Commenting on the decision, Festival Artistic Director Chris Robinson said, "Since the mid-1990s, we've been trying to find a way to seamlessly integrate videogame animation into OIAF competitions. We found that the best way for us to acknowledge the outstanding work being done in gameplay animation was by encouraging the submission of non-game play components."

Examples of non-gameplay animation include:

• Trailers previewing a new video game
• Cinematic cut scenes, a break in the gameplay action that is used to further the plot of the video game

The good news is there is no entry fee, but all entries for this year’s competition must be received by May 18th. The deadline for preview DVDs is June 1st.

Industry professionals are hailing the creation of the new category. Yves Bordeleau, studio director at Montreal’s Cyanide Studios, the company behind the upcoming release of Game of Thrones, says that the artwork present in video games plays a vital role in promotion of the product and deserves to be recognized.

"I am really happy to see this new category addition for competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival,” said Bordeleau. “As video games evolve, the need to immerse the player into complex worlds is now mandatory; hence the importance of high quality cinematic cut scenes. Be it in-game or pre-rendered, the value of these ‘non-gameplay’ sequences is so great that they are very often part of key promotional activities like game launch trailers and viral videos."

Cyanide is an independent and privately held video game studio. Based in Paris, it was created in 2000 and has risen to become one of the most productive game development studios in France. Since 2007, the company has maintained a facility in Montreal.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is one of the world’s leading animation events providing screenings, exhibits, workshops and entertainment since 1976. OIAF is an annual five-day event bringing art and industry together in a vibrant hub and attracting more than 28,000 artists, producers, students and animation fans from around the world. For more information, visit the OIAF website.