2014 DICE Awards battle royale has The Last of Us leading the numbers game

By Adam Rosenberg January 17, 2014

film version last us way the of nominee — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s a blockbuster year at the 2014 DICE Awards, with the newly revealed list of nominees for the annual event embracing a distinctly AAA focus. The leading nominee is The Last of Us, with 13 nominations in 12 categories (Joel and Ellie received separate nods in Outstanding Character Performance), including the top Game of the Year prize. Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic adventure is joined by four other familiar favorites from 2013 in the GotY race: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

The 12 categories that The Last of Us appears in makes it the most-nominated game by a wide margin, with GTA V and BioShock trailing at 7 and 6 nominations, respectively. Rayman Legends, Tearaway, and AC4 tie for 5 nods apiece, and the numbers trail off after that. The biggest surprise, however, is Gone Home. The Fullbright Company’s debut effort drew Game of the Year nods from a great many outlets (including this one), but it only snagged one nod from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences – for Downloadable Game of the Year.

The 17th Annual DICE Awards close out the 2014 DICE Summit on February 6 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. You can check out the full list of nominees in the official PDF right here.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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Key art for The Last of Us Part II Remastered

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Ellie looking concerned.

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These contracted developers were informed that their contracts were ending prematurely at the end of October and that they'd get no severance afterward, according to the report at Kotaku. Reportedly, most of these layoffs at Naughty Dog, PlayStation's darling studio that employs over 400 developers, come from the quality assurance, art, and production teams. According to Kotaku, Naughty Dog asked its developers to keep quiet about it. That didn't happen, though, with developers telling Kotaku not only about the layoffs but that the multiplayer The Last of Us game "while not completely canceled, is basically on ice at this point."
Concept art for Naughty Dog's Last of Us multiplayer title. Naughty Dog
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Computing

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Joel looks at Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2.

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A possible source of stutter