THE TOP STORY
How did Respawn become the first games developer to win an Oscar?
If I asked you which game developer you’d consider Oscar-worthy, how would you respond? Maybe one of Sony’s ‘prestige’ first-party studios? Perhaps a narrative-heavy developer like Telltale or Dontnod, or a triple-A powerhouse like EA or Ubisoft? Instead, the academy has chosen to award Respawn Entertainment with the prestigious award—and it wasn’t even for the wall-running FPS series it’s known for.
Colette, a short documentary following a 90-year-old French Resistance fighter as she visits the
German concentration camp where her brother was killed, won the Oscar for Best Documentary (Short
Subject) at this year’s Academy Awards. It’s a fantastic short, exploring pained family dynamics, resistance, and the brutality of Nazi rule in a tight 20 minutes. But it’s also an unlockable videogame extra, originally released as one of many supplementary short films produced for Respawn’s VR shooter Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.
Respawn and Oculus collaborated to produce the documentary, with Respawn CEO Vince Zampella even named as an executive co-producer. This makes Colette’s win not only the first awarded to a games studio, but also the first for Oculus parent company Facebook. Of course, it’s also particularly strange given that Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond simply wasn’t a very good game— certainly not one anyone would expect to win an Academy Award.
A DOCUMENTARY FOLLOWING A 90-YEAR-OLD FRENCH RESISTANCE FIGHTER
OSCAR BRAVO
The studio is, naturally, over the moon at the news. On receiving the nomination, Respawn composer Stephen Barton exclaimed, “Most film companies don’t get Oscar nominated within their first decade of existence. Most never get one. Respawn just became the first game studio ever to be nominated.”
But even if the award isn’t for Respawn’s own work, the studio managed to use its VR shooter to platform the work of director Anthony Giacchino, teams of researchers, and the lived experiences of Colette Marin-Catherine. Maybe Above and Beyond was a bit naff—but if the Medal of Honor Gallery can host and fund historical artifacts and documentary footage that’s not only good, but Oscarworthy, then perhaps that doesn’t matter.
Of course, the real question is whether (ignoring the fact that games aren’t films) a game itself could ever be considered Oscar-worthy. Now that Respawn’s got its foot in the door, will we see Titanfall 2’ s tale of man and robot recognized by the Academy? Will Apex Legends’ next season finally give Mirage the golden statue it deserves? Or maybe the pomp of a glitzy awards show is something videogames are better off without. After all, what did It Takes Two director Josef Fares say about the Oscars?
Nat Clayton