Stray crowned best French video game of the year at the 4th edition of the Pégases

The video game stray , whose protagonist is an alley cat, was named best video game of the year on Thursday evening during the 4th edition of the Pégases, which rewards the best French video game creations, on the model of the Césars for the cinema. Created by the BlueTwelve studio, based in Montpellier, straydepicts a cat in an underground city populated by humanoids and strange creatures. Using a drone, the tomcat must solve a series of puzzles to get back to the surface.

stray, which has already won a prize at the Game Awards this year (equivalent to the Oscars for video games in the United States), also won two other distinctions at the Pegasus in the categories “best first video game” and “best independent video game”. The game, available on PlayStation consoles and on the Steam PC game purchase platform, is also popular with “true” felids: on Twitter, the “Cats Watching Stray” account, which lists the most zany reactions of cats observing the adventures of the mustachioed hero, has more than 35,000 subscribers.

“National Pride”

“To have this recognition is completely crazy”reacted on stage the production team of the game. stray won the most prestigious award, it is its competitor A Plague Tale: Requiem, developed by the Bordeaux studio Asobo and the publisher Focus Entertainment, which triumphs in the 2023 edition in terms of the number of distinctions, with four prizes. In addition to the audience award, the game, which follows the adventures of two children trying to survive in 14th century France ravaged by the Black Death, was crowned in the categories “narrative excellence”, “visual excellence” and “best universe sound”. Broadcast live on the Twitch streaming platform and, for the first time, on France Télévisions’ Twitch channel (France.tv), the ceremony took place at La Cigale, in Paris, in the presence of the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak and Minister Delegate for Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot.

“Video games are a national pride”he proclaimed on stage, a “leisure that engages all generations”A “sector that we are keen to support” and which allows “to export our culture and our values” internationally. “The video game is a total art” Who “irrigates the whole field of cultivation”added Rima Abdul Malak, celebrating the “creative freedom” of the French video game industry compared to other countries such as China. In the other categories, Elden Ring (PlayStation, Xbox, PC) was crowned best foreign video game. The Pégase for the best mobile game was awarded to Tales Up of Periple Studio, an application development company based in Clermont-Ferrand.

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Nicolas Cannasse, president of the Bordeaux studio Shiro Games, was named “personality of the year”, while his studio won the prize for “best technological innovation” with the game Dune: Spice wars. The Pégases, founded by the national video game union which brings together French professionals in the sector, have been awarded since 2020 following a vote by the 2,000 members of the Academy of Video Game Arts and Techniques. For the 2023 edition, 88 games initially competed in 19 categories. The video game is the first French cultural industry in turnover with 5.6 billion euros generated in 2021, according to the Syndicate of publishers of leisure software (Sell) which will publish the figures for the year 2022 at the end of March.