When it comes to video game developers that have found themselves a myriad of awards, names like Gabe Newell or Shigeru Miyamoto often come to mind. However, it is the man behind some of the more ingenious time sinks of all-time that takes the crown. Will Wright of Sim City and the Sims fame acquired himself the Albert R. Broccoli Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment at the 25th Annual Britannia Awards, an awards show from the Los Angeles branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts or BAFTA for short. The reason why Wright was selected for the coveted award was for his involvement in producing games based around game design, as well as attracting a genre of game that would be welcomed into modern culture; open-ended non-violent simulation games, much to the likes of the highly successful Sim City and The Sims franchises.
The Albert R. Broccoli Award is dedicated to (who else?) Albert R. Broccoli, the renowned film producer who to a kindling to Ian Fleming’s James Bond series of novels, who then went about an odyssey in bringing the beloved super spy to the silver screen, thus birthing Dr. No in 1962, and igniting a worldwide passion for Bond ever since. Broccoli went on to become the first Britannia Award winner when the awards originated over twenty years ago. The award was first unveiled in 2011, when John Lasseter from Pixar and Disney fame became the first award recipient, but the only difference is Wright is the first video game developer to win not only this award, but to be recognized at the Britannia Awards. Wright has won several awards in his past, including a pair of Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Games Developer Conference Awards in 2001 and PC Magazine in 2005, not to mention the many awards from his game catalog.
To put it in perspective, other Britannia Award winners included Trey Parker/Matt Stone, Daniel Craig, Quentin Tarantino, and Daniel Day-Lewis. It just seems natural to include Will Wright with the lot.