Each award recipient is highlighted in blue.
Best Game
- Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Ken Birdwell, Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly - Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
- Paul Glancey, Chris Roberts, Paul Cross, Fiona Sperry, Alex Ward - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij - Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi - World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Mark Kern, Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo
New Studio
- Crytek (Far Cry)
- Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli - Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes)
- Michael Lewis - inXile entertainment (The Bard's Tale)
- Brian Fargo, Matthew Findley - Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
- Chris Avellone, Chris Jones, Darren Monahan, Chris Parker, Feargus Urquhart - The Behemoth (Alien Hominid)
- John Baez, Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, Dan Paladin
Excellence in Audio
- Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios)
- C Paul Johnson, Marty O'Donnell, Jay Weinland - Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Spark Unlimited / Activision)
- Jack Grillo, Caleb Sweazy - Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
- Christian Antkow, John Carmack, Tim Willits - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Craig Conner, Allan Walker - Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Yu Miyake
Character Design
- Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Bill Fletcher, Bill Van Buren - Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi - Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
- Nicolas Bouvier, Mickael Labat - Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Computer Entertainment America)
- Travis Kotzebue, Dev Madan - World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Brandon Idol, Chris Metzen
Game Design
- Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij - Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly - Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
- Masamichi Abe, Hino Shigefumi - World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Chris Metzen, Rob Pardo
Technology
- Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Yahn Bernier, Brian Jacobson - Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
- Alex Fry, Ciaran Rooney, Paul Ross, Hamish Young - Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
- John Carmack, Robert Duffy, Jan Paul van Waveren - EyeToy: AntiGrav (Harmonix Music Systems / Sony Computer Entertainment America)
- Eran Egozy, Eric Malafeew - Far Cry (Crytek / Ubisoft Entertainment)
- Timur Davidenko, Vladimir Kajalin, Andrey Khonich, Anton Knyazyev, Cevat Yerli
Visual Arts
- World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Sam Didier, William Petras, Justin Thavirat - Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
- Andy Chang, Seneca Menard, Kenneth Scott - Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Viktor Antonov, Randy Lundeen - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
- Hiroyuki Hayashi, Chie Kawabe - Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
- Mickael Labat, Patrick Limoges
Writing
- Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Marc Laidlaw - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Dan Houser, James Worrall - Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (High Voltage Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Matt Entin, Ed Kuehnel, Eric Nofsinger - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
- Nate Bihldorff, Ryota Kawade - Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Obsidian Entertainment / LucasArts Entertainment)
- Chris Avellone
Innovation
- Donkey Konga (Namco / Nintendo)
- Hiroshi Igarashi, Hiroyuki Onoda - I Love Bees (4orty2wo Entertainment / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Elan Lee - Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi
Four special honors, selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards advisory board, were also presented at the ceremony.
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Eugene Jarvis - legendary arcade game developer
First Penguin Award
- Richard Allan Bartle, Ph.D - founding father of Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs)
Maverick Award
- Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj - founders and leaders of Blast Theory, an internationally renowned interactive media artists' group
IGDA Award for Community Contribution
- Sheri Graner Ray - revered advocate of women's interests in game development
Pictures are available in the Photos page.
- IGDA Names Recipients of the 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards (March 10, 2005)
- IGDA to Honor Richard Bartle, Founding Father of MUDs; Sheri Graner Ray, a Women's Advocate; Founders of Interactive Media Artists Group, Blast Theory; With Choice Awards (February 24, 2005)
- Legendary Arcade Game Developer Eugene P. Jarvis To Receive The IGDA's Award For Lifetime Achievement At 5th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (February 17, 2005)
- Nominees Announced for 5th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (February 14, 2005)
- Nominations Open for 5th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (January 3, 2005)