On 19 May, Nordic Game presented the tenth annual Nordic Game Awards during NG16 in Malmö, Sweden. This year’s Nordic Game Awards were hosted by Ste Curran, Simon Byron and Ann Scantlebury, famous for their tireless presence on Europe’s first and only dedicated videogames FM radio show, One Life Left. The trio presented prizes in seven categories and entertained the attendees in the Unreal Theatre, the main auditorium of venue Slagthuset.
Nordic Game of the Year
The Best Nordic Game is Finnish! Cities: Skylines, developed by Colossal Order (Finland) won this year’s top prize.
Nordic Game of the Year 2016 nominees also included Just Cause 3, developed by Avalanche Studios (Sweden), Soma, developed by Frictional Games (Sweden), Star Wars Battlefront, developed by DICE (Sweden) and Affordable Space Adventures, developed by Knapnok Games (Denmark).
Nordic Game of the Year – Small Screen
Badland 2, developed by Frogmind Games (Finland) won Nordic Game of the Year – Small Screen 2016.
Other finalists included SteamWorld Heist, developed by Image & Form (Sweden), Helldivers, developed by Arrowhead (Sweden), Angry Birds 2, developed by Rovio (Finland) and The Walking Dead: No Man´s Land, developed by Next Games (Finland).
Best Art
Star Wars Battlefront, developed by DICE (Sweden) took the 2016 prize for Best Art at this year’s Nordic Game Awards.
Nominees also included Badland 2, developed by Frogmind Games (Finland), Kingdom, developed by Licorice, (Iceland) & Noio, (Holland) (with Raw Fury Games, Sweden), Helldivers, developed by Arrowhead (Sweden) and Affordable Space Adventures, developed by Knapnok Games (Denmark).
Best Game Design
The 2016 award for Best Game Design went to Affordable Space Adventures, developed by Knapnok Games (Denmark).
Other finalists were Cities: Skylines, developed by Colossal Order, (Finland), Just Cause 3, developed by Avalanche Studios (Sweden), Progress 100, developed by Tim Garbos, Joel Nyström & Martin Kvale (Denmark) and SteamWorld Heist, developed by Image & Form (Sweden).
Best Technology
Star Wars Battlefront, developed by DICE (Sweden) won this year’s Best Technology award.
The nominees also included Affordable Space Adventures, developed by Knapnok Games (Denmark), Mad Max, developed by Avalanche Studios (Sweden), The Park, developed by Funcom (Norway) and EVE Gunjack, developed by CCP Games (Iceland).
Best Audio
The winner of the Best Audio award for 2016 went to Soma, developed by Frictional Games (Sweden)
Other finalists were Star Wars Battlefront, developed by DICE (Sweden), Just Cause 3, developed by Avalanche Studios (Sweden), The Park, developed by Funcom (Norway) and Aaru’s Awakening, developed by Lumenox Games (Iceland).
Best Fun for Everyone
The winner of the new Best Fun for Everyone category for 2016 was Box Island, developed by Radiant Games (Iceland).
Finalists also included SteamWorld Heist, developed by Image & Form (Sweden), Zombie Vikings, developed by Zoink (Sweden), Angry Birds 2, developed by Rovio (Finland), AG Drive, developed by Zorg Entertainment (Finland), Shiftlings, developed by Rock Pocket (Norway) and Sofus & Månemaskinen, developed by The Outer Zone (Denmark).
Jury’s Special Mention
The Nordic Game Awards 2016 jury also gave EVE Gunjack, developed by CCP Games (Iceland) a special mention for being on the frontline of the VR revolution.
Jury member Bjarki Thor Jónsson (Iceland) explained the jury’s motivation: “2016 will be the breakthrough year for virtual reality. Last year CCP launched the VR game EVE Gunjack, rising to be one the leading VR game developers of the world.”
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, this year with the following members: Bjarki Thor Jónsson (Iceland), Juho Kuorikoski (Finland), Rune Fjell Olsen (Norway), Kajsa Lundquist (Sweden) and Søren Staal Balslev (Denmark).
Learn more about all of the Nordic Game Awards 2016 nominees here and last year’s proud winners here. See you next May!
