Hades is the first videogame to win a Hugo Award

Dionysus
(Image credit: Supergiant Games)

During the 79th annual Worldcon, aka DisCon III, the winners of the Hugo Awards were announced. Hades won the Best Video Game award, over other nominees Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Blaseball, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, The Last of Us Part 2, and Spiritfarer. "We hope that the Hugo Awards continue to recognize the amazing work being done in this space," said Greg Kasavin of Supergiant Games in a televised acceptance speech, before thanking the Greek gods "both above and below".

The Hugo Awards have been recognizing the best literary works of science fiction and fantasy since 1953, across an evolving set of categories—the category for Best Graphic Story was only added in 2009. This year's Best Video Game category was included as a one-off. 

As DisConIII co-chair Colette Fozard explained, "Since early 2020, many of us have spent more time gaming than we ever expected. This award will offer fans an opportunity to celebrate the games that have been meaningful, joyful, and exceptional over this past year." A permanent Best Game or Interactive Experience category is being considered

Hades has won plenty of other awards since its release, including GDC Game of the Year and BAFTAs for Best Game, Artistic Achievement, Game Design, Narrative, and Performer in a Supporting Role (Logan Cunningham). We declared it 2020's Best Action Game too.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

Read more
The jester from Balatro, portrayed in unsettling detail in real life, wears an uncanny smile and stares at the viewer.
PC Gamer vindicated by Swen Vincke: Larian boss calls Balatro his personal GOTY as it sweeps top prize from devs at GDC awards
Game of the Year
PC Gamer's Game of the Year Awards 2024
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Winifred Phillips accepts the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media award for "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" onstage during the 67th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at Peacock Theater on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
'I cannot believe this': Composer Winifred Phillips was 'blown away' after winning a Grammy for a remake of a 44-year-old RPG
Black Myth Wukong main character on a bright background
The 2024 Steam Awards give Game of the Year to Black Myth: Wukong
Hades 2 key art
Need to relax? Grab a coffee, kick back and submerge yourself in the sound of Hades 2's narrator reading the patch notes for its latest massive update
Best Multiplayer 2024: Helldivers 2
Best Multiplayer 2024: Helldivers 2
Latest in Roguelike
Grit and Valor mech strategy roguelike
Grit and Valor - 1949 review
live action Jimbo the Jester from Balatro holding a playing card and addressing the camera
You've probably been pronouncing Balatro wrong all along, but 'it's kind of a gif/jif situation'
A convoy of strange beings proceed across a desert in Caves of Qud key art.
After 17 years, devs of the only roguelike where players ask 'the best way to get the most limbs' can't believe its success: 'More people have bought Caves of Qud than are in this stadium, how do you reckon with that?'
A True Kin knight stands in a ruin in Caves of Qud, flanked by bloodstained furniture and a freshly mortalized corpse.
Despite making a roguelike where you can have countless arms and legs, Caves of Qud's creators say the ideal form is a limbless sphere: 'We started in perfection and only moved farther from God'
The jester from Balatro, portrayed in unsettling detail in real life, wears an uncanny smile and stares at the viewer.
PC Gamer vindicated by Swen Vincke: Larian boss calls Balatro his personal GOTY as it sweeps top prize from devs at GDC awards
live action Jimbo the Jester from Balatro holding a playing card and addressing the camera
Balatro's first demo could be edited with Notepad to unlock the whole game—the solution? 'Bury it as soon as possible' with a 'newer, shinier version'
Latest in News
A screenshot from SaGa Frontier 2, showing one of the protagonists wandering through a quaint fantasy village
One of Square Enix' most underrated PlayStation-era JRPGs just shadow dropped on Steam
The titular character from Princess Mononoke is depicted riding the wolf goddess Moro and carrying a spear.
Studio Ghibli AI image trend floods social media, cheered on by OpenAI and denounced by critics as an insult to Hayao Miyazaki
Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine
Marvel Rivals director says a future patch will reduce the shooter's insatiable hunger for RAM: 'It's a very big problem'
Hogwarts Legacy potions professor holding a potion
An unannounced Hogwarts Legacy expansion and 'definitive edition' have reportedly been cancelled
Story of Seasons - A cahacter in a purple tuxedo stands outside in a town square talking to the player
Story of Seasons is doing another Harvest Moon remake and it might be the best the series has ever looked
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'