The 19th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards plans to honor writer and director Amy Hennig with a lifetime achievement award, it announced this week.
Hennig is perhaps best known for her time at developer Naughty Dog, where she was writer and creative director for the “Uncharted” series. Before that, she served as writer and director on the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series at Crystal Dynamics. Hennig has also earned numerous awards for her writing from organizations like the WGA Videogame Writing Awards and BAFTA.
Hennig left Naughty Dog in 2014 and joined Visceral Games to work on an unnamed “Star Wars” project. But, publisher Electronic Arts decided to shelve the game and close down Visceral in 2017. Hennig left EA a few months later, according to GamesIndustry.biz. She’s since formed a small independent studio and is researching virtual reality for a potential project.
“Amy Hennig is a powerful figure in the game world; her work exemplifies what good game narrative can be, with pathos, humor, suspense and energy. She is truly one of the most influential developers in the games industry,” said Katie Stern, general manager of the Game Developers Conference. “These past accomplishments are just milestones in a career that we’ll be following for years to come, but for one night at the GDCAs, we’ll reflect on the hard work and artistry that makes game developers like Amy the heart of the industry.”
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Previous recipients of the Game Developers Choice Awards lifetime achievement award include Tim Schafer, Tim Sweeney, Shigeru Miyamoto, Warren Spector, John Carmack, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hideo Kojima, Sid Meier, Ken Kutaragi, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, and Peter Molyneux, among others.
The Game Developers Choice Awards takes place on Wednesday, Mar. 20 at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2019 Game Developers Conference.
