Held last night, the Develop Awards 2016 was big for CD Projekt Red, which took home four awards, including Independent Studio and Studio of the Year.
Hideo Kojima also received the Development Legend award – the highest honor from Develop – and in his acceptance speech he talked about how last year was a big turning point in his life:
I’m not that young anymore so some people advise me to retire and take it easy but an even bigger amount of people told me they want to play more games of mine and were very supportive. So I took the decision I should keep making games while I live.
In order to be able to make games freely, I made my own studio towards the end of the year. In the six months since then I’ve been doing many things in parallel: founding the company, finding facilities, recruiting people, evaluating technology, planning our next project. I’ve been extremely busy but at the same time, it’s been an extremely satisfying task.
Kojima adds that he’d like to have some trophies at the front entrance of Kojima Productions’ new offices, “but I don’t have anything at the moment, I’m starting from zero, so I’m truly happy to be receiving this award tonight.”
He concluded: “I might be starting my trophy collection from zero, but I’m not starting from zero with game-making. I have 30 years of games development [experience] up to this point and I also have your kind support. From now on I want to keep looking to the future and keep making games, so thank you everyone for being here tonight.”
Voted on by more than 90 industry figures, here’s the full list of winners from the Develop Awards 2016:
Creativity
New Games IP – PC/Console
- Her Story – Sam Barlow
New Games IP – Mobile
- Rival Kingdoms – Space Ape Games
Use of a Licence or IP
- The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – CD Projekt Red
Visual Arts
- The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – CD Projekt Red
Audio Accomplishment
- Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture – The Chinese Room
Use of Narrative
- Her Story – Sam Barlow
Tech & Services
Design & Creativity Tool
- Wwise – Audiokinetic
Production Tool
- Perforce – Perforce Software
Engine
- Unreal Engine 4 – Epic Games
Services
- Player Research
QA & Localisation
- Testology
Creative Outsourcer: Visual & Development
- D3T – The Witcher III (PS4)
Creative Outsourcer: Audio
- Side – The Witcher III
Recruiter
- Amiqus
Studios
Publishing Hero
- Devolver Digital
Micro Studio
- Sam Barlow
Independent Studio
- CD Projekt Red
In-House Studio
- Rocksteady
New Studio
- Triangular Pixels
Special Awards
Studio of the Year
- CD Projekt Red
Development Legend
- Hideo Kojima
Kojima also spoke at a keynote yesterday, where he said that he’s confident Death Stranding will be his best work.
[Source: Develop Online (1), (2), Hideo Kojima]
