The third name for the special awards at Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) 2015 has been announced. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the Final Fantasy creator will receive a Lifetime Achievement award during the 15th annual (GDCAs) next month.
“Over his illustrious and thriving career, Sakaguchi-san has established some of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time, and helped cement the RPG genre in Japan and around the world,” said GDC events general manager Meggan Scavio.
“But the gaming world owes an even greater debt to Sakaguchi-san and team for making a compelling game narrative as important to game development as its graphics and sound.”
Hironobu served as the director of Final Fantasy’s sequels up until the fifth installment, after which he would serve as a producer and executive producer for the series. He was also part of the three-member “Dream Team” that designed the hit Chrono Tropper. In 2004, Hironobu left Square (which had then become SquareEnix) and founded Mistwalker, the development studio behind games like The Last Us.
She added: “Final Fantasy helped pave the way for game stories that dealt with death, regret and character development in a mature and significant way, and we’re proud to honour Sakaguchi-san as a true leader in the space, and an inspired game developer.”
Lifetime Achievement recipients are chosen by the GDCAs advisory committee, which includes game industry notables such as Doug Lombardi from Valve, Harvey Smith from Arkane and Chris Charla from Microsoft.
The GDCAs ceremony will take place on March 4 at the Moscone Convention Centre during this year’s GDC, and is open to all attendees of the conference.