'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' grabs the 'Grand Award' of the Japan Game Award : 2017

On the opening day of Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2017, the annual Japan Game Awards is organized by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry giving recognition to the creative works in the filed of game industry.

Here are the list of awardees the ‘Japan Game Award : 2017’ for each category:

‘Grand Award’ for the Games of the Year Division
Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma receives the ‘Grand Award’ from Japan Game Awards : 2017

The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild was selected out of the eleven (11) game titles who have received the Award of Excellence under the Games of the Year division. The 11 titles includes Overwatch, Persona5, Pokemon Sun and Moon, Final Fantasy XV, Nioh, Resident Evil 7 – Biohazard, Monster Hunter XX, Horizon Zero Dawn, NieR Automata, and The Last Guardian.

The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild, the Grand Award recipient who ranked the highest in terms of Design, Programming, Graphics, Sound, Scenario and User Evaluation.

Game Design of the Year
Winner: INSIDE (Playdead)

INSIDE receives the award for ‘Game Designers Award’, which is one of the Grand Prize of the Japan Game Awards. On stage to hand the award to the creator of Inside, Playdead Studio is Mr. Masahiro Sakurai who is the main judge for this category together with other 11 active creators.

During the awarding, Mr. Makihiro Sakurai (President of Sora Ltd.) have shared why Inside was selected for this award because of the originality of other expressive methods, such as impressive depiction which remains in the mind.

“There were many famous titles lined up for selection as Award for Excellence in this year’s judging, but this is the game that got the most votes from the judges.
It’s a title that has an extremely orthodox control scheme, but its depiction of events leaves a deep impression upon the player.
The game world is puzzling and the protagonist is enigmatic. Its presentation technique is unique – there are few if any other games that could be described as looking similar to this.
This is also a form of originality, and as such we selected this game for the Game Designers Award, which emphasizes creativity. ” — Mr. Makihiro Sakurai

Inside have already received a number of accolades from Game Awards 2016, Game Critics Awards 2016,Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences D.I.C.E. Awards, and the 13th British Academy Games Awards.

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award
Winner: Pokémon GO (Ninatic, Inc., The Pokémon Company).

Pokémon GO received the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award for contributing to the development and expanding the scope of the video game industry by extending the game experience through Augmented Reality (AR) to mobile games with the popular Pokémon characters.

Setsuto Murai, Country Manager of Niantic Inc. – Japan

Receiving the award is Mr. Setsuto Murai, Country Manager of Niantic Inc. – Japan.

Global Award – Foreign Product
Winner: FIFA 2017 (EA Sports)

Fifa 2017 is a the gamified version of Europe’s main leagues and all J-League clubs including the real names of the players. The game incorporates the series’ first story mode, with players starting out as new face “Alex Hunter” who has aspirations to play in the Premier League, enabling vicarious experience of the development of a soccer player.

In addirion, the game also features the new “Frostbite engine”, which has gained overwhelming support from fans around the world who are playing this even more realistic edition, earning the title this year’s Global Award Foreign Product.

Global Award – Japan Product
Winner: Pokémon Sun and Moon (The Pokémon Company and Nintendo)

Receiving the Global Product Award are Pokemon Sun and Moon for the Japanese Product category, and FIFA 2017 for the foreign category. Both products have are the most highly appraised game titles overseas.

Best Sales Award
Winner: : Pokémon Sun and Moon (The Pokémon Company and Nintendo)

Selling over 10 million copies worldwide within a week of release, Pokémon Sun and Moon ( becoming one of the fastest selling games in Nintendo’s history. More than 20 million copies have been sold worldwide.

Pokémon Sun and Moon have received three (3) awards for this year Japan Game Awards, namely Best Sales Award, Global Award – Japan Product, and the one of the recipients of Award of Excellence for the Game of the Year Division.

Special Award
Winner: Playstation VR (Sony)

PlayStation VR received the Special Award for producing and extend ing the powerful spaces a player can move around. In addition, Playstation VR has brought experiences that are entering the world of the game, expanded the possibilities of the game, and evaluated points that presented new ways to leverage further creativity and experience of the players.