Detroit: Become Human Wins ‘Excellence in Narrative’ at SXSW Awards
On Saturday, the SXSW event in Austin, Texas, held the annual SXSW Gaming Awards. The event’s biggest title went to God of War, which won ‘Best Video Game,’ and two other awards, while Red Dead Redemption 2 also won several. Despite the fierce competition from those two titles and others, the ‘Excellence in Narrative’ award was nevertheless won by 2018 title Detroit: Become Human.
We are delighted and honored to announce that Detroit: Become Human has won the 2019 SXSW EXCELLENCE IN NARRATIVE AWARD! @David__Cage @Detroit_Game https://t.co/IPrc1dEl5x
— Detroit: Become Human (@Detroit_Game) March 17, 2019
Detroit: Become Human Wins SXSW Gaming Awards’ ‘Excellence in Narrative’ Award
Detroit: Become Human first released back in May of 2018. It was French studio Quantic Dream’s fifth game. Before Detroit, the studio was best known for games like Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. Detroit: Become Human quickly became their most successful release ever, outpacing the sales of Heavy Rain by over 20% in its first month. The game, which is narrative-driven and features a complex system of choices which affect the events and ultimate outcome of the story, received widespread praise for its writing.
In 2018, Detroit: Become Human received nominations for numerous awards for story, narrative, and design. At the Game Awards, for example, it was a strong contender for Best Narrative, as well as Best Game Direction. Bryan Dechart’s performance as Connor was also up for Best Performance. However, it ultimately lost the Best Game Direction award to God of War. Meanwhile, both of the other awards went to Red Dead Redemption 2. At the SXSW Gaming awards, Detroit: Become Human once again faced the challenge of overcoming these two other titles; both of which received widespread praise for the quality of their writing. However, it managed to come out ahead this time, and won the Excellence in Narrative award.
It’s currently unknown what Quantic Dream has planned next. The studio has not announced any upcoming projects. The studio did seem to tease an announcement at the start of the year. However, this was later revealed to be an announcement that Quantic Dream had partnered with NetEase, not the announcement of a new game. The studio has never developed a sequel to one of its games before. However, the head of the studio, David Cage, has said that they might consider making a sequel to Detroit: Become Human.