The Finalists for 2025

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.

• Balatro
• Battle Cars: Nitro PvP Shooter
• Bloons Card Storm
• Etheria : Restart
• Fortnite
• Gordian Quest
• I Am Your Beast
• Lara Croft: Guardian of Light
• Marvel Mystic Mayhem
• Monument Valley 3
• Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Scattered Verse
• Shogun Showdown
• Songs of Conquest
• Squid Game: Unleashed
• Sunset Hills
• The Star Named EOS
• Thronefall
• What the Clash?

BEST ADVERTISING & UA SERVICE

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.

• AdJoe
• Almedia
• AppLovin
• AppsFlyer
• Digital Turbine
• Exmox
• Gamelight
• Geeklab
• HyprMx
• MAF
• Mistplay
• Mintegral
• Moloco
• Unity Ads

BEST GAME INNOVATION

A new addition for 2025, this award celebrates the innovation developers inject into games released (or substantially updated) between June 2024 and June 2025, often transforming the player experience from the familiar into the extraordinary.

• Balatro
• Battle Cars: Nitro PvP Shooter
• Dredge Mobile
• Monopoly GO! [Monthly Partner / Crossover Events]
• Suzerain [Kingdom of Rizia DLC]
• The Electric State: Kid Cosmo
• Thronefall
• Words With Friends [Solo Mini Games]
• Zynga Poker [Multi-Table Tournaments]

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 InSight
• AdsAdvisor
• Antidote.gg
• AppFollow
• AppMagic
• AppsFlyer
• Audiencelab by Geeklab
• ByteBrew
• Dive
• GameAnalytics
• Sensor Tower (Data.ai)
• Swaarm

BEST AUDIO ACCOMPLISHMENT

This accolade rewards a game that has enriched the player experience by layering it with exceptional audio. To be eligible for this award, games must have been given a full release (or received a significant and noteworthy expansion that showcases new audio accomplishment) between June 2024 and June 2025.

• Candy Crush Soda Saga
• Delta Force Mobile
• Disney Solitaire
• Dungeons of Dreadrock 2 – The Dead King’s Secret
• Marvel Mystic Mayhem
• Monument Valley 3
• Once Human
• PBJ – The Musical
• The Electric State: Kid Cosmo

BEST PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDER

Celebrating the payment service provision – webshop, e-commerce platform, payment gateway, etc – that best supports game studios through its range of features and integrations geared towards a seamless payment experience and specifically suited to mobile gaming applications.

• Aghanim
• Appcharge
• Coda Payments
• FastSpring
• Neon Pay
• Stash
• Tamatem Plus
• Tipalti
• Xsolla
• ZBD

BEST GAME ENGINE/CREATION PLATFORM

This award is open to third-party tech companies that provide game engines or game creation platforms that are instrumental in enabling or powering mobile games development.

• Buildbox
• Cocos
• Dorian
• Godot
• Highrise Studio / Ideas (Pocket Worlds)
• HypeHype
• Roblox
• Unity (Unity Technologies)
• Unreal Engine (Epic Games)

BEST VISUAL ACHIEVEMENT

This accolade rewards a game that has elevated the player experience through the use of remarkable graphical quality. To be eligible for this award, games must have been given a full release (or received a significant and noteworthy expansion that showcases new visuals) between June 2024 and June 2025.

• Dredge Mobile
• Kingdom Rush Alliance
• Marvel Mystic Mayhem
• Marvel Strike Force
• Midnight Girl
• Monument Valley 3
• PBJ – The Musical
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Thronefall
• Venue: Relaxing Design Game
• Zenless Zone Zero

BEST CODEV / OUTSOURCING STUDIO

This award recognises any co-development partnership or third-party service provider / outsourcer that supports developers in the making of games, whether through art, audio, trailers, UX, or other related services.

• Allcorrect
• Amber
• Exient
• GodSpeed Games
• Keywords
• Kuuasema
• Pingle
• Room 8
• Shutterstock Studios
• Side
• TransPerfect Gaming: The Ultimate Co-Dev and Outsourcing Partner
• Virtuos

BEST TOOL PROVIDER

This award is open to any company providing dedicated tools for developers that assist in the development, running, and support of games for mobile platforms. (This does not include game engines or creation tools – please see separate relevant category.)

• Antidote.gg
• AppHarbr
• Applivery
• Backnd
• Geeklab
• Gridly
• Layer
• Metaplay
• Photon
• Playgama
• PlaySafe ID
• Quvy

BEST DEVELOPER

Any mobile games company with 11 or more staff that has released a game, or successfully grown an existing game, between June 2024 and June 2025, as well as expanded their business and made an impact on the industry through innovation, creativity and/or other initiatives.

• AN Games
• Century Games
• DENA
• Dream Games
• King
• Microfun
• Peak Games
• Pearl Abyss
• SciPlay
• Snowprint Studios
• Supercell
• SuperPlay
• Tripledot Studios
• ustwo games

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. This award was again open for submissions (it was previously selected directly by the organisation committee of the Mobile Games Awards).

A new addition since 2020, this is the third year this award was open for nominations. The winner is subsequently selected by the organisation committee of the Mobile Games Awards.

TO BE ANNOUNCED DURING THE AWARDS CEREMONY IN AUGUST.

BEST QA & LOCALISATION SERVICE PROVIDER

This accolade awards companies that have supported mobile games between June 2024 and June 2025 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.

• Allcorrect
• Amber
• Applivery
• CRAFTSMAN+
• GameScribes
• iXie Gaming
• Keywords Studios
• LocalizeDirect
• Side
• Tamatem Games
• Testronic
• TransPerfect Gaming Solutions

BEST USE OF IP

Another new entry this year, this category highlights the most impressive implementation of an intellectual property in a mobile game released – or substantially updated – between June 2024–2025.

• Avatar Legends: Realms Collide
• DC: Dark Legion
• Disney Solitaire
• Dunk City Dynasty
• Empires & Puzzles x WWE Superstar Quest
• Game of Thrones: Legends
• Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery
• MARVEL Mystic Mayhem
• Monopoly GO! x Star Wars
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Stumble Guys x My Hero Academia
• The Electric State: Kid Cosmo

BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN

This award recognises the most impactful and successful marketing campaign, responsible for directly turbo-charging the growth of a game between June 2024 and June 2025. This can be through any medium, including online, TV, IRL or other.

• Game of Thrones: Legends Worldwide Launch (Zynga)
• Go for the Gold’ with John Stamos (SciPlay/Goldfish Casino)
• Hay Day x Gordon Ramsay (Supercell)
• Monopoly GO!: ‘Friendship Pays’ (Scopely)
• Monument Valley 3 (ustwo games)
• PlanetPlay’s Make Green Moves
• Royal Kingdom: Celebrity Campaign (Dream Games)
• War Robots: ‘Meme It Till You Make It’ (MY.GAMES)
• Warhammer 40000: Tacticus ‘Adeptus Custodes Teaser’ (Snowprint Studios)
• Words with Friends x Real Housewives (Zynga)
• WoT Blitz x deadmau5 ‘Blitz Hits Different’
• Zynga Poker x Rob Riggle (Zynga)

BEST APPGALLERY GAME

Returning for 2025, a special award designed in association with HUAWEI to specifically highlight the most impressive gaming experience available on the AppGallery platform, a global marketplace for Android devices since 2011.

• Evony: The King’s Return
• Gardenscapes
• Hero Wars: Alliance
• Honor of Kings
• PUBG Mobile
• Standoff 2
• Summoners War
• Tree of Savior: NEO

BEST APP STORE

Google Play and Apple App Store may dominate, but third-party app stores become ever more important part of the industry as mobile continues its expansion into new markets. This award celebrates these other portals that have done the most to grow between June 2024 and June 2025.

• Applivery
• Aptoide
• Epic Games Store
• Huawei AppGallery
• Oppo Software Store
• Samsung Galaxy Store
• Skich
• TapTap

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, between June 2024 and June 2025.

• AbhiTechGames
• Bart Bonte
• Black Salt Games
• Coleplay
• kamibox
• LocalThunk
• Patrones y Escondites
• Rusty Lake
• Shatterproof Games
• Snapbreak Games
• Tapblaze
• Torpor Games

BEST USE OF BLOCKCHAIN

A revised category for 2025, which showcases the company that has demonstrated the most impressive integration of blockchain technology within the mobile games landscape between the period of June 2024 and June 2025.

• Animoca Brands (inc The Sandbox)
• Craft World
• Diamond Dreams
• FIFA Rivals
• GOAT Gaming/Mighty Bear
• Immortal Rising 2
• Pixels
• Saga
• TapNation
• Tokyo Beast
• VOYA Games
• ZBD

BEST FOREVER FRANCHISE

An award dedicated to the games that weave themselves into players’ lives, and which recognises the impact of significant updates, in-game events, excellent community management, or esports activity that has ensured the game’s momentum through the past 12 months.

• Black Desert Mobile
• Candy Crush Saga
• Clash Royale
• CookieRun: Kingdom
• Hill Climb Racing
• Identity V
• Monopoly GO!
• Royal Match
• Subway Surfers
• Summoners War
• The Battle of Polytopia
• Toon Blast
• War Robots
• Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus
• Wuthering Waves

BEST USE OF AI

“Hey Siri: which company over the June 2024 and June 2025 period has showcased the most impressive use of AI for mobile game creation?”

• Antidote.gg
• Bitmagic
• Diamond Dreams
• Elevatix
• Layer
• Ludo
• Modl.ai
• Quvy
• Replikant
• TapNation

BEST PUBLISHER

Celebrating the company that has brought the strongest new game line-up to market on mobile devices between June 2024 and June 2025, whether through in-house/third-party publishing support, marketing, co-development, or investment.

• Com2uS
• Crunchyroll Games
• FunPlus
• Habby
• HOMA
• Jam City
• Miniclip
• Nazara
• NetEase Games
• Playstack
• Scopely
• Tamatem Games
• Tilting Point
• Voodoo
• Zynga

GAME OF THE YEAR

This award recognises the finest mobile gaming experience released over the past 12 months 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 (or received the most substantial of updates) between June 2024 and June 2025.

• Avatar Legends: Realms Collide
• Balatro
• Candy Crush Solitaire
• Capybara Go!
• DC: Dark Legion
• Disney Solitaire
• Dredge Mobile
• Kingdom Rush Alliance
• Kingshot
• Leaving Home
• mo.co
• Monument Valley 3
• PBJ – The Musical
• Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
• Royal Kingdom
• Shogun Showdown
• Suzerain (Kingdom of Rizia DLC)
• The Electric State: Kid Cosmo
• Thronefall
• Zenless Zone Zero

MOBILE LEGEND

This illustrious lifetime achievement award recognises a person from any mobile gaming territory who has achieved a considerable amount of success in their career and has acted as a pioneer in, and made an outstanding contribution to, the mobile games space.

The Mobile Legend is a special award, selected directly by the organisation committee of the Mobile Games Awards.

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 AUGUST.