The Winners of 2020

SPONSORED BY

GAME OF THE YEAR

WINNER: Call of Duty: Mobile (Activision)

This award recognises the best mobile game released over the preceding year based on creativity, innovation and success.

FINALISTS:

• Bad North (Raw Fury Games)
• Dungeon Faster (Old Oak Den)
• Elder Scrolls: Blades (Bethesda)
• Grindstone (Capybara Games)
• Manifold Garden (William Chyr Studio)
• Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
• Neo Cab (Fellow Traveller)
• Old School RuneScape (Jagex)
• Pokémon Masters (DeNA)
• Raid: Shadow Legends (Plarium)
• Rumble Stars (Frogmind Games)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo)
• Sky: Children of the Light (thatgamecompany)
• Star Trek Fleet Command (Scopely)

SPONSORED BY

BEST DEVELOPER

WINNER: TiMi Studios

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

FINALISTS:

• DeNA
• East Side Games
• Feral Interactive
• HARDlight
• Mediatonic Games
• Niantic
• Plarium Global
• PlayRix
• Simogo
• thatgamecompany
• ustwo games

SPONSORED BY

BEST INDIE DEVELOPER

WINNER: Starberry Games

This accolade recognises the achievements of a team of up to 10 developers that have released a game, or successfully grown an existing game, during the preceding year.

FINALISTS:

• Agens
• Ant Workshop
• Airraport
• Crescent Moon Games
• Hidden Layer
• Italic Pig
• Noodlecake Studios
• Stave Studios
• ThroughLine Games
• Thoughtfish
• Triband

BEST PUBLISHER

WINNER: Scopely

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

FINALISTS:

• AppLovin – Lion Studios
• BoomBit Games
• Gismart
• HandyGames
• Kwalee
• Netmarble
• Playdigious
• Rogue Games
• Tamatem
• Tilting Point
• Voodoo

BEST GAME ENGINE

WINNER: Unity

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

FINALISTS:

• Black Desert
• Buildbox
• Cocos Creator
• Cocos2d-x
• Construct 3
• Gideros Mobile
• Unreal Engine

SPONSORED BY

BEST TOOLS PROVIDER

WINNER: AppOnboard

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

FINALISTS:

• Articy Software
• COALA
• Game of Whales
• Nekki
• QUASU.io
• Simpool
• Wappier

SPONSORED BY

BEST ADVERTISING & UA

WINNER: Facebook

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

FINALISTS:

• AdTiming
• Anzu.io
• Bidease
• Chartboost
• Fyber
• Google
• ironSource
• Minimob
• MoPub by Twitter

BEST MARKETING TEAM

WINNER: Rovio Entertainment

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

FINALISTS:

• Imperia Online JSC
• It’s Always Sunny: The Gang Goes Mobile [East Side Games]
• Tony Hawk’s Skate Jam [Maple Media]
• Mattel Digital Games & Creative Mobile Marketing Team
• Outplay Entertainment
• Plarium Global
• Star Trek Fleet Command, Asia Pacific [Scopely]
• Tamatem
• Tilting Point
• Wooga
• Zynga

BEST ANALYTICS/DATA TOOL

WINNER: App Annie

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

FINALISTS:

• App Ape
• AppsFlyer
• deltaDNA
• GameAnalytics
• GameRefinery Game Intelligence / Market Intelligence
• Ogury
• Reflection
• SensorTower
• SOOMLA

BEST QA & LOCALISATION SERVICE PROVIDER

WINNER: Universally Speaking

This accolade awards companies that support mobile games over the preceding year in the areas of quality assurance and localisation, ensuring that both new releases and updates went live with as few problems as possible and were localised appropriately for target markets.

FINALISTS:

• Amber Studio
• GameScribes
• LocalizeDirect
• MoGi
• Tamatem
• Testronic

BEST INNOVATION

WINNER: Apple Arcade

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

FINALISTS:

• askblu.ai
• Buildbox Software
• Cascadeur
• Simpool
• Lab Cave Ad Mediation Analytic Platform

BEST GAAS TOOLS & TECH

WINNER: ChilliConnect

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.

FINALISTS:

• Amazon Game Tech
• Google Cloud
• Photon Quantum
• Microsoft Game Stack
• Tenjin
• XtraLife

SPONSORED BY

BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY

WINNER: Aardvark Swift

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

FINALISTS:

• Amiqus
• Datascope
• Games Factory Talents
• OPM Response

BEST AUDIO/VISUAL ACCOMPLISHMENT

WINNER: Black Desert Mobile (Pearl Abyss)

This accolade showcases any game pushing the boundaries of the medium through audio and/or visual accomplishments.

FINALISTS:

• Alien: Blackout (D3 Go!)
• Assemble With Care (ustwo games)
• Elder Scrolls: Blades (Bethesda)
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (Niantic)
• Manifold Garden (William Chyr Studio)
• Monomals (PICOMY)
• Ordia (Loju)
• Raid: Shadow Legends (Plarium)
• Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo)
• Sky: Children of the Light (thatgamecompany)
• The Gardens Between (The Voxel Agents)

SPONSORED BY

BEST STORYTELLING

WINNER: Telling Lies (Sam Barlow)

This award recognises games released over the past year that showed stellar writing and narrative design.

FINALISTS:

• Assemble With Care (ustwo games)
• Captain We Have a Problem (DesignLayout)
• Dear Esther (Sumo Digital)
• Forgotton Anne (Throughline Games)
• Inmost (Chucklefish)
• Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
• Neo Cab (Fellow Traveller)
• Six Ages (A Sharp LLC)
• The Stillness of the Wind (Fellow Traveller)

BEST LIVE OPS

WINNER: Empires & Puzzles (Small Giant Games)

This award showcases the impact of significant updates, in-game events or excellent community management over the preceeding year for games released in 2019 or before, that have helped take a title to the next level and sustain its life.

FINALISTS:

• Asphalt 9: Legends (Gameloft)
• Avakin Life (Lockwood Publishing)
• June’s Journey: Hidden Objects (Wooga)
• MARVEL Strike Force (FoxNext)
• Merge Dragons! (Zynga)
• Old School RuneScape (Jagex)
• Pokémon GO (Niantic)
• Tanks a Lot! (Boombit)
• VIP Baloot (Tamatem)
• Warhammer: Chaos & Conquest (Tilting Point)
• Yahtzee With Buddies (Scopely)

SPONSORED BY

BEST MOBILE ESPORT

WINNER: Clash Royale (Supercell)

A new addition for 2020, this award recognises and celebrates the most impressively implemented and strategically sustained mobile esport experience of the past 12 months.

FINALISTS:

• Arena of Valour / Honor of Kings (Tencent)
  
• Asphalt 9: Legends (Gameloft)
  
• Clash of Clans (Supercell)
  
• Free Fire (Sea Group / Tencent)
  
• Guns of Boom (Game Insight)
  
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (moonton)
  
• PUBG Mobile (Tencent)
  
• Summoners War (Com2uS)
  
• World of Tanks Blitz (Wargaming)

BEST PARTY GAMING

WINNER: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)

A brand new addition for 2020, this award sets out to recognise the title able to deliver the most socially enthralling offline multiplayer – that’s local, same room, pass-the-controller – gaming experience of the past year.

FINALISTS:

• Hogwash (Bossa Studios)
  
• Pac-Man Party Royale (Bandai Namco)
  
• Raiders of the North Sea (Dire Wolf Digital)
  
• Too Many Cooks (Finifugu && Friends)
  
• Zombicide: Tactics & Shotguns (Asmodee Digital)

BEST SERVICE PROVIDER

WINNER: SuperScale

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

FINALISTS:

• Anzu.io
• Bidease
• Braavo
• Dimoso
• Lab Cave
• Simpool
• Skillz
• Starloop Studios
• yellowHEAD’s Creative Services

RISING STAR

WINNER: Simay Dinç (Co-Founder, Recontact Games)

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

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.

MOBILE LEGEND

WINNER: Bernard Kim (President of Publishing, Zynga)

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 was 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.

SPONSORED BY

POCKET GAMER PEOPLE’S CHOICE

WINNER: Sky: Children of the Light (thatgamecompany)

This is the only award voted for by consumers and recognises the best mobile gaming experience released during the past year. This award was open for voting through PocketGamer.com following an initial round of open nominations.

The People’s Choice Award was shortlisted by the expert journalists at Pocket Gamer and voted for directly by the games playing public directly on www.pocketgamer.com