Hades took home the first-ever Hugo Award for Best Game last night. The Hugo Awards are one of the most notorious accolades for works of fiction, and Hades‘ victory was the first time a video game won the trophy. The Last of Us II, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Spiritfarer, and Blaseball were also in line for the award.
The Best Video Game category was added specifically for the 2021 ceremony. Each year, a Worldcon can add a one-off special category, according to its bylaws, and organizers honored video games with their own category in November 2020.
“Since early 2020, many of us have spent more time gaming than we ever expected,” DisCon III co-chair Collette Fozard said. “This innovative and interactive genre has brought us new ways of story-telling as well as new stories to tell and we are glad to honor them.”
The Hugo Awards’ permanent categories encompass different art forms and artists—including two Best Dramatic Presentations that judge “dramatized production in any medium, including film, television, radio, live theater, computer games or music.”
The 2021 ceremony was the first time a video game won the trophy, but “a committee of the WSFS Business Meeting has been studying the possibility of adding such a category for several years now,” according to the announcement. On Twitter, the WorldCon official account added that “the Hugo Study Committee is also considering Best Game or Interactive Experience as a potential permanent category.”
