Skip to content
Next Roulette Studio

The Iconic Puzzle Game Didn't Win at The Game Awards — Another Award Type Might Solve This

Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices a clamor for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.

A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, this being someone's personal cause. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front since similar to single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.

For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.

Current Gaming Award Categories

Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.

Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.

The Representation Problem

There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.

  • A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely that year
  • Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
  • A beloved organization game got ignored recently
  • Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications

Significance of Puzzle Games

Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for over a decade.

The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.

Proposal and Rationale

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. You could fill five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.

Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.

The writer

Andrea Mahoney

A seasoned gaming strategist with over a decade of experience in casino analytics and probability theory.

Next Roulette Studio

Type to search articles.