmö, Sweden. The Nordic Game Awards was hosted by Nicolas Estrup, who presented prizes in six categories and entertained the more than 1000 conference visitors in the Unreal Theatre, the main auditorium of the event venue Slagthuset.
The best Nordic game of 2014 was Finnish! Resogun won “Best Game of the Year” at Nordic Game Awards 2014.
Best Nordic Game
The competition in the main category was very tough with a strong list of successful Nordic titles. Games such as Battlefield 4 by DICE, Facepalm Games’ The Swapper and critically acclaimed iOS game Year Walk by local heroes Simogo were among the nominees, but in the end Resogun, developed by Finnish studio Housemarque, came out on top.
Best Nordic Children’s Game
The Nordic region has a proud history of producing quality games for children. The Swedish developers from Stockholm-based Filimundus took the 2014 prize for their game My Little Work Garage.
Best Nordic Handheld Game
Nordic game studios are behind an impressive string of great contemporary titles on the handheld formats. Simogo was nominated with two games, and their chilling masterpiece Year Walk took the award.
Best Artistic Achievement
Among the nominees for this category were titles such as Swedish Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons by Starbreeze Studios (Sweden) and Oceanhorn by Finnish Cornfox Brothers (Finland), but it was the music puzzle game 140 by Jeppe Carlsen (Denmark) which took the prize.
Best Nordic Innovation Award
“The winner in this category creates a solid foundation for a whole new genre of interactive entertainment by combining classic literary virtues with unique audiovisual puzzle solving.” Thus read the motivation by the jury when they awarded Device 6 (Simogo, Sweden) the award for “Best Nordic Innovation”.
Nordic Game Indie Sensation Award
The Nordic Game Indie Sensation Award is a special public award. Visitors of the Nordic Game Indie Night and the Nordic Game 2014 conference were be able to try a list of eight nominated games and vote for their favourite. The winner was Among the Sleep, developed by Krillbite from Norway.
Nordic Game Awards 2014 were sponsored by Epic Games. The nominated games were:
Best Nordic Game of the Year 2014
140, by Jeppe Carlsen (Denmark)
Battlefield 4, by DICE (Sweden)
Forced, by Betadwarf (Denmark)
Resogun, by Housemarque (Finland)
The Swapper, by Facepalm Games (Finland)
Teslagrad, by Rain Games (Norway)
Year Walk, by Simogo (Sweden)
Best Nordic Children’s Game 2014
Angry Birds Go, by Rovio (Finland)
HokusPokus Alfons Åberg, by Hyper Games (Norway)
King Hunt, by Mountain Sheep (Finland)
LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Fix the Factory, by Cape Copenhagen (Denmark)
My Little Work Garage, by Filimundus (Sweden)
Pettson’s Inventions Deluxe, by Filimundus (Sweden)
Sprinkle Islands, by Mediocre (Sweden)
Steamworld Dig, by Image & Form (Sweden)
Toca Boca Hair Salon 2, by Toca Boca (Sweden)
Best Nordic Handheld Game 2014
Device 6, by Simogo (Sweden)
Pet Rescue Saga, by King (Sweden)
Steamworld Dig, by Image & Form (Sweden)
Stick it to the Man!, by Zoink (Sweden)
Year Walk, by Simogo (Sweden)
Best Artistic Achievement Award 2014
140, by Jeppe Carlsen (Denmark)
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, by Starbreeze Studios (Sweden)
Device 6, by Simogo (Sweden)
Oceanhorn, by Cornfox Brothers (Finland)
Stick it to the Man!, by Zoink (Sweden)
Year Walk, by Simogo (Sweden)
Best Nordic Innovation Award 2014
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, by Starbreeze Studios (Sweden)
Device 6, by Simogo (Sweden)
Shelter, by Might and Delight (Sweden)
Supernauts, by Grand Cru (Finland)
Teslagrad, by Rain Games (Norway)
Year Walk, by Simogo (Sweden)
New Nordic Game Indie Sensation 2014
The purpose of this award is to recognise new talent from the Nordic region. The nominated games in this category were chosen through an application process led by Copenhagen Game Collective, curators of Nordic Game Indie Night. Eight games were nominated, and they were tested and voted for by the public during Nordic Game Indie Night 2014 on 21 May.
About the Nordic Game Awards
The Nordic Game Awards is organised by the Nordic Game Institute in cooperation with Nordic Game Resources and the Nordic Game conference. The Nordic Game Institute consists of the following game producer associations in the region: Dataspelsbranschen (SE), Icelandic Gaming Industry (IS), Neogames (FI), Spillprodusentforeningen (NO) and Producentforeningen (DK).
The organisers appoint the NGA jury, in 2014 with the following members: Ann-Sofie Sydow (Sweden), Aki Järvilehto (Finland), Bjarki Þór Jónsson (Iceland), Jon Cato Lorentzen (Norway) and Thomas Vigild (Denmark).
