Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work

The Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy works released in the previous calendar year. The game award is given out to video games, tabletop games, and other interactive works; non-interactive audiovisual works receive awards in the dramatic presentation category. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction", and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".^[1][2]

The Hugo Award for Best Game or Interactive Work was started as an annual category by the World Science Fiction Society in 2024. Prior to then, when the category was first successfully proposed in 2021, an example one-off version of the category was awarded as Best Video Game, under rules which allow individual one-off categories to be awarded in any given year.^[3] An earlier attempt at a one-off game category, entitled Best Interactive Video Game, had been made in 2006 but did not receive enough nominations to form a final ballot.^[4][5]

Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The final selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six finalists, except in the case of a tie. The works on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year.^[6] Initial nominations are made by members from January through March, while voting on the ballot of six finalists is performed roughly from April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held.^[7] Worldcons are generally held in August or early September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.^[8][9]

During the four years the category has been active, 24 video games by 22 developers have been finalists. Hades by Supergiant Games won under the Best Video Game title, Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Studios won the formal inaugural year, and Caves of Qud by Freehold Games won in 2025.