TheD.I.C.E. Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year is an award presented annually by theAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during theD.I.C.E. Awards. "This award honors a title, single-player or multi-player, where an individual assumes the role of one or more characters and develops those characters in terms of abilities, statistics, and/or traits as the game progresses. Gameplay involves exploring, acquiring resources, solving puzzles, and interacting with player or non-player characters in the persistent world. Through the player's actions, his/her virtual characters' statistics or traits demonstrably evolve throughout the game".^[1] All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category.^[2] The award initially had separate awards for console games and computer games at the1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998, with the first winners beingFinal Fantasy VII for console andDungeon Keeper for computer. Throughout the history of this category, there have been numerous mergers and changes for role-playing related games. The current version was established at the21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in 2018, which was awarded toNier: Automata.

The award's most recent winner isMetaphor: ReFantazio, developed by Studio Zero and published byAtlus.

Initially the Interactive Achievement Awards had separate categories forConsole Role-Playing Game of the Year andComputer Role-Playing Game of the Year.^[3] The1999 awards ceremony featured genre specific Online awards, includingOnline Role-Playing Game of the Year.^[4] There was only oneOnline Game of the Year category in2000. The console and PC Role-Playing game categories were merged with theAdventure game categories at the2000 awards ceremony;^[5] this was most likely because the previous console adventure game winners also won the award for console role-playing, which wereFinal Fantasy VII in1998^[6][7] andThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in1999.^[8] In the following year, the Adventure game category was eventually merged with theAction game category, so a separate award for Role-Playing games resumed.^[9][10] In addition, an online category forMassive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year was introduced in 2001;^[11][12] this may have been the result of theMMORPGsUltima Online andEverQuest winningOnline Game of the Year in1998 and2000, respectively.^[6][13] Starting in 2005, genre-specific awards would no longer have separate awards for console and computer games, so it simply becameRole-Playing Game of the Year.^[14] In 2010,Role-Playing Game of the Year was merged withMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year, since mostmassively multiplayer online games wereMMORPGs.^[15] The award would later be simplified back toRole-Playing Game of the Year in2018.^[16]

• Console Role-Playing Game of the Year (1998—1999,2001—2005)
• Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year (1998—1999,2001—2005)
• Online Role-Playing Game of the Year (1999)
• Console Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year (2000)
• Computer Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year (2000)
• Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year (2001—2009)
• Role-Playing Game of the Year (2006—2009,2018—present)
• Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year (2010—2017)

Square Enix has received the most nominations as a publisher, including nominations before the merger ofSquareSoft andEnix.Electronic Arts has published the most award winners for the RPG genre, which included titles under collaboration with SquareSoft before their merger with Enix.Sega has published the most nominees without winning a single award.

SquareSoft/Square Enix has developed the most finalists in this category, while BioWare has developed the most winners.Level-5 has developed the most nominations without a single win.BioWare,SquareSoft andSquare Enix are the only developers to have consecutive wins for RPG awards.ArenaNet,Blizzard Entertainment,SquareSoft,Square Enix, andElectronic Arts are the only publishers with back-to-back wins for RPG awards.

• SquareSoft wonConsole Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year in2000 withFinal Fantasy VIII, and wonConsole Role-Playing Game of the Year in2001 withFinal Fantasy IX; both were published by Square Electronic Arts, a subsidiary of EA that was part of a partnership with SquareSoft.
• BioWare wonComputer Role-Playing Game of the Year four years in row from2002—2005, and technically won a fifth year, winningRole-Playing Game of the Year in2006.
  • Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2002)
  • Neverwinter Nights (2003)
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Repuplic (2004)
  • Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (2005)
  • Jade Empire (2006)
• ArenaNet tied forMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year in2006 withGuild Wars, and won in2007 withGuild Wars Nightfall.
• Blizzard Entertainment wonMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year with theWorld of Warcraft expansionsThe Burning Crusade in2008, andWrath of the Lich King in2009.
• BioWare, now owned byElectronic Arts, wonRole-Playing Game of the Year back-to-back again in2010 withDragon Age: Origins, and in2011 withMass Effect 2.
• Square Enix wonRole-Playing Game of the Year back-to-back again in2021 withFinal Fantasy VII Remake, and in2022 withFinal Fantasy XIV: Endwalker.

In2003,BioWare became the only developer to win bothConsole Role-Playing Game of the Year andComputer Role-Playing Game of the Year within the same year withStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was published byLucasArts.Black Isle Studios has also published the winners for console and computer RPGs in2002, but with different developers:Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for console, developed bySnowblind Studios, andBaldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal for computer, developed byBioWare.NCSoft has published both games that had tied forMassive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in2006.

Final Fantasy is the most nominated and award-winning franchise.Deus Ex,Eve Online, andPokémon have received the most nominations without winning a single award.EverQuest andMass Effect have won every single time they have been nominated.

There have been a few franchises with back-to-back wins:

• Final Fantasy had two back-to-back wins for RPG awards:
  • Final Fantasy VIII wonConsole Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year in2000, andFinal Fantasy IX wonConsole Role-Playing Game of the Year in2001.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake andFinal Fantasy XIV: Endwalker won in2021 and2022, respectively.
• Guild Wars tied forMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year in2006, andGuild Wars Nightfall won in2007.
• World of Warcraft had back-to-back wins forMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year with the expansion packsThe Burning Crusade in2008, andWrath of the Lich King in2009.

Numerous games receives multiple nominations, mostly for expansion packs.

• TheUltima Online expansion,The Second Age, won theOnline Role-Playing Game of the Year in1999, and theRenaissance expansion was nominated forMassively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in2001.
• Asheron's Call wonPC Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year in2000, was nominated forMassively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in2001, and the expansion packDark Majesty was nominated in2002.
• Diablo II wonComputer Role-Playing Game of the Year in2001, and the expansion packLord of Destruction was nominated in2002.
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was nominated forComputer Role-Playing Game of the Year in2001, and the expansion packThrone of Bhaal won in2002.
• TheEverQuest expansionsThe Ruins of Kunark andLost Dungeons of Norrath wonMassively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in2001 and2004, respectively.
• Dark Age of Camelot wonMassively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year in2002, and the expansion packShrouded Isles was nominated in2003.
• Neverwinter Nights wonComputer Role-Playing Game of the Year in2003, the expansion packShadows of Undrentide was nominated in2004, and the expansion packKingmaker won in2005.
• Eve Online had four expansions nominated forMassively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year:Second Genesis (2004),Revelations (2007),Trinity (2008), andQuantum Rise (2009).
• World of Warcraft wonMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year in2005, and the expansion packsThe Burning Crusade andWrath of the Lich King won in2008 and2009, respectively. Since the award forMassively Multiplayer merged withRole-Playing, the other expansion packs that had been nominated wereCataclysm in2011,Warlords of Draenor in2015,Legion in2017, andDragonflight in2023.
• City of Heroes was nominated forMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year in2005, and theCity of Villains expansion tied for winning the award the following year in2006.
• TheFinal Fantasy XI expansionChains of Promathia and compilationThe Vana'diel Collection were nominated forMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year in2005 and2006, respectively.
• Guild Wars tied forMassively Multiplayer Game of the Year in2006, and theEye of the North expansion was nominated in2008.
• Diablo III was nominated in2013, and won in2014.
• Persona 5 was nominated in2018, and the enhanced edition,Persona 5 Royal, was nominated in2021.
• Final Fantasy XIV expansion packs includedShadowbringers being nominated in2020, andEndwalker winning in2022.
• Cyberpunk 2077 was nominated in2021, as well as thePhantom Liberty expansion in2024.
• Elden Ring won the award in2023, with theShadow of the Erdtree expansion being nominated in2025.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the only game to win both console and computer RPG awards in the same year in2004.Baldur's Gate is the only franchise to be nominated for and win both console and computer awards with different games in2002:Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for console, and theBaldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal expansion pack for computer. The originalFinal Fantasy VII wonConsole Role-Playing Game of the Year in1998, andFinal Fantasy VII Remake won in2021 withFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth being nominated in2025.

• D.I.C.E. Genre Awards
• Awards established in 1998
• Awards for best video game

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