Last night was the 82nd Academy Awards, the Oscars. That got me thinking about awards in general, particularly the awards for the games industry. The most well known is probably the Spike Video Game Awards but, for me, the BAFTA and Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards hold more credibility. The real issue that none of them seem to be as widely known or respected as any host of awards like the Oscars or the Golden Globes. The BAFTA awards work quite well, using an already established name and society, although having the British Academy of Film and Television Arts presiding over video games just seems a little odd to me.

With the growth of the industry it seems unusual that there’s been no real growth of a significant, industry award. Some people do like Spike’s offering, but it’s largely set up as a rating’s grab by the Spike network. Perhaps the AIAS should be better respected and better known, it’s much closer to the format of the Oscar’s in that it’s selected by secure ballot of industry experts, rather than the public vote that decides Spike’s VGAs.

The main issue is that game makers are applying the term ‘Game of the Year’ without actually revealing who they won it from, in many cases it’s simply an award from one of the many, many publications and websites out there. Films don’t seem to do this, instead focusing on listing what significant awards it has won and/or been nominated for. You don’t normally see a film advertised with simply ‘Winner of 3 best picture awards’, but it’s not unusual to see that in the advertising for a game.

What’s more the spurious Game of the Year editions of games that come out every year just seem to confuse the market more. Personally I think the industry needs to focus on a few big awards, and not plaster accolades from every publication under the sun all over their games, but that’s just me. Does the industry need a clearer focus on specific awards? Should publishers be focusing on the big ones and ignoring the others? Does the public need a clearer indication of what specific awards actually mean?