Yesterday the Writers Guild of America revealed the finalists for “Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing” for titles that were released in 2016. Despite the plethora of games that came out last year that may have been strong examples of “outstanding” writing in gaming, the Writers Guild makes the difficult decision to only nominate four of them. In order for a game to be eligible for this award, it had to be released between December 1, 2015 and November 30,2016.
This year, the nominees include:
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog), Written by Neil Druckmann and Josh Scherr; Additional Writing by Tom Bissell and Ryan James.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Activision), Written by Brian Bloom.
Far Cry Primal (Ubisoft), Story by Jean-Sébastien Décant, Ian C. Ryan, and Kevin Shortt; Lead Writers Ian C. Ryan and Kevin Shortt; Writers Lynne Kamm and Susan Patrick
MR. ROBOT 1.51exfiltratiOn (Night School Studio), Story by Adam Hines and Kor Adana; Written by Adam Hines.
The inclusion of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End may not come as a huge surprise to those who are fans of both the series and Naughty Dog. Writer Amy Henning took home the Guild Award twice for her work on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009) and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Fortune (2011). In 2014, Neil Druckmann won the Guild Award for The Last of Us, and then again one year later for the game’s DLC, Left Behind. Other recipients of this award have also included Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015) Lead Narrative Designer John Stafford; Narrative Designer Cameron Suey; Lead Writer Rhianna Pratchett; Additional Writer Philip Gelatt.
The Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing” will be announced at The Writers Guild of America ceremony on February 19, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. The host for the ceremony will be award-winning writer, actor and comedian, Patton Oswalt.
