The creator of Dragon Quest, Yuji Horii, is to be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards at GDC 2022 with the Lifetime Achievement Award, it has been revealed. The Special Awards Jury of the award has decided to honor the Dragon Quest and Square Enix veteran as well as rewarding game accessibility advocate and director of development of the AbleGamers charity, Steven Spohn, the Ambassador Award.
In a GDC blog post, it was explained that Yuji Horii “will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his groundbreaking work as the creator of the beloved Dragon Quest series.” The long-running JRPG has been a fan-favorite around the world for the last 35 years and the series has amassed over 76 million units sold.
Dragon Quest is seen as a benchmark in RPG quality and many other games have emulated its traditional style. With Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate and the HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III on the way, there’s no better time to reward Horii with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dragon Quest continues to be a big deal to this day.
Steven Spohn, meanwhile, is a more-than-worthy recipient of the Ambassador Award thanks to his work “advocating for accessibility in video games” in a variety of roles, including as senior director of development of the AbleGamers charity. The popular champion of gaming for everyone Steven Spohn and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii will both receive their respective awards on March 23, during the Game Developers Conference taking place in San Francisco. Well deserved for both men.
