What a night at The 15th New York Game Awards.
Our team had an amazing time attending this year’s event, and we are incredibly honored that Shujinkou was nominated for Best Hidden Gem. While we did not take home the win this time, a video game award nomination for our debut commercial title is a major milestone for us. It shows that our work is resonating with players and critics in the industry, and adds even more fuel ⛽️ to what we are building next. We left New York City feeling grateful, energized, and extra motivated to keep raising the bar for our next game.
For a fully remote studio, we do not get many chances to be in the same place at the same time. The New York Game Awards helped bring almost half of our team together for a couple of days, with most of everyone based in the USA. We got to bond, hang out, and spend real time talking about Shujinkou and what is next. It was the kind of reset that reminds you why you work SO hard to do this work, and it left us even more motivated to get back to building.
One of the highlights was getting to meet so many talented people across the industry. It was a pleasure connecting with Reggie from Nintendo, along with developers and project leads and team members from Bethesda, Sony, The Pokémon Company, and more. Events like this really showed and reminded all of us how much passion and love goes into video games across the industry, and how lucky we are to be part of it now!
A special thank you to Harold Goldberg (Founder of NY Game Critics Circle), Ryan O'Callaghan (Executive Director), Makeda Byfield (Co-host), and everyone at the New York Game Critics Circle for hosting such a well-run, welcoming, and memorable event.
Thank you for celebrating games and creators in such a moving way 🔥
Check out our website for more details!
https://ricegames.net/2026/01/25/rice-games-at-the-new-york-game-awards/
Onward 🗽
Team @ Rice Games