Japan’s largest, annual game developers conference called the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference 2019—or CEDEC 2019—is happening from September 4 to September 6 at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center.
Today, the “CEDEC Awards” took place. The awards focus on remarkable achievements in the field of video game development, with a focus on “Engineering,” “Visual Arts,” “Sound,” and “Game Design.” The goal is to highlight and educate on development technolgies in the industry by commending developers on their achievements. The excellence awards for each category have been determined.
The winner for the “Visual Arts” category this year was Atlus’ and Persona Team’s art director Masayoshi Sutoh. Responsible for the user interface design in Persona 3 and later games in the series, he has contributed to the industry by thoroughly exploring a UI design that is appealing for its meta-expression, unique in the world.
Sutoh was one of the five nominees for the Visual Arts category. Nominations are decided via the “CEDEC AWARDS Nomination Committee” based on the top audience survey results from the previous year’s CEDEC. The winners are determined by the “CEDEC AWARDS Nomination Committee” and the “CEDEC Steering Committee.”
The nominees for Visual Arts were:
- “God of War” development team (SIE Santa Monica Studio)
- “Resident Evil 2 Remake” development team (Capcom)
- Masayoshi Sutoh (Atlus)
- “GRIS” development team (Nomada Studio)
- “Substance Painter” development team (Allegorithmic)
This is the third consecutive year that Persona 5 has received an excellence award from CEDEC Awards, with the “Game Design” excellence award in 2017 and the “Sound” excellence award in 2018.
At CEDEC 2017, Masayoshi Sutoh held a panel together with Atlus producer Kazuhisa Wada, discussing the UI of the Persona series. Details from this panel can be read here.
An extensive interview of Sutoh’s from Weekly Famitsu magazine #1449 in September 2016 about the Persona 5 UI can be read here.