D.I.C.E. Award for Online Game of the Year

The D.I.C.E. Award for Online Game of the Year is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the D.I.C.E. Awards. This award "celebrates titles of any genre with a significant portion of the gameplay experience transpiring online — collaboratively or competitively. These titles frequently offer excellent matchmaking systems, innovative gameplay options, persistent content releases that further evolve gameplay, user customization and fluidity of gameplay. Titles submitted in this category are not limited to release within the calendar year but must be supported by significant new content". All active creative/technical, business, and affiliate members of the Academy are qualified to vote for this category. The first winner was Ultima Online at the 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. It is the only "Game of the Year award" that also has been offered as a genre award and craft award.

The award's most recent winner is Diablo IV, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment.

Content/Genre Award
Online Game of the Year was originally offered as a content award for the "Online content awards" subset with categories Entertainment Site of the Year and News/Information Site of the Year. The 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (1999) had multiple genre-specific "Online content awards." Only one online award was offered for 2000. It would be renamed Online Gameplay of the Year in 2001. No award would be offered at the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.
 * Online Game of the Year (1998, 2000)
 * Online Action/Strategy Game of the Year (1999)
 * Online Family/Board Game of the Year (1999)
 * Online Role Playing Game of the Year (1999)
 * Online Gameplay of the Year (2001—2003)

Craft Award
At the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the award for Online Gameplay was reintroduced as a craft award. The Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay, is "presented to the individual or team whose work represents the highest level of achievement in online gameplay in an interactive title. These titles frequently offer excellent matchmaking systems, innovative gameplay options including collaborative and competitive gameplay, user customization and fluidity of gameplay." An additional craft award, the Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity, was introduced for the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. This award is "given to the property or title that best demonstrates innovation in connection mechanics across varied platforms. This is typically exemplified through the expansion of a story or narrative through complementary elements across two or more platforms (e.g. Console/Facebook or Console/Mobile Device)". Both awards would be voted by programmers.
 * Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay (2005—2013)
 * Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity (2012—2013)

Game of the Year Award
The craft awards were dropped for the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards and Online Game of the Year was reintroduced as a "Game of the Year Award." The award was relabeled Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay for the 2015 awards and relabeled again as Online Game of the Year for the 2019 awards.
 * Online Game of the Year (2014, 2019—present)
 * Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay (2015—2018)

Social Networking/Web Based Game of the Year
A genre award for Social Networking Game of the Year was introduced for the 2010 awards. Social networking games were defined as games that "connect people through a collective game experience, allowing quick, easy, and fun interactions between real-life friends". The genre category for "Social Networking" was not offered for 2013, and a "Game of the Year" award for Web Based Game of the Year was offered. Web based games were described as "titles played within a web browser and can include a variety of genres such as social networking games, MMOs, RPGs, Action games. These titles are tailored to the technical parameters of web browsers (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox) and demonstrate a skilled usage of linking, sharing, and work equally well across multiple form factors and input mechanisms". Web Based Game of the Year was featured in the rules & procedures for 2014, but there were not any finalists named for the category.
 * Social Networking Game of the Year (2010—2012)
 * Web Based Game of the Year (2013)

Developers and publishers
Blizzard Entertainment has developed the most winners and is tied with Bungie and DICE for having developed the most finalists with eight. Origin Systems, Playfish, and Zynga are the only developers with back-to-back wins. Treyarch has developed the most finalists without having a winner. 343 Industries, DICE, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch have finalists named for both Online Gameplay and Connectivity. Zynga is the only developer/publisher with a finalist for the Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay and Social Networking Game of the Year.

Electronic Arts has published the most finalists and winners, and is one of two publishers with back-to-back wins. The other publisher with back-to-back wins is Zynga. Ubisoft has published the most finalists without having a winner.

Franchises
The most nominated franchises have been Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo. Halo won the most awards with three, with Call of Duty and Battlefield having won twice. The only other two-time winning franchise is Ultima, which is also the only franchise with back-to-back wins in this category.

There have been numerous games that have been nominated multiple times: Ultima Online is the only game to have won twice, and is one of three games nominated three times, with the other games being Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Destiny 2. Fortnite and Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker are the only games that have lost on their first nomination and win on their second nomination.
 * Ultima Online won in 1998, the expansion pack The Second Age won the Online Role-Playing Game of the Year in 1999, and the expansion pack Renaissance was nominated in 2001.
 * MechWarrior 4: Vengeance won in 2001, and the expansion pack Black Knight was nominated in 2002.
 * FarmVille was nominated for Online Gameplay and won Social Networking Game of the Year in 2010.
 * Battlefield 3 was nominated for both Online Gameplay and Connectivity in 2012.
 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was nominated for both Online Gameplay and Connectivity in 2012.
 * Call of Duty: Black Ops II was nominated for both Online Gameplay and Connectivity in 2013.
 * Halo 4 was nominated for Online Gameplay and won Connectivity in 2013.
 * Borderlands 2 was nominated in 2013 and 2014.
 * Diablo III was nominated in 2013 and 2014.
 * World of Tanks won in 2014, and the Xbox 360 version was nominated in 2015.
 * Destiny won in 2015, and the expansion pack The Taken King was nominated in 2016.
 * Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft was nominated in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
 * Destiny 2 was nominated in 2018, the expansion pack Forsaken was nominated in 2019, and the expansion pack Shadowkeep was nominated in 2020.
 * Fortnite was nominated in 2018, and won in 2019.
 * Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker was nominated in 2022, and won in 2023.