The eyes of the entire game industry were on Montreal, QC. for the Canadian Videogame Awards (or known as the CVA) on Nov 16, 2016. As the third largest producer of videogame content in the world, the purpose was simple, celebrate Canadian games, or at least games developed in Canada, made by Canadians.
There were twenty categories for the CVAs, with many games making their way across most of them, and winning multiple categories. The winner of the night was Eidos-Montreal’s hit Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as it was nominated for 10 categories, walking away with five CVAs in “Best Console Game”, “Best Game Design”, “Best Narrative”, “Best Performance”, and “Game of The Year”. There was a slightly awkward acceptance when the voice of Adam Jensin and host of the CVAs Elias Toufexis was awarded the “Best Performance Award”, however.
Although Deus Ex: Mankind Divided did the best across the board, the CVAs highlighted some smaller studios with some unexpected wins. Cloudhead Games Inc. walked away with three CVAs for their title The Gallery- Episode: Call of the Starseed, with nominations in nine categories, winning three CVAs in “Best Virtual Reality Game”, “Best Game Innovation”, and “Best Technology”. Another notable title of the night was Thunder Lotus Games’ Jotun: Valhalla Edition, which was nominated for six categories, winning two for “Best Art Direction”, and “Best Debut Game”. Drinkbox Studios’ Severed was nominated for eight categories winning two awards in “Best Mobile/Handheld”, and “Best Musical Score” as well. The other title that walked away with multiple awards was Behaviour Digital’s Multiplayer Survival Horror game Dead By Daylight wining two of its five nominations, walking away with “Best New Character” for the Trapper, and “Fan’s Choice Award: Canadian-Made Game”.
Other winners of the night were Spearhead Games’ Stories: The Path of Destinies for “Best PC Game”, Ubisoft Montreal’s Far Cry: Primal for “Best Art Direction”, EA Canada’s NHL 17 “Best Audio”, Alien Traps’ Moodbox for “Best Educational Game”, and Crystal Dynamic’s Rise of The Tomb Raider for “Fan’s Choice Award: Best International Game”.
The night was not without controversy however. During the announcement of the “Game of the Year Nominees” seven out of the 11 nominees were not announced, leaving the Eidos- Montreal team to congratulate the studios for their work.
