Remedy’s Sam Lake and Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope will receive major achievement awards in March

Two high-profile developers will be honored at the 25th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards at this year’s Game Developers Conference in March. The Lifetime Achievement award will go to writer and creative director Sam Lake, whose work on Max Payne, Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and Control has been hailed as some of the industry’s finest. Lake has previously won over 200 industry awards, says the GDCA.

Independent developer Lucas Pope will receive the Pioneer Award, meanwhile, for work that “has pushed the bar for gaming narratives and mechanics,” including highly influential border crossing game Papers, Please and the much acclaimed Return of the Obra Dinn. Both Papers, Please and Obra Dinn won the Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival Awards (also a GDC event), alongside a slew of others prizes.

The GDCA event will occur on Wednesday, March 19 immediately after the IGF awards—both will be livestreamed on the official GDC Twitch channel.

“The Game Developers Choice Awards has a proud legacy of shining the spotlight on figures who make gaming the most gripping and evocative method of storytelling,” said Stephenie Hawkins, GDC’s Event Director, in a press release. “We’re excited to recognize Sam Lake and Lucas Pope for their commitment to pushing the boundaries of the medium through transcendent narrative structures, complex moral questions and evocative gameplay.”

Previous honorees of the lifetime achievement award include famous personalities like Elder Scrolls developer Todd Howard, Doom developer John Romero, and Uncharted developer Amy Hennig. Previous recipients of the Pioneer award include Prince of Persia developer Jordan Mechner, adventure game pioneer Roberta Williams, and Mabel Addis, one of the world’s first videogame designers and writers.