The New York Game Awards officially announced today that industry giant Sam Lake will be the latest recipient of the Andrew Yoon Legend Award. Sam Lake is the Creative Director of Remedy Entertainment, the mastermind behind titles such as Alan Wake and Control. By receiving this award, he will be joining the rank of those who received it prior to him, which includes Hideo Kojima, Tim Schafer, Todd Howard and many more.
In case you aren’t caught up on Remedy Entertainment or Sam Lake, he has played a significant role in creating some of the most iconic game franchises out there, including Max Payne, which was released in 2001, to Alan Wake in 2010, a title that received a sequel in 2023.
“What an honor it is to celebrate someone of Sam Lake’s caliber during the 14th annual New York Game Awards. You know a Remedy game when you see it, largely due to Sam Lake’s impact on the worlds he creates. It’s really cool to see how his 20-year career at Remedy has touched so many of our members and interns at the Circle, and we are thrilled to have him join the roster of esteemed game changers previously recognized with the Andrew Yoon Legend Award,” says Harold Goldberg, President and Co-Founder of The New York Videogame Critics Circle.
In an interview with IGN, Sam Lake sat down to discuss his feelings about the nomination and Remedy’s legacy, as well as some of the upcoming plans for the game studio going forward:
“It’s been close to 30 years now. Video games are a form of expression and art. I feel the exciting thing is that there is no set form or kind of street set of rules. We are still a very young medium that keeps on finding new ways and keeps on evolving.”
When it comes to Remedy Entertainment in particular, the studio has most recently been working on the Alan Wake II DLC, which also provided a bit of a teaser for Control 2, another piece of the Remedy Entertainment Universe puzzle. While there is no set date for Control 2 as of yet, it is a highly anticipated title and is bound to show off more of Lake’s and the rest of the team at Remedy’s greatness.
For those looking forward to the New York Game Awards, you still have a little while to wait. The 14th Annual Show will be taking place on January 21, 2025, live at SVA Theatre. This is an event that you can attend in person or watch live on YouTube, depending on your preference.
