Gaming

TIGA Games Industry Awards 2023: Finalists shortlist revealed!

Published

8 months ago

September 14, 2023

George Miller

TIGA Games Industry Awards 2023: Finalists shortlist revealed!

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Games, studios, education and service companies are in the running for a prestigious TIGA Games Industry Award

Ceremony will take place on the evening of Thursday November 16th at the iconic and historic Troxy venue in London

The finalists of the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2023 have been unveiled, and the shortlist features some of the most exciting games from the last 12 months, plus the cream of the UK’s game development, business and education community.

Continuing its long tradition of visiting historic and iconic venues, this year’s TIGA Awards presentation ceremony will take place on the evening of November 16th at Troxy, a spectacular Grade II-listed Art Deco entertainment venue in East London.

Dr Richard Wilson OBE, CEO of TIGA, said:

“The TIGA Games Industry Awards celebrate excellence in the video games industry. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations to our Awards and congratulations to all of our finalists. The finalist shortlist illustrates the depth of talent and creativity to be found amongst our game developers, service providers and educators. We’re excited to welcome everyone for an evening of celebration in November! Thank you to our sponsors for making this fantastic occasion possible.”

The TIGA Awards 2023 finalists across the Games and Business categories are:

GAMES CATEGORIES

BEST ACTION AND ADVENTURE GAME

Auroch Digital: Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

Out of the Bit Ltd: Full Void

Pentakill Studios: The Occultist

Rain Games: Teslagrad 2

Sloclap: SiFU

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Guerilla: Horizon: Call of the Mountain

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Santa Monica Studio: God of War Ragnarök

Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me

The Parasight: Blacktail

BEST ARCADE GAME

Exient: Ultimate Sackboy

Island Bender Games: Island Bender

Ping Creates: Super Stretchy Chicken Legs

Secret Base Pte Ltd: Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons

Staffordshire University: MechHead

Sumo Digital Academy: Zool Redimensioned

Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

BEST CASUAL GAME

Awaceb: Tchia

Deadpan and Gaziter: Wildfrost

Exient: Ultimate Sackboy

FuturLab: PowerWash Simulator

Gearbox Publishing: Blanc

Kwalee: Hunt and Seek

Outplay Entertainment: Subway Surfers Blast

Outright Games: DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos

Terahard Studios: Monster Mop Up

BEST SOCIAL GAME

Disney Games/Dlala Studios: Disney Illusion Island

Dovetail Games: CATAN – Console Edition

FuturLab: PowerWash Simulator

GameXPlosion Ltd: Ultimate Supremacy

Gearbox Publishing: Tribes of Midgard

Gearbox Publishing: Homeworld Mobile

Gearbox Publishing: Blanc

Hugecalf Studios: Turbo Golf Racing

Outright Games: DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos

BEST EDUCATIONAL, SERIOUS OR SIMULATION GAME

Auroch Digital: Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator

BBC /Mobile Pie: Planet Planners

BBC / Playerthree: Operation Ouch! It Take Guts!

Charles Games: Beecarbonize

FuturLab: PowerWash Simulator

Fish in a Bottle / BBC: Divided Islands

Frontier Developments: F1 Manager 2023

Frontier Developments/Haemimont Games: Stranded: Alien Dawn

Slitherine Software UK Ltd: Command: Modern Operations

Somewhat Unsettling: The Longest Walk

BEST STRATEGY GAME

Abylight: One Military Camp

Deadpan & Gaziter: Wildfrost

Dovetail Games: CATAN – Console Edition

Gearbox Publishing: Homeworld Mobile

Kraken Empire: Toy Tactics

Only4Gamers: Space Menace

Slitherine Software UK Ltd: Starship Troopers: Terran Command

The Iterative Collective: Homeseek

Thing Trunk: Hellcard

BEST RPG GAME

BBC / Jollywise: Silverpoint: The Game

GameXPlosion Ltd: Ultimate Supremacy

Gearbox Publishing: Tribes of Midgard

Imperia Online JSK: Crush Them All

Pentakill Studios: The Occultist

The Iterative Collective: Knight Crawlers

Ustwo Games: Desta: The Memories Between

BEST PUZZLE GAME

ARTE France: How to say Goodbye

Chanko Studios: It’s a Wrap!

Disney Games/Dlala Studios: Disney Illusion Island

Max Inferno: A Little to the Left

Outplay Entertainment: Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast

Space Ape Games: Chrome Valley Customs

Staffordshire University: Mental Block

Supersolid: Cook & Merge

Trailmix: Love & Pies

Wired Productions: Tin Hearts

BEST CREATIVITY IN GAMES

Disney Games/Dlala Studios: Disney Illusion Island

Fireshine Games: Shadows of Doubt

FuturLab: PowerWash Simulator

Hugecalf Studios: Turbo Golf Racing

Jump Over the Age: Citizen Sleeper

Noun Town: Nown Toun: VR Language Learning

Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me

Ustwo Games: Desta: The Memories Between

Wired Productions: Tin Hearts

HERITAGE IN GAMES

Cave Monsters: Lord Winklebottom Investigates

D’Avekki Studios: Murderous Muses

Frogwares: Sherlock Holmes The Awakened

The Parasight: Blacktail

Sugar Creative: 878 AD: Winchester Revealed

Sumo Digital Academy: Zool Redimensioned

Ustwo Games: Desta: The Memories Between

Wales Interactive, Dead Pixel Productions, Good Gate Media: Mia and the Dragon Princes

Wales Interactive and Good Gate Media: Ten Dates

DIVERSITY AWARD

Awaceb: Tchia

D’Avekki Studios: Murderous Muses

DON’T NOD: Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

GameXPlosion Ltd: Ultimate Supremacy

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Santa Monica Studio: God of War Ragnarök

Staffordshire University: Staffordshire University Games Development

Trailmix: Love & Pies

Ustwo Games: Desta: The Memories Between

Wales Interactive and Good Gate Media: Ten Dates

Women in Games

BEST AUDIO DESIGN

Air Edel Associates Ltd: After Us

Auroch Digital: Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

Dovetail Games: Train Sim World 3

Frontier Developments: F1 Manager 2023

Frontier Developments: Deliver Us Mars

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Santa Monica Studio: God of War Ragnarök

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Guerilla: Horizon Call of the Mountain

Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil In Me

TiMi Studio Group: Honor of Kings – Mayene

Wired Productions: Tin Hearts

BEST VISUAL DESIGN

Arte France: To Hell with Ugly

DON’T NOD: Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

Gearbox Publishing: Blanc

Max Inferno: A Little to the Left

Plot Twist: the Last Case of Benedict Fox

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Guerilla: Horizon Call of the Mountain

The Parasight: Blacktail

Trailmix: Love and Pies

Wales Interactive, Dead Pixel Productions, Good Gate Media: Mia and the Dragon Princes

Wired Productions: The Last Worker

BEST VR/AR/XR/MR GAME

Maze Theory: Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom

nDreams: Synapse

Noun Town: Nown Town: VR Language Learning

Squido Studio: No More Rainbows

Sony Interactive Entertainment/Guerilla: Horizon Call of the Mountain

Sugar Creative: 878AD: Winchester Revealed

Supermassive Games: The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

Wired Productions: The Last Worker

XR Games: Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded

BEST SMALL STUDIO

D’Avekki Studio

Dlala Studios

Exient

Fireshine Games

Huge Calf Studios

Party for Introverts

Purple Yonder

Trailmix

Ustwo Games

Wired Productions

BUSINESS CATEGORIES

BEST ART/ANIMATION TRAILER SUPPLIER

Airship Interactive

Atomhawk

Liquid Crimson

Maverick Media

Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation Studios

TrailerFarm

1518 Studios

BEST AUDIO SERVICES PROVIDER

PitStop Productions

SIDE

Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation Studios/Creative Arts

Soundcuts Ltd

Tazman-Audio

BEST LARGE STUDIO

Auroch Digital

Dovetail Games

Flix Interactive

Guerrilla

Kwalee

nDreams

Outplay Entertainment

Rebellion

Santa Monica Studio

Space Ape Games

Sumo Digital

Supermassive Games

OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AWARD

Ben Forrester, Head of PC and Console, Kwalee

Ben Lavery, Studio Head TrailerFarm

Bobby Thandi CEO XR Games

John Sanderson, CEO PitStop Productions

John Tearle, CEO Flix Interactive

Nathan Burlow Studio Director and Darius Sadeghian Studio Production Director, Rocksteady Studios.

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO nDreams

Professor Martin Jones, Vice-Chancellor Staffordshire University

Russ Clarke, CEO, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Payload Studios

Simon Iwaniszak, Studio Director Red Kite Games

Trevor Williams, Studio Head, Playground Games

Viki Freeman, Chief Strategy Officer Airship Interactive and Tim Horton, Chief Commercial Officer Airship Interactive

COMMITMENT TO ESG AWARD

Airship Interactive

Behaviour Interactive

London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London

PlanetPlay

Rebellion

Rocksteady Studios

Santa Monica Studio

Sumo Group

Testronic

Ubisoft Reflections and Ubisoft Leamington Spa

University of Portsmouth

COMMITMENT TO WORKPLACE WELLBEING AWARD

Airship Interactive

Dovetail Games

nDreams

Outplay Entertainment

Payload Studios

Playground Games

PlayStation London Studio

Rebellion

Rocksteady Studios

Sumo Group

TrailerFarm

Ubisoft Reflections and Ubisoft Leamington Spa

BEST EDUCATION INITIATIVE

Birmingham City University STEAMHOUSE

London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London

Norwich University of the Arts

Staffordshire University

University of Hertfordshire

University of Portsmouth

BEST TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Dlala Studios

Dovetail Games

Flix Interactive

Grads in Games

nDreams Academy

PlayStation London Studio

Rocksteady Studios

Sumo Group

XR Games

BEST EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

Birmingham City University

Bournemouth University

London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London

Norwich University of the Arts

Staffordshire University

University of Gloucestershire

University of Greenwich

University of Hertfordshire

University of Portsmouth

University of the West of England

University of the West of Scotland

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR

Dovetail Games

Rebellion

Sumo Group

LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDER

Charles Russell Speechlys

Eaton Smith LLP

Lewis Silkin LLP

Stevens & Bolton LLP

Wiggin LLP

BEST PUBLISHER

Curve Games

Kwalee

nDreams

Rebellion

Secret Mode

Sony Interactive Entertainment

BEST QA and/or LOCALISATION PROVIDER

PTW

Testronic

Universally Speaking

BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY

Aardvark Swift

Amiqus

Avatar

Big Planet

BEST SERVICES PROVIDER

Airship Interactive

Big Planet

Flix Interactive

Liquid Crimson

Magic Media

Maverick Media

PitStop Productions

PTW Family of Brands

Testronic

TrailerFarm

Sky Life Accountancy

RSM

TECHNICAL INNOVATION

CG Hero Ltd

Rebellion

Speech Graphics

TrailerFarm & Big Farmer

In addition, the Outstanding Individual Year 2023 and Game Of The Year special awards winners will be announced on the night.

Related Topics:Dr Richard Wilson OBE CEO of TIGA TIGA Games Industry Awards 2023

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Midjiwan Supports Reforestation Efforts With New Elyrion Tribe Skin In The Battle Of Polytopia

Published

2 days ago

April 25, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Midjiwan, the award-winning independent studio behind The Battle of Polytopia, is celebrating Elyrion (∑∫ỹriȱŋ) Tribe Week with a brand-new Midnight (₼idŋighţ) skin and donations to support reforestation.

Tapping into the Elyrion Tribe’s nature magic abilities, every purchase of an Elyrion item in the game will plant one real-world tree from April 22-28 2024. Midjiwan has teamed up with The Canopy Project, an organisation that works with global partners to reforest areas in urgent need of rehabilitation, combining The Battle Of Polytopia’s themes with a desire to make real change in the world. Previous years of Elyrion Tribe Week have resulted in the planting of over 12,000 trees.

The Elyrion Tribe is a mysterious group of elves, dedicated to defending their woodland home with their unique magic and connection with nature. Players using the Elyrion tribe have the ability to enchant animals into Polytaurs and summon powerful Fire Dragons.

Christian Lövstedt, General Manager at Midjiwan, commented:

“This is a hugely exciting partnership, allowing players to support the planet and contribute to reforestation whilst also accessing brilliant new content to use in The Battle Of Polytopia.”

Alongside donating to The Canopy Project, The Battle Of Polytopia also boasts a brand-new skin for the Elyrion Tribe! The Midnight skin allows players to create graves, build crypts, and summon demons in dark forests, all in service of the mysterious Shard of D’Naeh.

The Midnight skin re-skins the entire Elyrion Tribe as the Midnight Cult. Everything the Elyrion Tribe is all about – nature, enchantment, and sanctuary – is turned on its head, corrupted into a dark, twisted dystopia of itself.

Midjiwan has already invested €250,000 in solar power projects in rural areas around Africa, and other charitable projects. The studio continues to seek opportunities to combine its in-game creativity with real-world benefits. The Battle of Polytopia is available on Nintendo Switch, the App Store, Google Play, PC, and Tesla cars.

Gaming

Digital Asset Horse Racing Game Stables Appoints Lebnan Nader CEO And Unveils International Expansion Plan

Published

3 days ago

April 24, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Stables, the Paris-based Web3 Equestrian Fantasy Game, has appointed venture capital veteran Lebnan Nader as Chief Executive Officer.

Lebnan Nader, who had founded and run several gaming and technology businesses, will oversee an international expansion as Stables seeks to add horses and attract owners from outside its French home market.

Launched in January 2023, Stables was born from an ambitious project funded by PMU, the European leader and number 3 worldwide in horse betting, alongside the startup studio 321. The game is designed to bring the excitement of horse racing into the digital realm by combining real data from actual racehorses with an online Web3 gaming experience where horses are represented as tradable non-fungible tokens.
“Stables brings together two of my favorite domains, video gaming and horse racing. Two sectors I’ve been involved in for the past 12 years. The game’s ambitions are high, and that’s what convinced me,” said Lebnan Nader, CEO of Stables. “The teams have done a tremendous job, and we will continue to develop the game, but my priority will be our community, as they are our greatest strength.”
A graduate of HEC Paris with nearly 20 years experience in strategy, product development, and market positioning in the digital sector, Lebnan co-founded an internationally acclaimed video and VR gaming studio, and also co-founded a software company for lottery and betting operators.

PMU’s initial gamble to reach a new audience has paid off as Stables now boasts a community of several thousand engaged players, aged 25 to 40 on average. The community is currently composed of 70% French players and 30% from the rest of the world.

The Stables teams are now expanding the gaming experience by adding new features that will allow any player, even without owning NFTs, to be able to explore Stables for free. A seasonal horse racing system with an in-game leaderboard will be introduced, as well as “The Paddock Gazette,” a feature allowing the analysis of all NFT data and comparing their performances.

The ability to interact with other players and access numerous new horses are among the features currently in development.
“In 2023, Stables succeeded in realizing PMU’s bold vision of diversifying the world of horse racing into Web3 and becoming today’s reference in equestrian fantasy gaming. Contributing alongside its historic partners to the financial support for an accelerated development of Stables represents for the Tezos Foundation a natural progression to the adoption of Tezos. Among other things, the Tezos Foundation always listens to the needs of management teams and economically engages in projects that have adopted its blockchain to be an active participant in their growth stages,” says Jean-Frédéric Mognetti, Executive Director of the Tezos Foundation.
“Convinced of the relevance of the project, it seemed important to involve new investors. We enthusiastically welcome the financial support of the Tezos Foundation, which strengthens a proven technical collaboration that the project has benefited from since its inception,” comments Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet, CEO of PMU.

Gaming

Speechless Announces Hybrid License, Giving Actors Greater Control Over Their AI-Generated Voices

Published

4 days ago

April 23, 2024

Alan Campbell

Reading Time: 2 minutes

New platform will enable voice actors to gain commission on their AI-generated counterparts while also streamlining the development process for studios

Today, Speechless, the voice actor database and asset tool for the games industry, has announced its new Hybrid AI License, combining real voice talent and generative artificial intelligence (AI). This new license will enable game developers to utilize all aspects of modern voice-over production while providing more equitable opportunities for the actors themselves. With the current games landscape increasingly experimenting with the potential of AI, Speechless is offering a solution that takes a greater ethical approach to this technology.

The first complete management system for the games industry, Speechless’ Hybrid AI License easily allows developers to use the full range of voice-over options in one place; from text-to-speech, speech-to-speech and conventional voice recording. Unlike other text-to-speech providers, Speechless’ integrated approach allows developers to access the voice actors behind the AI-generated, text-to-speech options. This license not only enables developers to gain greater creative control over voice production but also gives actors control over their AI-generated voice.

Voice actors will benefit from this license by having their AI-generated voice earn a commission when it is licensed by developers. In addition, developers can utilize text-to-speech options to refine their scripts before bringing on the voice actor for the full recording. Developers can then adjust the voice actor’s recording with its AI counterpart at the later stages of development, removing the need for reshoots and allowing voice actors to move on to new projects.

The potential of Speechless’ License also enables a greater depth of content for side characters and NPCs and streamlines localization in new markets while keeping voice talent involved. With the rise of generative AI in game development, Speechless is establishing the best practice for utilizing the advantages of this technology without excluding the creative talent of voice actors.

This new license is available immediately and follows Speechless’ recent collaboration with audio middleware leader Audiokinetic Wwise.

“We can’t ignore the potential AI has for the games industry but we need to approach this technology ethically; that’s what we aim to achieve when it comes to voice-acting,” the Chief Executive Officer for Speechless, Peo Drangert (pictured), said. “By offering a hybrid license, developers can streamline their processes and experiment with different voice actors at a lower cost. At the same time, voice actors are compensated for their work and the work of their AI-generated voice, have greater opportunities to collaborate with studios and can work more flexibly. AI will continue to grow in the games sector, so we must use it responsibly to ensure a fairer industry.”