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The Writer’s Guild of America Is Ditching its Video Game Writing Award

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) will no longer have a video games category when giving out its yearly awards.

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The category has existed since 2008, with highlights like The Last of Us, God of War, and Rise of the Tomb Raider taking the cake in previous years.

The Hollywood Reporter received a statement from a WGA spokesperson:

“There won’t be a Videogame Writing Award in 2020. However, the category will be reinstated when there is a critical mass of video games covered by the WGA in order to provide a meaningful award selection process.”

Some developers have already taken to social media to sound off on the Guild’s decision.

Portal writer Chet Faliszek was particularly critical of the decision on Twitter, saying that he will “never” join the WGA.

God of War creative director Cory Barlog also gave his thoughts on the matter. Many others on social media echoed his sentiments that the decision is a huge step backward for acceptance of gaming in the mainstream.

The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 creative director Neil Druckmann also jumped into the discussion, calling the move “misguided” and “a slap in the face.”

The WGA has yet to respond with any further clarification.


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Michael Cripe
Michael joined The Escapist team in 2019 but has been covering games, movies, TV, and music since 2015. When he’s not writing, Michael is probably playing Super Mario Sunshine, Dead Space, The Binding of Isaac, or Doom Eternal. You can follow his news coverage and reviews at The Escapist, but his work has appeared on other sites like OnlySP, Gameranx, and Kansas City’s The Pitch, too. If you’d like to connect and talk about the latest pop-culture news, you can follow Michael on Twitter (@MikeCripe), Instagram (mike_cripe), or LinkedIn if that’s your thing.