Milan, Friday July 2 2021 - The Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association last night celebrated the Italian Video Games Awards (IVGAs) at a ceremony co-hosted by RaiNews 24 ’s Dario Marchetti - who appeared in-person in Tuscany’s magnificent Museum of Ancient Ships in Pisa, and British journalist, Aoife Wilson, who appeared - Eurovision style - via video link from the UK.
The IVGAs were created to celebrate and champion games that are made in Italy, and bring them to a wider global audience. The games that fed into this year’s list of nominees represent the quality of Italy's creative output. There were five categories in total with the shortlists being selected by an international panel of judges, who volunteered their time to take part in the selection process.
The winners of the IVGAs 2021 are:
Best Italian Game - Promesa - Eremo
Best Debut Game - Beyond Your Window - Team SolEtude
Best Innovation - Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Outstanding Italian Company - Santa Regione
Outstanding Individual Contribution - Mauro Fanelli
The judges wished to recognise Santa Ragione as Outstanding Italian Company for its innovative visual and interactive design and appreciated the studio’s interesting portfolio of games believing this foundation bodes well for the studio’s future. The three person team stood out for its unique, experimental approach to accessibility, their encouragement of exploration and personal interpretation. They always strive and stand out stylistically and whilst upholding the tradition of Italian design, making them an apt winner at the Tuscan event.
Mauro Fanelli, was awarded Outstanding Individual Contribution to the Italian Sector, for his twenty years of service: founding Italy’s first specialist gaming website, then developing and porting numerous successful indie titles at MixedBag, promotion of other Italian studios and young talent through a new incubator scheme, Cinecittà.
The Tuscan carefully curated ceremony was attended in-person by the winners in a night which felt optimistic and looked to the future after months of living with the pandemic. The Awards are part of First Playable, Italy’s leading B2B event about videogames.
Thalita Malago, Director General of IIDEA offered her congratulations to the nominees and winners:
“We’re happy for all the creative talent who were nominated and won awards at the 2021 IVGAs. We know that the competition was extremely high and that the judges commented that it was hard to pick winners because there was so much variety, talent and ingenuity contained in Italian game development this year. To stand out in such a tough field, and against the odds created by the ongoing health emergency, is a real achievement.”
The organisation of the IVGA ceremony and panel of jurors follows the recent publication of the fifth biennial Italian Census by IIDEA and IDG Consulting. The census data revealed an extremely young, buoyant and optimistic sector, which has shown positive growth in 2020 despite the global pandemic. The games that were selected for IVGA nominations this year also bear this out, too, - with independently created, artistic games made by small studios sweeping the board.
To catch up with what you missed you can watch the ceremony here: https://www.twitch.tv/firstplayable
FULL DETAILS OF THE NOMINATED GAMES AND JUDGING PANEL
Full lists of nominees were:
Best Italian Game
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 - Monkeys Tales Studios
Beyond Your Window - Team SolEtude
Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Promesa - Eremo
Redout: Space Assault - 34BigThings
Best Debut Game
Beyond Your Window - Team SolEtude
Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Milky Way Prince - The Vampire Star - Eyeguys
Promesa - Eremo
Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town - Imaginary Labs
Best Innovation
A Painter’s Tale: Curon 1950 - Monkeys Tales Studios
Change Game - Melazeta
Fly Punch Boom! - Jollypunch Games
Griefhelm - Johnny Dale Lonack
Promesa - Eremo
The winners of the two additional categories - Outstanding Italian Company and Outstanding Individual Contribution were announced during the ceremony without lists of nominees.
The judging panel included the people below. The team as IIDEA is grateful for their time and effort:
Chris Dring: Head of B2B at ReedPop, which covers GamesIndustry.biz, B2B events at PAX and EGX, plus other special projects.
Alex Hutchinson: Creative Director responsible for Journey to the Savage Planet, Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed 3, Spore, Sims 2 and more.
Rami Ismail: Dutch-Egyptian independent video game developer
Ryan Lambie: Editor, Wireframe Magazine
Eugene Maleev: Business Head at Xsolla
Liana Ruppert: Editor, Game Informer
Chris Schilling: Deputy Editor, Edge Magazine
The Italian Video Game Awards are being sponsored by Xsolla, and their Business Head - Eugene Maleev joined the panel of judges as part of the partnership.
//ENDS//
For more information, please contact:
Stefano Petrullo – Renaissance PR
Stefano@renaissancepr.biz +44 (0) 7828 692 315
Emily Britt - Renaissance PR
Emily@renaissancepr.biz +44 (0) 7530 081 191
ABOUT IIDEA
We are the Association representing the video games industry in Italy. We give voice to our members on common sector-wide issues. We work to promote Italian companies abroad and to facilitate the access to the Italian market for multinational companies. We carry out a number of initiatives to amplify the value of the video games sector for economy, society, culture and education. Among them: Games Industry Day, annual forum between industry and public institutions to discuss about the present and the future of the sector in Italy; First Playable, the first international business event dedicated to indie developers in Italy, Round One, the first international business event dedicated to esports in Italy, Italian Video Games Awards, the celebration of video games and esports. Internationally, we are proud members of ISFE (Interactive Software Federation of Europe). We are an agile, slender and results-oriented Association. Our line of work is very pragmatic and based on the constant involvement of our members in order to ensure that our action keeps abreast of the industry's steady evolution. Our members are at the heart of any choice or action carried out by the Association.
ABOUT TOSCANA FILM COMMISSION AND MANIFATTURE DIGITALI CINEMA
Toscana Film Commission supports and assists all production companies interested in shooting in Tuscany and offers highly skilled producing assistance for international production:
- Welcome & general information about technical issues and logistics Assistance in obtaining shooting permits
- Database of audiovisual companies and professionals
- Database of locations & photoscouting
- Special fares for accommodation and catering
- New space studios for productions in Tuscany
Manifatture Digitali Cinema (MDC), provides: offices spaces, casting areas, makeup rooms and facilities, hairdressing and costume rooms, projection halls and theaters. Highly specialized courses in cinema and audiovisual professions: the textile and sartorial tradition of Prato and the new technologies of Pisa at the service of audiovisual industry of the future.
www.toscanafilmcommission.it
www.manifatturedigitalicinema.it
About Xsolla
Xsolla’s Diamond Club is a growing collective of video game developers, publishers, and distributors with opportunities to network, share ideas, and solve mutual challenges together. Diamond Club’s members have access to gaming events tickets, subject matter experts, and monthly meet-ups with industry colleagues facing the same business successes and challenges.
www.xsolla.com