SGDA Swiss Game Awards
The SGDA Swiss Game Awards (SWIGA) is the game developers award of Switzerland. It honours outstanding projects that have put the Swiss game industry on the radar. The SGDA has been awarding the Swiss industry prize since 2013 to honour Swiss excellence in games.
Swiss Game Awards 2024
Nominees 2024
Swiss Game Awards – Best Entertainment Game 2024
- Aestik by Hooded Traveler Games
- Brotato by Blobfish Games
- I doesn’t exist – a modern text adventure by LUAL Games
- Ninza by Klakmioch
- Plank Builders by Diditopia Games
Swiss Game Awards – Best Serious Game 2024
- Explore Vevey by Yuzzzu and the District of Vevey
- La Maison du Gruyère by Yuzzzu and La Maison du Gruyère
- MedBay-418 by Atelier Sémaphore and DSM Geneva
- The Red Tape to Citizenship by Blindflug Studios
Swiss Game Awards – Most Anticipated Game 2024
- Dungeon Clawler by Stray Fawn Studio
- Projected Dreams by Flawberry Studio
- Time Flies by Playables
- Tom the postgirl by Oopsie Daisies Studio
- The Guardian of Nature by Inlusio Interactive
Swiss Game Awards – Best Student Game 2024
- The Copperfield Department by Alex Häberlin, Adrian Bumann, Nabil Bhuiyan, Jonathan Beeler, HSLU
- ABSCONDER by Janosch Büchi, Dominic Sutter, David Bock, Stefan Kraft, Florian Faller, ZHdK
- Colorless Odyssey by Alexis Haldy, Eliaz Quentel, Nicolas Balibouse, SAE Geneva
- Queuepidity by Lea Wild, Asya Fischer, ZHdK
- Shoe it All! by Jan Hobi, Lilian Khov, Joel Gilardini, Ivo Keller, ZHdK
Award Ceremony 2024
Watch the Swiss Game Awards ceremony in the livestream on 15 November 2024, 5pm CET.
Categories 2024
Swiss Game Awards – Best Entertainment Game 2024
The SWIGA game of the year main prize and the best game of all games submitted, is honoured by the jury with “The Swiss Game Award”.
Swiss Game Awards – Best Serious Game 2024
Serious games and gamification solutions become more and more important. The SGDA honours with this category a serious game or a gamification solution that makes an impact and fosters sustainable development.
Swiss Game Awards – Excellence Award 2024
With this category the jury honours the creative or technicals skills of a project. Each game submitted will also be evaluated in regards to the Excellence Award. The jury may consider the execution of the entire game or just a specific element which is of outstanding quality. During the submission process, you will be able to emphasize one or more aspects, you want the jury to consider like gameplay, game mechanics, story, visuals, sound, technology or else.
Swiss Game Awards – Most Anticipated Game 2024
An award to celebrate the most promising upcoming project in the Swiss video game industry.
Swiss Game Awards – Best Student Game 2024
Given by a special jury composed of local industry game developers, this award seeks to aim the spotlight at the future generation of creators and celebrates their imagination and artistic vision.
Juries 2024
The nominees and winners are chosen by an independent jury, selected by the SGDA Board of Directors and volunteer members of the SGDA.
Jury for Best Entertainment Game/Best Serious Game/Most Anticipated Game/Excellence Awards
- Sarah El Abbadi, Production Manager & Teacher
Sarah El Abbadi works as a freelance producer since 2022 and teaches “production & management” classes at the ICAN school in Paris. After a Bachelor in Game Design obtained in 2018, Sarah El Abbadi held the position of Associate Producer in Motion Capture & Filming at Quantic Dream (Star Wars Eclipse). Sarah juggled between creativity and technique, between research and development, the Mocap operation and the operational organization of the set as well as organizational support for production. Sarah’s work led her to structure teams and their communication and interaction processes. She also had to take care of the productions of Quantic Dream’s Third Party studios as well as external clients who come to operate the Motion Capture studio. In 2018-2019, Sarah El Abbadi also did her final internship at Koalabs (Syberia trilogy). - Eugen Pfister, Swiss Games Historian & Lecturer
Eugen Pfister is project lead of the research project “Confederatio Ludens: Swiss History of Games, Play and Game Design 1968-2000” (SNF-Sinergia), a massive endeavor to document the history of Swiss video games. From 2018 to 2021 at the Hochschule der Künste Bern – HKB, Eugen Pfister was also project lead on “Horror – Game – Politics“, another research project connected to video game studies. Since 2010 he lectured at the University of Vienna (the city where he was born), at the Heinrich Heine Universität in Düsseldorf and at the Université de Fribourg. Eugen Pfister is also a Founding Member of the research group “Geschichtswissenschaft und Digitale Spiele” (gespielt.hypotheses.org) and since 2015 he operates a research blog on cultural studies and video games called “Spiel-Kultur-Wissenschaft. Mythen im Digitalen Spiel” (spielkult.hypotheses.org). - Mathieu Lanz, Media Influencer & Video Game Industry Critic
Mathieu Lanz is better known on the internet as “Monsieur Plouf”. After three years of video game journalism, Mathieu launched his Youtube channel in 2012, and is still making original content. With 186k followers, he produced 276 videos up until today. His video game reviews can be filled with a good dose of sarcasm, especially considering his other videos are analysis of different topics related to the video game industry, like mass layoffs or the grey market problem. Mathieu Lanz also co-host a monthly podcast with PsEuDoLeSs, another video game industry critic active on Youtube, in which they discuss older games. - Claudia Sng, Investment and Business Analyst
Claudia Sng is an experienced professional who currently holds positions as a Senior Business Associate and Business Analyst at Kepler Interactive (Pacific Drive, Sifu, Cat Quest III, Tchia, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, etc.), as well as as an Investment Analyst at the gaming fund Kowloon Nights (Another Crab’s Treasure, Sea of Stars, Rollerdrome, We are OFK, Spiritfarer, etc.). Claudia also has previous experience as a Global Markets Intern at Maybank and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) degree in Economics and Finance from the National University of Singapore, with a student exchange programme at Uppsala University.
Jury for Best Student Game Award
- Marion Bareil, Creative Director & Co-founder at Tourmaline Studio (Geneva)
- Yasemin Günay, Game/Graphic/Sound Designer & Co-founder at Kobold Games (Aarau)
- Gabriel Sonderegger, Creative Director & Co-founder at Sunnyside Games (Lausanne)
- Jeremy Spillmann, Creative Director & Co-founder at Blindflug Studios (Zurich)
The SGDA Swiss Game Award is the game developers award of Switzerland and celebrates projects that have put the Swiss game industry on the radar. The award honours innovation in form of novel and disruptive ideas in the digital media sector: playable games (all styles, genres and target platforms), services, middleware, innovative collaborations, cutting-edge marketing ideas, groundbreaking commissioned or advertising productions as well as new collectives.
- Annual industry award
- Swiss, nation-wide, all regions, all national languages
- Hashtags #swiga24 #SwissGameAwards #SGDAch
Media contact: media@sgda.ch, +41 32 511 14 77
Swiss Game Awards 2023
Award Ceremony
The prizes for the best Swiss games were presented at the Swiss Game Awards ceremony during Gamesweek Zurich.
The awards ceremony took place in Zurich on 17 November 2023.
Award Categories 2023
Swiss Game Awards – Best Entertainment Game 2023
The SWIGA game of the year main prize and the best game of all games submitted, is honoured by the jury with “The Swiss Game Award”.
Winner
- Nocturnal, Sunnyside Games, Lausanne
Nominees
- AST-Hero, Twisted BrainZ
- DIG – Deep in Galaxies, Molton Studio
- Helvetii, Team Kwa-Kwa
- Kandria, Shirakumo Games
- Nocturnal, Sunnyside Games
Swiss Game Awards – Best Serious Game 2023
Serious games and gamification solutions become more and more important. The SGDA honours with this category a serious game or a gamification solution that makes an impact and fosters sustainable development.
Winner
- Équilibre – Ville de demain, Tourmaline Studio et Ta-daaa Studio, Geneva
Nominees
- Ballvin, ddrobotec® by Dynamic Devices AG
- Équilibre – Ville de demain, Tourmaline Studio et Ta-daaa Studio
- TET, Charli Charlo and Playables
- Till Next Bill, Canton de Vaud – DNA Studios
- Where am I?, Institute constructive design, department architecture, engineering and design, ZHAW together with Blindflug Studios
Swiss Game Awards – Most Anticipated Game 2023
An award to celebrate the most promising upcoming project in the Swiss video game industry.
Winner
- Grimoire Groves, Stardust, Zurich
Nominees
- Grimoire Groves, Stardust
- Ground of Aces, Blindflug Studios
- Henry Halfhead, Lululu Entertainment
- QubiQuest: Castle Craft, Twin Earth AG
- The Wandering Village, Stray Fawn Studio
Swiss Game Awards – Excellence Award 2023
Each game submitted will also be evaluated in regards to the Excellence Award. With this category the jury honours the creative or technicals skills of a project. The jury may consider the execution of the entire game or just a specific element which is of outstanding quality. During the submission process, you will be able to emphasize one or more aspects, you want the jury to consider like gameplay, game mechanics, story, visuals, sound, technology or else.
Winner
- The Wandering Village, Stray Fawn Studio, Zurich
Jury 2023
The nominees and winners are chosen by an independent jury, selected by the SGDA Board of Directors.
- Valentina Birke, Indie Arena Booth (DE)
- Thomas Frey, Giants Software (CH)
- Selim Krichane, Swiss Museum of Games (CH)
- Marie Rumignani, Ubisoft (FR)
SGDA Student Swiss Game Awards 2023
Winner
- Fix it!, Amina Matt (University of Lausanne UNIL – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology EPFL)
Nominees
- Dissecting Love, Noe Mael Arnold (Zurich University of the Arts, ZHdK)
- Fix it!, Amina Matt (University of Lausanne UNIL – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology EPFL)
- To the Moon, Alan Hyjazi (Ceruleum)
- Troubles Ahead, Sébastien Rieder (Maitres du Monde)
Previous Winners & Nominees
2022 Winners
- Best Entertainment Game 2022: FAR: Changing Tides, Okomotive
- Best Serious Game 2022: Lausanne 1830: Histoires de registres, Digital Kingdom & EPFL
- Excellence in Execution 2022: Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions, Momo-pi Studio
- Audience Choice Award 2022: FAR: Changing Tides, Okomotive
- Junior Swiss Game Award 2022: Vote Now!, Joël Rimaz, University of Lausanne (UNIL)
- Junior Swiss Game Award – Honourable Mention 2022: Projected Dreams, Team Strawberry
2022 Nominees Category Entertainment Games
- Anshar 2: Hyperdrive, OZWE Games
- Backfirewall_, Naraven
- Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions, Momo-pi Studio
- FAR: Changing Tides, Okomotive
- Letters – a written adventure, 5am Games
- Monorail Stories, Stelex Software
- Swordship, Digital Kingdom
- Terraformers, Asteroid Lab
2022 Nominees Category Serious Games
- Lausanne 1830: Histoires de registres, Digital Kingdom & EPFL
- Microbiomes, Koboldgames & NCCR Microbiomes
- Migros Merge, Gbanga & Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund
- Oris – Joy of Mechanics, dreiplay studio & Oris
- re(use), ETH Zurich
- Respect – For who I truly am, Studio MACACO
2021 Winners
- Best Entertainment Game Award 2021: Mundaun, Hidden Fields, Lucerne
- Best Serious Game Award 2021: Democratia, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- Audience Choice Award 2021: Castello Visconteo, Stelex Software, Ticino
- Excellence in Visuals 2021: Towaga, Sunnyside Games, Lausanne
2021 Nominees Category Entertainment Games
- Book of Beasts, Gbanga, Zurich
- Mundaun, Hidden Fields, Lucerne
- Sol 705, Space Indie Studios, Geneva
- The Shattering, Super Sexy Software, Zurich
- Towaga, Sunnyside Games, Lausanne
2021 Nominees Category Serious Games
- Democratia, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- MurGame, Koboldgames, Argovia
- Let’s Help Together, Digital Kingdom, Vaud
- Castello Visconteo, Stelex Software, Ticino
2021 Jury
- Adam Moravanszky (Jury president), Senior Director Simulation Technology (Nvidia)
- Chino Noris, Software Engineer (Oculus VR/Meta)
- Cornelia Zogg, Communication specialist and games journalist
- Sarah Abbou, author and art director for games
2020 Winners
- Winner Swiss Game Award 2020: Nimbatus, Stray Fawn Studio, Zurich
- Audience Choice Award 2020: Unrailed!, Indoor Astronaut, Zurich
- Excellence in Execution 2020: Transport Fever 2, Urban Games, Schaffhausen
2020 Nominees
- KIDS, Playables, Zurich
- Nimbatus, Stray Fawn Studio, Zurich
- Stellar Commanders, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- To Be Headed Or Not To Be, Fruits of Yggdrasil, Nyon
- Transport Fever 2, Urban Games, Schaffhausen
- Unrailed!, Indoor Astronaut, Zurich
2019 Winners
- Winner Swiss Game Award 2019: FAR: Lone Sails, Okomotive, Zurich
- Audience Choice Award 2019: FAR: Lone Sails, Okomotive, Zurich
- Excellence in Gameplay 2019: Persephone, Momo-π, Bulle
- Junior Swiss Game Award 2019: Twin Blades, Jad Zahar, Ricardo Crespo, Hugo Scholl
2019 Nominees
- Anshar Online, OZWE Games, Lausanne
- FAR: Lone Sails, Okomotive, Zurich
- Octahedron, Demimonde Games, Winterthur
- Persephone, Momo-π, Bulle
- Toddo Land, Dreipol, Zürich
2018 Winners
- Swiss Game Award 2018: Colorful Darkness, Piñata Punch, Lausanne
- Audience Choice Award 2018: Niche, Stray Fawn Studio, Zurich
- Honorable Mention 2018: Retimed, Maniax Games, Zurich
- Junior Swiss Game Award 2018: Dimensions, Marino von Wattenwyl
2018 Nominees
- (re)format Z:, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- Colorful Darkness, Piñata Punch, Lausanne
- Into Delight, Igor Neiman, Renens
- Niche, Stray Fawn Studio, Zurich
- Retimed, Maniax Games, Zurich
2017 Winners
- Swiss Game Award 2017: DERU (formerly known as Schlicht), INK KIT, Zurich
- Audience Choice Award 2017: DERU (formerly known as Schlicht), INK KIT, Zurich
- Junior Swiss Game Award 2017: Bane of Asphodel, Robin Schmidiger, Konrad Leichtle
2017 Nominees
- Airheart, Blindflug Studios, Zürich
- Oniland, Funny Little Things, Genf
- DERU (formerly known as Schlicht), INK KIT, Zürich
- Splash Blast Panic, Team KwaKwa, Lausanne
- Watcher, Kinwatchers, Zürich
2016 Winners
- Swiss Game Award 2016: Feist, Bits & Beasts, Zurich
- Audience Choice Award 2016: Cloud Chasers, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- Junior Swiss Game Award 2016: Bämeräng, Tim Bürge, Aaron Abt
2016 Nominees
- Antyz, DNA Studios, Bulle
- Cloud Chasers, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- Feist, Bits & Beasts, Zurich
- FILD: Renegade Monsters, Bisbog, Lausanne
- Plug and Play, Etter Studio, Zurich
- Yamgun, Digital Kingdom, Vevey
2015 Winners
From 2014 to 2016 the cycle changed from autumn to early spring. Therefore, no award was given away in 2015.
- Junior Swiss Game Award 2015 winners: The Glove (Nick Baumann, Christian Knieling, Dominik Wittwer) & Continent Conquest (Michael Plüss)
2014 Winners
- Swiss Game Award 2014: Perils of Man, IF Games, Zurich
2014 Nominees
- Airships, Zarkonnen, Zurich
- First Strike, Blindflug Studios, Zurich
- PixelMogul, ala, Bern
- Battle of the SeaSons, Tidal Wave Games, Zurich
- Nandeyanen!?, Tchagata Games, Lausanne
- Shoggoth Rising, dreipol, Zurich
- Elarooh, Digidingo, Zurich
- Perils of Man, IF Games, Zurich
- The Firm, Sunnyside Games, Lausanne
2013 Winners
- Swiss Game Award 2013: Drei, Etter Studio, Zurich
2013 Nominees
- Beat Bounce, Samuel Vonäsch, Aurelio Lucchesi, Jack Hoefnagel
- Drei, Etter Studio, Zurich
- NanoRunners, AND-OR, Zurich
- Journey of a Roach, Kobold Games, Olten
- Zivilcourage, Ludic GmbH, Zurich