Gaming aficionados will be pleased to learn that the nominees for "outstanding achievement in writing for videogames during 2015" have been announced by the Writers Guild of America.
This year's list include two of the most popular titles for 2015 – Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3.
On Monday, the WGA revealed the nominees for the coveted Videogame Writing Award, which honors the best script of an eligible video game that was published in the preceding year.
The four games competing for the best story honors are Assassin's Creed: Syndicate from Ubisoft, Rise of the Tomb Raider from Microsoft, Pillars of Eternity from Obsidian Entertainment and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from CD Projekt Red.
These qualifying video games will be battling it out to take home the top video game writing honors. To be eligible for the 2015 best story for a video game consideration by WGA, the game has to be released between Dec. 1, 2014, and Nov. 30, 2015. It should also feature the on-screen writing credits.
Moreover, the writers of the video game who have been credited "must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus" during the time of script submission.
"Work that was not produced under WGA jurisdiction was also eligible for submission. 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," according to the WGA's guidelines.
The 2015 award was snapped up by The Last of Us: Left Behind, written by Neil Druckmann.
The complete list of nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing, which include the credits, is as follows:
Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Story by Marc-Alexis Cote, Hugo Giard, Corey May and Jeffrey Yohalem; Narrative Director Corey May; Lead Writer Jeffrey Yohalem; Assistant Narrative Director Melissa MacCoubrey; Scriptwriters Richard Farrese, Russell Lees, Mark Llabres Hill, James Nadiger, Jared Schincariol, Travis Stout and Ceri Young; Additional Writing Judith Flanders, C.J. Kershner, Gabrielle Shrager and Danny Wallace; Additional Senior Writer Paul Monk.
Pillars of Eternity: Lead Writer Eric Fenstermaker; Writers Carrie Patel and Olivia Veras; Additional Writing Chris Avellone, Jeff Husges, Matt MacLean, Jorge Salgado, Josh Sawyer and George Ziets.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: Lead Narrative Designer John Stafford; Narrative Designer Cameron Suey; Lead Writer Rhianna Pratchett; Additional Writer Philip Gelatt.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Lead Writer Marcin Blacha; Lead English Writer Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz; Writers Arkadiusz Borowik, Aleksandra Motyka, Bartosz Ochman, Karolina Stachyra and Jakub Szamalek; Additional Writers Marcin Batylda, Michal Galek, Tomasz Marchewka, Robert Oglodzinski, Rafal Praszalek, Artur Sliwinski, Stanislaw Swiecicki and Pawel Zych; Story Marcin Blacha and Jakub Szamalek.
The 2016 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Feb. 13 at simultaneous ceremonies in New York City and Los Angeles. Come February, we will know which game and writers would walk away with the sought-after Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award from the WGA.
Will it be a continuous sweep at the WGA's for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which has already raked in five awards, including Ultimate Game of The Year?
