Markus “Notch” Persson To Win Pioneer Award At GDC

Ahead of the 30th annual Game Developers Conference in March, the event’s organisers have announced some of the luminaries whose work will be recognised during the 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The winners announced today are Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson, who will receive a Pioneer Award, and Tracy Fullerton, who is the winner of the Ambassador Award.

The Pioneer Award recognises breakthrough technology and game-design milestones. Notch will earn the award in celebration of his work in establishing Mojang as a studio and designing and creating Minecraft.

The Ambassador Award celebrates those who advance gaming as a creative medium. Tracy Fullerton is an associate professor and director of the University of Southern California Games initiative. Fullerton’s award is being given in recognition of her advocacy and action in advancing gaming. Fullerton has been instrumental in shaping the creative process a number of indie games, including fl0w, Cloud, and The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom.

The Game Developers Conference is scheduled to take place from March 14th to 18th in San Francisco. The show will be hosted at the Moscone Convention Center while the award show itself will be hosted during the expo on Wednesday, March 16th at 18:30 Pacific Time.

Details relating to GDC registration, passes, and pricing are available on the event’s website. Those who can’t attend will be able to watch via Twitch live-stream.

Original videos by Ashly and Anthony Burch, the siblings behind the “Hey Ash, Watcha Playin’?” video series, will be back with a range of original videos for the IGF Awards ceremony. Another series of new videos from Mega64 will also be shown during the Game Developers Choice Awards this year.

It was recently announced that Bethesda’s Todd Howard would receive a lifetime achievement award at GDC.