The Finalists for 2022

POCKET GAMER PEOPLE’S CHOICE

This is the only award nominated by and voted for by consumers, and recognises the best new game to have received a full release during the previous year. The People’s Choice Award runs both its submission and voting phases through PocketGamer.com, with the winner revealed on the night of the ceremony.

The People’s Choice Award is shortlisted by the expert journalists at Pocket Gamer following readers’ submissions, and voted for directly by the games playing public directly on www.pocketgamer.com – this year’s finalists can be found below and the voting is live here.

• Alien: Isolation
• Battlecruisers
• Cookie Run: Kingdom
• Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins
• Fantasian
• Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier
• Garena Free Fire MAX
• Huntdown
• League of Legends: Wild Rift
• MasterChef: Let’s Cook!
• My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge
• Northgard
• Pokémon Unite
• Retro Goal
• Runestrike
• RuPaul’s Drag Race Superstar
• Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat
• Tales of Luminaria
• Tears of Themis
• Tetris Beat

BEST ADVERTISING & UA

This accolade is for companies that support the ecosystem through enabling user acquisition or monetisation through advertising and are helping to drive this fast-growing business in games and developers to acquire more users.

• AdInMo
• Adverty
• AppLovin
• AudioMob
• Fyber
• HyprMX
• ironSource
• Meta Audience Network
• Mintegral
• Pangle
• Unity Ads
• Zynga

BEST ANALYTICS/DATA TOOL

Any company that supports developers and publishers develop their games and run marketing campaigns through analytics tools and/or providing data on market performance.

• Adjust
• AppsFlyer
• DeltaDNA by Unity
• Elixir by NumberEight
• Game IQ by data.ai
• GameAnalytics
• GameRefinery by Vungle
• Sensor Tower
• SeeIt by Simpool
• Tilting Point Analytics Platform

BEST DEVELOPER

Any mobile games company with 11 or more staff that has released a game, or successfully grown an existing game, during 2021, as well as successfully expanded their business and made an impact on the industry through innovation, creativity and other initiatives.

• DevSisters
• East Side Games
• Gameloft Brisbane
• Garena
• miHoYo/HoYoverse
• Niantic
• Outplay Entertainment Ltd
• Pearl Abyss
• Rovio Entertainment
• Snowprint Studios
• Space Ape Games
• Trailmix Limited
• Tripledot Studios
• ustwo games

BEST GAAS TOOLS & TECH

This award recognises the companies that are supporting live games on the market through back-end services to ensure game servers run smoothly and help developers implement special online features.

• Azure PlayFab
• ChilliConnect by Unity
  
• GameSparks / AWS GameTech
• Gridly
• now.gg
• OpenBack
• Photon
• Tenjin

BEST AUDIO/VISUAL ACCOMPLISHMENT

This accolade is for any game pushing the boundaries of the medium through audio and/or visual accomplishments. To be eligible for this award, games must have been given a full release (or received a significant and noteworthy expansion) during 2021.

• Beatstar – Touch Your Music
• Blind Drive
• Bloodshore
• Genshin Impact
• Hitman Sniper: The Shadows
• Inked: A Tale of Love
  
• LEGO Star Wars: Castaways
• Revived Witch
• The Oregon Trail
• Unmaze

BEST GAME ENGINE

This award is open to third-party tech companies that provide game engines that help power mobile games development.

• Blackspace (Pearl Abyss)
• Cocos Creator / Cocos2d-x
• Godot
• IdleKit (East Side Games)
• Lua (Roblox)
• Raylib
• Unity
• Unreal Engine

BEST STORYTELLING

This award recognises games that show stellar writing and narrative design. To be eligible for this award, games must have been given a full release during 2021, or for titles released before this date have received significant new content in the last year.

• Alien: Isolation
• Argo’s Choice
• Bloodshore
• Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins
• Five Dates
• I Saw Black Clouds
• Kathy Rain: Director’s Cut
• Marvel Hero Tales
• NUTS
• Overboard!
• Recontact:London Cyber Puzzle
• The Oregon Trail

RISING STAR

This special award recognises a person from any corner of the globe who has demonstrated a considerable amount of success, influence, and impact despite their relatively recent arrival within the mobile games industry.

A new addition since 2020, this award is selected directly by the organisation committee of the Mobile Games Awards.

TO BE ANNOUNCED DURING THE AWARDS CEREMONY IN APRIL.

BEST TOOLS PROVIDER

This award is open to any company providing tools for developers to help make games for mobile platforms. This does not include game engines.

• AWS Game Tech
• Anzu.io
• Beacon by Rovio
• Game UI Database
• Geeklab
• Ludo.ai
• PlaytestCloud
• RichCast
• Simpool
• Tournament SDK by Gimmebreak (with Exit Games)
• Reality Gaming Group
• wappier

BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY

Any recruitment agency that over the last year has supported mobile game companies in finding and employing the best staff to develop new games, create new tools or offer key services.

• Aardvark Swift
• Amiqus
• Datascope
• Expand
• Games Factory Talents
• Lovegrove Consulting
• OPMjobs
• Power Up Talent

BEST SERVICE PROVIDER

This award is for any third-party service provider or outsourcer that supports developers in making games, whether through art, audio, trailers, UX, payment provision or other services.

• Agora
• Amber Studio
• Anzu.io
• GameBake
• Pollen VC
• PTW
• Xsolla
• ZEBEDEE

BEST LIVE OPS

This award recognises the impact of significant updates, in-game events or excellent community management in the last year for games released previously, that have helped take a game to the next level and sustain a title’s life.

• AFK Arena
• Angry Birds Friends
• Black Desert Mobile
• Clash Royale
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Magic: The Gathering Arena
• MARVEL Contest of Champions
• PUBG MOBILE
• Star Trek: Fleet Command
• State of Survival
• Subway Surfers
• Summoners War: Sky Arena

BEST QA & LOCALISATION SERVICE PROVIDER

This accolade awards companies that have supported mobile games over the last year in the areas of quality assurance and localisation, ensuring that both new releases and updates go live with as few hiccups as possible, and are localised appropriately for target markets.

• Amber Studio
• GameScribes
• Keywords Studios
• LocalizeDirect
• MoGi Group
• PTW
• Quantic Lab
• Testronic
• TransPerfect
• Universally Speaking

BEST INDIE DEVELOPER

This accolade recognises the achievements of a small team of developers that have released a game, or successfully grown an existing game, during the last year.

• Bontegames
• Dumpling Design
  
• GameTomo
• Humita
• inkle
• Joon, Pol, Muutsch, Char & Torfi
• Kuyi Mobile
• Megapop Games
• Perchang
• Playbae
• Rikzu Games
• Silver Lining Studio
  
• Trefle & Co Game

BEST PR/MARKETING TEAM

This award recognises the best third-party PR agency or internal marketing team that has created campaigns fuelling the growth of games over the last year. This can be through any medium, including online, TV or other.

• Big Games Machine
• Decibel-PR
• Dimoso
• Raptor PR
• Scopely
• Square Enix Montreal (Hitman Sniper: The Shadows)
• Swipe Right PR
• Tilting Point
• ustwo games
• Wizards of the Coast

BEST INFLUENCER MARKETING AGENCY

Successfully connecting brands with their target audience in an age of increased digital noise is no mean feat. This new award recognises and celebrates the team that has managed its influencer outreach better than its competitors.

• AFK Creators
• GameInfluencer
• Kairos
• Knowscope
• Matchmade
• Nativex
• Opera Event
• WeQ

BEST CHALLENGER APP STORE

As mobile continues its expansion into new markets and Google Play and Apple App Store open up a little, third-party app stores become ever more important part of the industry. This award celebrates the other portals that have done the most to grow and innovate during last year.

• Amazon Appstore
• Aptoide
• Geeklab
• Huawei AppGallery
• Mobango
• Opera Mobile Store
• Samsung Galaxy Store
• TapTap

INVESTOR OF THE YEAR

Another category introduced last year, this award showcases either an investor or investment within the mobile games industry that has played a vital role in the success and growth of a company.

• 1Up Ventures
• Agnitio Capital
• Bill Shihara
• Bitkraft
• Hiro Capital
• LVP
• Makers Fund
• MY.GAMES Venture Capital
• Play Ventures
• Wales Interactive

BEST PUBLISHER

Celebrating a company that has supported another developer in releasing a game on mobile devices during the last year, whether through publishing support, marketing, co-development or investment.

• Annapurna Interactive
• Gameloft
• HandyGames
• Jam City
• Kwalee
• Miniclip
• MyGamez
• NetEase
• Netmarble
• Tamatem Games
• Tencent
• Tilting Point
• Voodoo
• Zynga

BEST INNOVATION

Any developer, or technology company that is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on mobile devices through a new technology, be it hardware or software. This can be an innovative tool or unique use of technology that benefits the industry as a whole.

• askblu.ai SaaS Platform
• Creative Mobile Games Machine Learning
• Digital Asset Trading Platform by Reality Gaming Group
• GamesForest.Club
• LEGO Advanced Procedural Pipeline by Gameloft Montreal
• MobileVoice by Tapjoy
• Mochi by Loveshark
• Online WorkSpace (OWS) by tiplay
• Playing for the Planet’s Green Game Jam
• SimIt by Simpool
• Upland
• WAM.app

GAME OF THE YEAR

This award recognises the finest mobile gaming experience released last year based on creativity, play mechanics, technological, artistic and aural achievement, innovation, audience engagement, and both critical and commercial success.

To be eligible for this award, games must have been given a full release during 2021.

• Another Eden
• Beatstar – Touch Your Music
• Cookie Run Kingdom
• FarmVille 3
• Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier
• Garena Free Fire MAX
• Hitman Sniper: The Shadows
• Hundred Days – Winemaking Simulator
• Indies’ Lies
• Love & Pies – Merge
• Magic: The Gathering Arena
• Moncage
• Old Friends Dog Game
• One Hand Clapping
• Overboard!
• PUBG: New State
• Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales
• The Oregon Trail
• The Witcher: Monster Slayer
• Townscaper

MOBILE LEGEND

This special lifetime achievement award recognises a person from anywhere in the world who has achieved a considerable amount of success in their career and has acted as a pioneer in the mobile games space.

The Mobile Legend is a special award to recognise an outstanding contribution to the mobile games industry selected directly by the organisation committee of the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards.

TO BE ANNOUNCED DURING THE AWARDS CEREMONY IN APRIL.