Best Updated Game of the Year
Brawl Stars kicked off the year with some amazing changes driven by its new producers, this resulted in some great gameplay shifts and it earning more by May 2024 than it did in the entirety of 2023 [Pocketgamer.biz]
Best Multiplayer Game
NetEase’s StumbleGuys killer, Eggy Party, was slow to spread around the globe, gradually drip-dripping new regions into its servers, but once it finally reached us we were enamoured. Our Pocket Gamer Awards 2024 Best Multiplayer Game aren’t the first plaudits it collected, with them also grabbing for gold at the Google Play Awards earlier this year.
Best Game We’re Still Playing
A worthy winner of one of the most hotly contested categories in this year’s awards. Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus isn’t just a success story with the fans as those of you who tune in to our podcast will know, it’s managed to lure in half of the podcasting squad.
Best Digital Board Game of the Year
There was absolutely zero doubt that Jimbo Balatro would end up picking up an award this year, we just weren’t sure which one it would be. It’s a hero indie that gets its claws right into you with a combination of juicy screen-shake, magnetic math and a phenomenal risk-reward system that encourages you to take full ownership of your failure. It’s definitely not poker, but it is this year’s Best Digital Board Game of the Year winner.
Best Family Game of the Year
My daughter got a Tamagotchi Uni for Christmas last year (I’m babysitting it as I write this, you should know), but none of us were expecting a game to launch itself into our lives so shortly after the Nightmare Egg itself did. But, launch it did, right at the start of the year, and despite that now being so long ago, it clearly resonated well with more than just our reviewer Jack, as the people have collectively spoken and they say it’s good, nay, the best, Family Game of the Year.
Best Puzzle Game of the Year
The 17th point and click adventure from long-time indie sweetheart Rusty Lake, Underground Blossom follows the life of a character told through memories spent in train stations. It’s poignant, and well deserving of this year’s award.
Best Action Game of the Year
More than a few of us on the team were willing to STAKE our reputation on Vampire Survivors picking up an award at this year’s award. It’s a combination of fantastic post-release content and an incredibly tight gameplay loop that, much like the best aRPGs, makes you feel like a grandmaster while you’re winning and a fool when you lose.
Best RPG of the Year
This fantastic slice-of-life simulation really stuck with members of our team once the perfect port (by notorious ‘good port do-ers’ Playdigious) came to mobile back in February of this year. Twisting the normally farming-focused efforts into a hunt for medicine, a quest for friends, and a mission to heal the unwell, made for a great story and something that felt immediately at home with touchscreen controls.
Best Mobile Publisher
Founded back in 2001, Miniclip have gone from strength to strength over the last twenty-three years. Their association with, and later acquisition of, the Subway Surfers brand has made them an incredibly familiar name, and they’ve never been afraid to stray from normal conventions, with them notorious for keeping their web-games portal going while others fled the scene.
Best Strategy Game of the Year
If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be writing about an open-world, seafaring pirate-themed game that features a seafaring raccoon called Rocky this year then I’ve have scoffed at you. Sea of Conquest has gone from strength to strength in its time since launch, with it now entering its fifth season and having an accompanying comic book series in the works.
Best Sports Game of the Year
It’s been a pretty weird few years for football games, with the annual Football Manager series giving this year a miss, EA losing the Fifa license, and eFootball (neé PES, of course) taking advantage of that by continuing to build up into a better and better form. Konami have played the long game here, and its definitely paying off worldwide now.
Best Platform Game of the Year
Little Nightmares is definitely the outsider here as it’s a port of something that thrilled and captured the imagination of people way back in 2017. It’s had a tricky journey to make it to mobile, with the rumour of a port originally confirmed back in 2022. We’re glad it made this journey, and clearly so are the fans, with a well deserved win for this atmospheric scare-fest.
Best Simulation Game of the Year
This is one of the most exciting awards for me and, I’ve got to admit, when I think of a category called ‘Simulation’ I really don’t expect to be saying that. I first spotted Roia when Scott from our video team made a short piece on it. I was immediately drawn in by the concept of creating pathways for water and its very clear that I wasn’t alone in finding great serenity in those hours I whiled away with it.
Best Roblox Game
I don’t know much about Roblox, and I’m pretty sure that if I asked my son what Murder Mystery 2 is he’d either grunt at me or say something like ‘Skibidi ohio’. Either way, fans of the title came out in droves, staving off the masses of others who came out to vote for their favourite Roblox game. It was a tight competition, so well done to the team for their well-deserved recognition.
Best Mobile Port
Well done to Balatro for being the only game to score more than a high-card, with – alongside Best Digital Board Game of the Year – its pair of awards.
Most Anticipated Game
Most Anticipated Game was a new award for us this year, spurred on by the increasing interest we’re seeing in our upcoming game reportage. Despite it only being announced back in the middle of October, Destiny: Rising clearly has garnered plenty of interest from the devoted console and PC fans and why wouldn’t it? We’ve already got some fantastic shooters on mobile, and this’ll fit right in.
Best Community
It’s been ten years of Marvel Contest of Champions now, and it still continues to shine, with new characters and storylines added in on the regular. I don’t think there’s a Marvel release out there that’s quite like it, and it’s clear that they’re doing something very, very right based on the sheer size of the community that came out and championed them in both the nominations and voting stages.
Best Mobile Developer
Supercell are the careful giants of the mobile gaming space, previously known for their slow and meticulous attitude toward releasing games until late. This past period has show that they can adapt however, with a new attitude toward development studios (Cells) as well as the acquisition of BeatStar developer Space Ape Games and quick movements on the development of several titles all while also redeveloping their existing giants: Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars.
Best eSports Game
Stumble Guys has been on a very long journey, and its recognition as an eSports success underlines exactly how vast that journey has been. Originally lambasted by some as a Fall Guys clone its development ramped up, it went through an unexpected acquisition by Scopely, and all while showing exactly how careful live ops can turn any game into a long-term success.
Mobile Game of the Year
Bloons TD 6 originally launched in 2018, what’s this doing here? That’s before I even started working at Pocket Gamer, and I’m basically furniture now. Well, while it did release six years ago, it’s continued to receive new content on a regular basis (for instance, The Glacial Trail was released in December 2023) and not only that but it’s also received new versions.
There were a few nominations throughout these awards that found a second life on mobile (such as the ports), as well as ones that have continued to develop over time (eSports, Community, Best Update), for us it made perfect sense that Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons TD 6 made it through to the shortlisting stage, in the least because of its incredibly refined Apple Arcade version that released recently. It’s clear that the public agreed with us as they swarmed our voting and made this phenomenal masterclass in Tower Defense into our Mobile Game of the Year.
