The conference, usually held in or around March in San Francisco, presents the award as part of the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), a series of awards honoring outstanding achievements in video game design for games released during the previous calendar year.
Only four studios have won the award more than once: The most successful video game publisher to date is Sony Interactive Entertainment with 13 nominations and 4 wins, followed by Nintendo (11 nominations, 1 win), Electronic Arts (8 nominations and 1 win) and Rockstar Games (7 nominations and 2 wins).
Indie games have won the award 4 times: Journey (published by Sony Interactive Entertainment) in 2012, Untitled Goose Game in 2019, Hades in 2020, and Inscryption in 2021.
Note: From 2005 to 2007 the award was titled Best Game.
Ceremonies are usually held in March the following year.