The 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards was the 18th edition of the D.I.C.E. Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2014. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), and were held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 5, 2015. It was also held as part of the Academy's 2015 D.I.C.E. Summit, and was hosted by stand-up comedian Pete Holmes.^[1]

The category for the "D.I.C.E. Sprite Award" was introduced. The category of "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design" was re-introduced after a four-year hiatus. The award for "Online Game of the Year" has been relabeled as "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay". The categories for the "Downloadable Game of the Year" and "Casual Game of the Year" were discontinued. The craft awards for "Gameplay Engineering" and "Visual Engineering" were merged into the "Outstanding Technical Achievement" award category.^[2]

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor had nearly swept all of its nominated categories with eight wins, yet failed to win "Game of the Year", which was awarded to Dragon Age: Inquisition. Ubisoft published the most nominated games and received the most nominations as a publisher with Ubisoft Montreal receiving the most nominations as a developer. Nintendo had published the most award-winning games.

Allan Alcorn received the "Pioneer Award" for creating Pong, one of the first video games. Ralph H. Baer, designer of the Magnavox Odyssey, also was posthumously awarded the "Pioneer Award." The Apple App Store received the first "Technical Impact Award".^[3]

Winners and Nominees

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Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Game of the Year Awards

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Dragon Age: Inquisition — BioWare, Electronic Arts‡
- Destiny — Bungie, Activision
- Far Cry 4 — Ubisoft Montreal
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — Blizzard Entertainment
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Transistor — Supergiant Games‡
- Hohokum — Honeyslug, Sony Computer Entertainment
- Monument Valley — ustwo
- The Banner Saga — Stoic, Versus Evil
- Threes — Sirvo

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS — Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco Games, Nintendo‡
- Bravely Default — Silicon Studio, Nintendo
- Child of Light — Ubisoft Montreal
- Shovel Knight — Yacht Club Games
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call — Square Enix, indieszero

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — Blizzard Entertainment‡
- 80 Days — Inkle
- Kingdom Rush: Origins — Ironhide Game Studio, Armor Games
- Monument Valley — ustwo
- Threes — Sirvo

Destiny — Bungie, Activision‡
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare — Sledgehammer Games, Activision
- Elite Dangerous — Frontier Developments
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — Blizzard Entertainment
- World of Tanks [Xbox 360] — Wargaming

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡
- Destiny — Bungie, Activision
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — Blizzard Entertainment
- Monument Valley — ustwo
- Project Spark — Team Dakota, Microsoft Studios

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ Lumino City — State of Play Games Monument Valley — ustwo Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) — Upper One Games, E-Line Media The Vanishing of Ethan Carter — The Astronauts	Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ Dungeon of the Endless — Amplitude Studios Far Cry 4 — Ubisoft Montreal Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — Blizzard Entertainment Titanfall — Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ Assassin's Creed Unity — Ubisoft Montreal Infamous Second Son — Sucker Punch Productions, Sony Computer Entertainment Sunset Overdrive — Insomniac Games, Microsoft Studios Titanfall — Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts	Monument Valley — ustwo‡ Assassin's Creed Unity — Ubisoft Montreal Sunset Overdrive — Insomniac Games, Microsoft Studios The Vanishing of Ethan Carter — The Astronauts Valiant Hearts: The Great War — Ubisoft Montpellier
Talion *(Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor)* — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ Jonathan Irons (Call of Duty: Advance Warfare) — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Pagan Min (Far Cry 4) — Ubisoft Montreal Abigail "Fetch" Walker (Infamous First Light) — Sucker Punch Productions, Sony Computer Entertainment Delsin Rowe (Infamous Second Son) — Sucker Punch Productions, Sony Computer Entertainment	Destiny — Bungie, Activision‡ Far Cry 4 — Ubisoft Montreal Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris — Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Europe The Vanishing of Ethan Carter — The Astronauts Transistor — Supergiant Games
Destiny — Bungie, Activision‡ Assassin's Creed Unity — Ubisoft Montreal Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Far Cry 4 — Ubisoft Montreal Valiant Hearts: The Great War — Ubisoft Montpellier	Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ South Park: The Stick of Truth — Obsidian Entertainment, South Park Digital Studios, Ubisoft The Wolf Among Us — Telltale Games This War of Mine — 11 Bit Studios Valiant Hearts: The Great War — Ubisoft Montpellier
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Far Cry 4 — Ubisoft Montreal Infamous Second Son — Sucker Punch Productions, Sony Computer Entertainment Sunset Overdrive — Insomniac Games, Microsoft Studios

Destiny — Bungie, Activision‡ Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare — Sledgehammer Games, Activision Far Cry 4 — Ubisoft Montreal Titanfall — Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts Wolfenstein: The New Order — MachineGames, Bethesda Softworks	Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — Monolith Productions, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment‡ Infamous Second Son — Sucker Punch Productions, Sony Computer Entertainment The Vanishing of Ethan Carter — The Astronauts The Wolf Among Us — Telltale Games Valiant Hearts: The Great War — Ubisoft Montpellier
LittleBigPlanet 3 — Sumo Digital, Sony Computer Entertainment‡ Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes — Avalanche Software, Heavy Iron Studios, Disney Interactive Studios Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham — Traveller's Tales, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Project Spark — Team Dakota, Microsoft Studios Skylanders: Trap Team — Toys for Bob, Beenox, Activision	Super Smash Bros. for Wii U — Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco Games, Nintendo‡ Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- — Arc System Works, Aksys Games Nidhogg — Messhof Ultra Street Fighter IV — Dimps, Capcom
Mario Kart 8 — Nintendo EAD‡ Forza Horizon 2 — Playground Games, Microsoft Game Studios The Crew — Ivory Tower, Ubisoft	Dragon Age: Inquisition — BioWare, Electronic Arts‡ Bravely Default — Silicon Studio, Nintendo Divinity: Original Sin — Larian Studios The Banner Saga — Stoic, Versus Evil World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor — Blizzard Entertainment
FIFA 15 — EA Canada‡ Madden NFL 15 — EA Tiburon MLB 14: The Show — SCE San Diego NBA 2K15 — Visual Concepts, 2K Games	Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft — Blizzard Entertainment‡ Boom Beach — Supercell Civilization: Beyond Earth — Firaxis Games, 2K Games Dungeon of the Endless — Amplitude Studios Endless Legend — Amplitude Studios, Iceberg Interactive

Apple App Store

Multiple nominations and awards

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Multiple Nominations

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Official website

^ "18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Winners". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
^ "18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Rules and Procedures" (PDF). Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
^ "Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Special Awards". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
^ "18th Annual D.I.C.E. Finalists" (PDF). Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 22, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
^ "18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Winners". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
^ "Dragon Age: Inquisition Soars to Victory with Game of the Year at 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards" (PDF). Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
^ "2015 D.I.C.E. Awards". BrutalGamer. February 6, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
^ Seedhouse, Alex (February 8, 2015). "Nintendo scoop three awards at the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards". Nintendo Insider. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
^ "Dragon Age: Inquisition Takes Game of the Year at DICE Awards". The Escapist. February 6, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2022.