In yet another victory lap for Hazelight Studios, Split Fiction just became the first videogame to get a design award from Swedish royalty

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Josef Fares and co. took home the Excellent Swedish Design award to throw on their giant pile of accolades.

Split Fiction screenshot
(Image credit: Hazelight Studios)

Hazelight Studios proved it could go the distance when It Takes Two sold an eye-watering 20 million copies and took home The Game Awards' Game of the Year, and follow-up Split Fiction is keeping the momentum strong. Not only did it sell a million copies in two days, it's also rapidly amassed glowing reviews and award nominations of its own—the latest of which was presented by the highest authority on videogames. That's right: his majesty Carl Philip, duke of Värmland and prince of Sweden.

We all know that the good prince knows his GTA 5s from his Herzog Zweis, which makes it all the more galling that the Excellent Swedish Design award has never been given to a videogame before now. I suppose I can blame that on Svensk Form, or the Swedish Design Association, the non-profit which doles out the award annually.

Split Fiction was one of a dozen recipients alongside not-videogames like the TP-7 field recorder by Teenage Engineering and a furniture collection called The King's Hat. It isn't possible to apply for the award, but Svensk Form's inclusion of game designer Bobbi A. Sand in the curation jury may have had something to do with the co-op platformer's nomination.

I don't mean to suggest Split Fiction doesn't deserve the award—great games should be recognized as cultural achievements. Josef Fares' beaming smile next to the Swedish prince is a nice reminder that sometimes the games industry isn't all hellfire and torment. (Granted, I don't expect Split Fiction publisher EA to win any awards for laying off a chunk of its workforce earlier this year, but this is a positive article so I'll shut up.)

Bully for Hazelight: Split Fiction is a rollicking good time. There's also a movie based on the game in development, but I'm not yet convinced it's real.

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Justin Wagner
Justin Wagner

Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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