Apex Legends devs Respawn win Oscar for short film Colette

Respawn Entertainment has won an Oscar for their short film Colette at the 93rd Academy Awards last night. 

The studio has made history at the awards show by being the first video game studio to be nominated, and win, an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. Colette was made in collaboration with Oculus and filmmakers Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard for the VR game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. 

Colette tells the story of former French Resistance fighter Colette Marin-Catherine who, after meeting a young history student, is inspired to return to Germany after 74 years to visit the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp that she lost her younger brother to during the Nazi regime.

The 24-minute short was originally found in the Gallery element of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond which featured a collection of documentaries focusing on World War II veterans. The short also won the award for Best Short at the Big Sky Festival before it went on to join the Oscars 2021 winners list.

Upon winning the award, Giacchino and Doyard made sure to thank Electronic Arts, Oculus, and Respawn - the latter of which put out their own tweet thanking the academy noting: “we're over the moon about Colette's Best Documentary (Short Subject) Oscars win tonight! From Vince, Peter, and all of us at Respawn, we are humbled and honored. Thank you.”

Respawn are primarily known for developing Apex Legends, Titanfall, and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, as well as a "super exciting" new game that looks as if it’ll shift the studio’s focus onto a new IP. The team is also bringing Apex Legends on mobile devices later this year, with regional tests taking place as soon as Spring 2021.

Catch up with everything big that happened during The Academy Awards last night with our Oscars 2021 recap.