The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominees for the 2014 Writers Guild Awards Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing. Once again writing teams for five games were nominated for the award, and once again they're a bit surprising. Here's the list of nominees:
- Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
- Batman: Arkham Origins
- God of War: Ascension
- The Last of Us
- Lost Planet 3
If the list is surprising to you, don't forget there are two caveats. One is that the game must have been released between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013, so games released late last year can make the cut, and any recent titles were exempt. The other big thing is that to be eligible for nomination you have to be a part of the writer's guild, and well, not many video game writers are.
This is how a relatively unknown PSP title called Dead Head Fred managed to win the very first-ever award for video game writing back in 2008. Not many video game writers get credit for it or want to join the guild- it doesn't make sense to pay dues when they're not getting any of the benefits. So just be reminded that although these games might very well have good writing, the Writer's Guild is selecting nominees from a tiny slice of a year's games.
The 2014 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2014 in both Los Angeles and New York simultaneously.
The full press release follows:
2014 WRITERS GUILD AWARDS
VIDEOGAME NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
Los Angeles and New York – The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for videogames during 2013. Winners in the videogame and other writing categories will be honored at the 2014 Writers Guild Awards to be held on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN VIDEOGAME WRITING
· Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Story by Darby McDevitt, Mustapha Mahrach, Jean Guesdon; Lead Scriptwriter Darby McDevitt; Scriptwriter Jill Murray; AI Scriptwriter Nicholas Grimwood; Scriptwriter Singapore Mark Llabres Hill; Ubisoft
· Batman: Arkham Origins, Narrative Director Dooma Wendschuh; Writer & Senior Narrative Designer Ryan Galletta; Writer Corey May; Warner Bros. Interactive
· God of War: Ascension, Written by Marianne Krawcyzk; Additional Writing Ariel Lawrence; Sony Computer Entertainment
· The Last of Us, Written by Neil Druckmann; Sony Computer Entertainment
· Lost Planet 3, Head Writer Richard Gaubert; Writers Orion Walker, Matt Sophos; Capcom
Now in its seventh year, the WGA's Videogame Writing Award honors the best qualifying script from a videogame published in the previous year. To be eligible for WGA consideration, games must have been released between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013, and feature on-screen writing credit(s). Credited videogame writers must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus at the time scripts were submitted. Work that was not produced under WGA jurisdiction was also eligible for submission.
Preliminary and final judging for the WGA Videogame Writing Award is conducted by panels comprised of Videogame Writers Caucus members and/or Writers Guild members active in videogame writing.
The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. The awards will be presented jointly at simultaneous ceremonies on Saturday, February 1, 2014, in Los Angeles at the JW Marriott L.A. LIVE and in New York City at the Edison Ballroom. For more information about the 2014 Writers Guild Awards, please visit www.wga.org or www.wgaeast.org.