The jury and the people voted for Grand Theft Auto 4 to game of the year at the annual Swedish award show Dataspelsgalan 2009.The action game Grand Theft Auto 4 hit the jackpot at this year’s Dataspelsgalan and won game of the year, action game of the year and people’s choice awards which were voted at Pricerunner.
The Swedish games industry employs 1400 persons and has produced several global hits. The competition in the category Swedish game of the year has intensified for each year as better games leave the shores of Sweden for international stardom. This year EA DICE were the winner with Mirror’s Edge.
The new category Swedish indie game of the year was introduced in order to reward creativity and what could be future international hits. The winner was Penumbra: Dark Plague, a horror adventure created by Frictional Games from Helsingborg in the south of Sweden.
– There are many reasons why the year 2008 were an entertaining year for games, says Ove Kaufeldt, veteran games journalist and chairman of the jury. Sought-after major games battled for the spotlight against small popular titles by smaller developers. It’s fun to see that Swedish developers were on the forefront with celebrated games.
During the award show several achievements were presented. PEGI ambassador of the year goes to a person, group or company who have promoted the age rating system PEGI with best practice. This year the award was handed to the electronic retail chain ONOFF for their active work with PEGI through the whole organization. Retailer of the year went to Media Markt and Guitar Hero: World Tour won launch of the year. Finally Ulf Beckman received the honorary award prize 2009 for his work with laying the foundation to what is today’s Swedish games industry.
– There’s clearly a sense of pride among developers to consumers over the positive development for games, concludes Maria Tjärnlund, project leader for Dataspelsgalan.
Winners at Dataspelsgalan 2009
Game of the year: Grand Theft Auto 4
Swedish game of the year: Mirror’s Edge
Swedish indie game of the year: Penumbra: Black Plague
Action game of the year: Grand Theft Auto 4
Social game of the year: Rock Band 2
Online game of the year: Left 4 Dead
Platform game of the year: Little Big Planet
Portable game of the year: Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Puzzle game of the year: Braid
Racing game of the year: Burnout Paradise
Role-playing game of the year: Fallout 3
Sports game of the year: NHL 09
Strategy game of the year: Spore
Kids game of the year: Josefin skolhjälp: Bokstavsdjungeln
People’s choice award: Grand Theft Auto 4
Special categories:
Launch of the year: Guitar Hero: World TourAbout Dataspelsgalan
Retailer of the year: Media Markt
PEGI ambassador of the year: ONOFF
MDTS honorary award prize 2009: Ulf Beckman
Dataspelsgalan is Swedish Games Industry’s annual award show that premiers creativity and innovation within games. Each year since 2000 a jury of experts has chosen nominees and winners. Since 2007 the MDTS honorary award prize is handed out to persons that made decisive efforts for the Swedish industry’s development.
Previous winners
Game of the yearSwedish game of the year
2000 Metal Gear Solid
2001 The Sims
2002 Grand Theft Auto 3
2003 Ico
2004 -
2005 Half-Life 2
2006 World of Warcraft
2007 Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
2008 Super Mario Galaxy
2000 Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter
2001 Ground Control
2002 Headhunter
2003 Battlefield 1942
2004 -
2005 Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
2006 Battlefield 2
2007 GTR 2: FIA GT Racing Game
2008 World in Conflict
About Swedish Games Industry
Swedish Games Industry is a partnership organization that represents the industry in the public. The organization consists of the trade organizations Spelplan-ASGD (developers and producers) and MDTS (publishers and distributors).