Czech Game of the Year Awards (Czech: Česká hra roku) are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in video game development in the Czech Republic. The awards began as part of Gameday Festival in 2010,[1] but became independent from the festival in 2017. In 2010–2020, the awards were organised by the České Hry association, since 2021, the awards have been organized by FiolaSoft Studio and MediaRealms, with the VisionGame project joining in 2022.
2010
The awards for the first year were presented on 7 May 2011. Awards were given in three categories. Mafia II was awarded as the best Czech game in Czech. The jury also expressed recognition to Centauri Production for making their games in Czech. Samurai II: Vengeance was awarded as the best Czech game for Mobile devices and best Czech artistic achievement in game creation.[2]
The Best Original Game - Wube Software for Factorio
Nominated: Fiolasoft Studio for Blackhole, Charles University for Czechoslovakia 38–89: The Assassination and Lipa Learning for Lipa Theater
The Best Debut Game - Charles University for Czechoslovakia 38–89: The Assassination
Nominated: Wube Software for Factorio, McMagic Productions for Novus Inceptio and Lukáš Navrátil for Toby: The Secret Mine
2016
The 2016 awards were presented on 10 February 2017. It was held in Prague for the first time and wasn't part of Gameday. There were 9 categories this time. Nominations were scheduled to be announced on 24 January 2017 but it was pushed to 27 January 2017.[9][10]Dark Train and Samorost 3 garnered the most nominations at 6 categories each. Chameleon Run was nominated in 5 categories and American Truck Simulator earned 4 nominations.[11]Samorost 3 won the top award as well as two others.[12][13][14]
The 2018 awards were presented on 5 April 2019, hosted by Tomáš Hanák. Nominations were announced on 28 March 2019.[16][17]Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Beat Saber received highest number of nominations.[18]Kingdom Come: Deliverance was seen as a front runner and has won highest number of awards winning 3 categories - Youtubers Award, Best Game Design and Best technological solution but lost to Beat Saber in the main award category. Beat Saber also won Game Journalists Award. Chuchel won Best Game Design award. [19]
The 2019 awards were set for 20 March 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] A new date was announced on 13 July 2020, with the show scheduled to be held on 25 September 2020.[21]Pilgrims by Amanita Design has eventually won the main award. Ylands by Bohemia Interactive won 2 awards - for Best technological solution and Best Free to Play game.[22]
The 2020 awards were held on 8 December 2021. It was linked with a survey about best Czech game of 2010s.[23]Kingdom Come: Deliverance was voted best Czech video game of 2010s. Creaks won the main award.[24][25]
The 2022 awards were originally to be held in 2023 but organisators didn't manage to secure sufficient support and funding for it. They eventually found enough partners and supporters so that next awards could be held in 2024.[27] Organisators decided to hold dual awards for 2022 and 2023 and set it for 10 December 2024.[28]
Choice of Player Community for the best Czech game of 2023:Last Train Home
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame: Jan Jirkovský
2024 and 2025
Organizers announced during 2022/2023 awards tahat they decided to align the awards so that they always reflect the given year. Thus they immediately announced another dual year, which would honor not only 2024 games, but 2025 games. They have therefore immediately presented the nominated titles for 2024 year, which are: Velvet 89 by Charles Games, Phantasos by Jan Švec, TopSpin 2K25 by Hangar 13, Farmageddon: Undead by Sagittarius Fox, Wings of Redemption by Nukeborn Studio, Whispers of Prague by Shader Mess, Shrot by Spytihněv, Solar Storm by Jakub Tomšů, Kubikon 3D by Kubi Games, Movies Tycoon by PixelCraze, Kvark by Latest Past/Perun Creative, Gods Against Machines by Silver Eye Studios, The Happies: Amber Falcon by Troglodyte Studio, Rats in a Cage by Superdeep Borehole, Blockstar VR by Immersive Division, Rail Route by Bitrich.info, Omnibullet by Arbitrary Combination.[29]
^Sulková, Kristýna (6 December 2022). "Cenu Česká hra roku 2021 získala Svoboda 1945". Vortex (in Czech). Vortex Media. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2023.