25th G.A.N.G. Awards
What's Changing?
We have been doing a ton of work around the awards show this year, working to make our 25th anniversary stand out
The 25nd Annual G.A.N.G. Awards Show will be held Wednesday, March 3, during GDC 2027
Venue & Tickets:
To help make our 25th something special, the goal is to have it NOT be in a conference room at Moscone west, but still maintain our show charm. We have been working hard on this since May, and are veeeerrrryyy close to securing the venue. We think you will be excited!
We will be charging a modest admission fee (with member discount), mostly to ensure our community is able to attend, if limited seating capacity. The goal is to have attendees NOT need a GDC pass, so it will actually be the lowest cost to attend in several years.
Award Changes
We consistently receive two main pieces of feedback:
- It’s a lot of work to vote/participate in the Awards show
- Too many sweeps (and ties) diminish the awards.
This year, we are tightening up some of the categories themselves including removal of others. After some analysis, several categories have high correlations with each other (i.e. if a game wins awards X it also usually wins awards Y and/or Z). In addition, some categories routinely have very low numbers of submissions. So we are making some tough calls to remove some of the categories. We are also renaming a few categories, to make it better describe the awards.
By tightening up the categories, we hope to
- Reduce the number of ties
- Reduce # of sweeps
- Reduce the amount of time it takes people to thoughtfully participate in the award show process
In short, we would rather have fewer categories, with more carefully considered voting, than more categories with many votes being made without proper time to evaluate.
Category Changes
Award Changes
Best Audio Mix
Best Audio Mix consistently overlaps with Audio of the Year and/or other categories and we are removing it.
Audio of The Year
We will be repurposing the Best Audio Mix committee to become the “Audio of the Year” committee. The results of the committee heavily factor in determining the winner of Audio of the Year. This committee will receive game codes, so the members can play the games and discuss, as has previously been done by the Mix Committee. Membership will expand to ensure all disciplines are covered.
Award Categories that are Renamed:
- Best Audio for a Casual Game -> Best Audio for a Mobile Game
“Casual” has become maddingly hard to define, and the category has been de-facto ‘mobile’ for some time
For context, the “casual or social” category was create in the era of Facebook’s Farmville… - Best Audio for an Indie Game -> Indie Audio of the Year
This ‘promotes’ the best indie game audio to match the other 4 “…of the Year” awards. - Creative and Technical Achievement in Music -> Best Interactive Music Design
This is a more straightforward description of the category, and uses “Music Design” terminology that has become prevalent. - Creative and Technical Achievement in Sound Design -> Best Interactive Sound Design
Similar to the interactive music design award, this better describes our unique sound design craft
We will highlight in the description that this includes the totality of sound design, implementation, game Foley, UI and Reward sound design.
Award Categories that are being consolidated:
- Best Game Audio Article or Publication will be combined with Best Game Audio Presentation Podcast or Broadcast -> Best Game Audio Publication or Presentation
Although it’s great to have separate categories, our awards show should focus on sound craft awards.
A bullet point list will make clear what this includes: Books, articles, podcasts, webinars, documentaries, filmed public speaking presentations/talks at conferences, etc.
Award Categories that are being removed
These categories either are highly correlated with other categories, and/or have consistently low submission numbers necessary for a healthy category.
- Best Audio Mix
- Best Game Foley
- Best Main Theme
- Best UI, Reward, or Objective Sound Design
Indie Categories
We are tightening the definition of “Indie” game. Indie games should provide an explanation of why their studio should be considered ‘indie.’ Among the things that may be considered in making this determination may include:
- Same entity is both developer and publisher, or the publisher is a primarily a publisher of indie games.
Note: that is the current definition. - Wwise/FMOD License type
- I.e. does the studio benefit from the less expensive middleware license fee structure?
- Overall Development Budget
- Studio team size
- Is the game made by students?
We believe that it is important to capture the spirit of an “indie” game, and recognize the fact “Indie” means more than just a developer that self-publishes.
Clarified eligibility for awards
- Music of the Year and Audio of the Year and Best New Original IP will include expanded language that outlines that the soundtrack must be predominantly newly composed, original music. This is to avoid a situation where “Music of the Year” or “Audio of the Year” have soundtracks that are primarily licensed music and emphasizes the craft nature of the awards.
It’s never easy to remove awards, but we believe this will serve the show in the long term. As mentioned, it will help reduce the same title receiving award after reward. It will also help cut down on the time both committees and our full membership it takes to participate and vote. With so many categories, it is difficult for people to make thoughtful decisions—we would rather have fewer awards, more thoughtfully considered, than more awards given only cursory thought.
We are grateful for your dedication and participation in the game audio community, and look forward to celebrating an amazing 25 years with you soon!