After kicking off 2025 with the New York Game Awards' Legend Award, the GDCA International Choice Awards Network have revealed that Sam Lake (Creative Director at Remedy) is to be rewarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's GDC.
The jury's decision coincides with the Sam's thirtieth year in games and at Remedy. They praised the writer for being “A key creative force behind Alan Wake, Max Payne, and more, Sam is renowned for his layered storytelling and ability to meld different mediums to create unique experiences.” He originally joined the studio back in 1995 with Death Rally, creating the story to restricted character limits where he could, and has served as the writer and creative director on almost all game projects since.
As stated on the GDC website, the Lifetime Achievement Award, “recognizes the career and achievements of an individual who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and video games as a whole.” We can think of no one better to be its recipient this year. The award is one of three special awards presented during the ceremony, alongside the Pioneer Award and Ambassador Award.
The trophy will be presented on stage during this year's Game Developer Choice Awards in San Francisco on March 19th. If previous years are anything to go by, the ceremony should be broadcast live via their Twitch channel, HERE! If you want to cheer on Sam and the other winners at this year's GDCA, make sure to tune in at 19:30 PST / 3:30 GMT / 5:30 EET.
Those keeping up to date with the Control series may have some alarm bells ringing right now. The ceremony will take place the evening before the Future Games Show: Spring Showcase is set to go live, with brand new FBC: Firebreak content. Make sure to mark your calendars for that too!
Writer-director Sam Lake (@SamLakeRMD) is this year’s GDCA Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.
— 🔜 GDC 2025 (@Official_GDC) February 20, 2025
A key creative force behind ‘Alan Wake,’ ‘Max Payne,’ and more, Sam is renowned for his layered storytelling and ability to meld different mediums to create unique experiences.… pic.twitter.com/UO4uK4GA68
