Develop Awards 2016: And the finalists are…

After hundreds of nominations, hours of deliberation and countless tough choices, the finalists for the 2016 Develop Awards have been chosen.

It’s an impressive line-up of studios from across the UK and Europe, hoping to be honoured for their work on 36 acclaimed titles. This selection ranges from triple-A blockbusters to indie-developed sensations, across all manner of platforms: consoles, mobile, PC and even virtual reality.

In total, there are 108 companies in the running, encompassing not only developers, but also tools providers, services firms, outsourcers and specialists in VFX, audio, QA and recruitment.

The biggest competition is between CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3, Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn, Remedy Entertainment’s Quantum Break and The Chinese Room’s Everbody’s Gone To The Rapture.

Each developer has racked up five nominations, encompassing of mix of New IP, Use of Licence, Visual Arts, Audio Accomplishment and Use of Narrative, as well as nominations for the studio itself. Quantum Break and The Witcher also receive nods in the Creative Outsourcer awards, thanks to the audio and visual specialists that contributed to their development.

Also notable is Frictional Games’ three nominations – two of which are for the seminal adventure game Soma – as well as UK indie Sam Barlow, who receives three listings for his unique crime title Her Story.

As has been previously announced, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima will receive this year’s Development Legend award. He will be presented his award by long-time partner and fellow Legend winner Mark Cerny, who was instrumental in the creation of the PlayStation 4.

We will be announcing the winner of the 2016 Studio of the Year award, as chosen by the Develop team, in the coming weeks.

The winners will be announced during this year’s awards ceremony at the Brighton Hilton Metropole on Wednesday, July 13th during Develop: Brighton 2016.

This year’s awards are supported by headline partner CV Bay, gold partners MoGI Group, Amiqus, Epic Games, Sumo Digital, Crytek, King, table gift partner OPM Jobs, exclusive drinks reception partner Keywords Studios, and event partner Tandem Events. Epic Games are also an award partner, as are Aardvark Swift.

Contact Charlotte Nangle via cnangle@nbmedia.com to find out about the opportunities available, both at the event and in editorial coverage before, during and after the Awards. 

To book your place at the event, email Georgia Blake via gblake@nbmedia.com – or book online at www.developawards.com.

Develop Awards 2016: The Finalists

CREATIVITY

New Games IP – PC/console

• Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture – The Chinese Room
• Her Story – Sam Barlow
• Quantum Break – Remedy Entertainment
• Soma – Frictional Games
• Tom Clancy’s The Division – Massive Entertainment
• Until Dawn – Supermassive Games
• Unravel – Coldwood Interactive

New Games IP – Mobile

• Battlehand – Another Place
• DogBiscuit – Blackstaff Games
• Omega Agent – Fireproof Games
• Raceline CC – Rebellion
• Rival Kingdoms – Space Ape Games
• Safari Tales – Kuato Studios
• Sandstorm: Pirate Wars – Ubisoft
• Wonky Ship – Kiz Studios 

Use of a Licence or IP

• Batman: Arkham Knight – Rocksteady
• Lego Dimensions – TT Games
• Mad Max – Avalanche Studios
• Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic – Ninja Theory
• The Escapists: The Walking Dead – Team17
• The Witcher 3 – CD Projekt Red
• Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade – Pixel Toys

Visual Arts

• Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture – The Chinese Room
• Dungeon of the Endless – Amplitude Studios
• Quantum Break – Remedy Entertainment
• Project CARS – Slightly Mad Studios
• The Climb – Crytek
• The Witcher – CD Projekt RED
• Unravel – Coldwood Interactive
• Until Dawn – Supermassive Games

Audio Accomplishment

• Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture – The Chinese Room
• Quantum Break – Remedy Entertainment
• Soma – Frictional Games
• Star Wars Battlefront – EA DICE
• Sublevel Zero – Sigtrap Games
• The Witcher 3 – CD Projekt RED
• Unravel – Coldwood Interactive
• Until Dawn – Supermassive Games 

Use of Narrative

• Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture – The Chinese Room
• Her Story – Sam Barlow
• Quantum Break – Remedy Entertainment
• Reigns – Nerial
• RuneScape – Jagex
• Soma – Frictional Games
• The Witcher 3 – CD Projekt RED
• Until Dawn – Supermassive Games

TECH & SERVICES

Design & Creativity Tool

• Dehumaniser – Krotos
• Enlighten – Geomerics
• Fabric – Tazman Audio
• Granite – Graphine Software
• SpeedTree For Games – SpeedTree
• Substance Painter 2 – Allegorithmic
• Wwise – Audiokinetic
• Yebis 3 – Silicon Studio 

Production Tool

• Favro – Hansoft
• GameBench – GameBench
• GameLift – Amazon
• GameSparks – GameSparks
• Marmalade Platform – Marmalade Technologies
• Perforce – Perforce Software
• Simplygon – Donya Labs
• Umbra 3 – Umbra Software

Engine

• CryEngine – Crytek
• GameMaker: Studio – YoYo Games
• GameGuru – The Game Creators
• Lumberyard – Amazon
• PlayCanvas – PlayCanvas
• Stingray – Autodesk
• Unity 5 – Unity Technologies
• Unreal Engine 4 – Epic Games

Creative Outsourcer – Audio

• 93 Steps – Warhammer 40,000: Regicide
• High Score Productions – War Thunder trailer
• Nimrod Productions – Rare Replay
• Side – The Witcher 3
• Soundcuts – Quantum Break
• The Audio Guys – Forza Motorsport 6

Creative Outsourcer – Visual & Development

• Audiomotion – Quantum Break
• Dimensional Imaging – Quantum Break
• Axis – Halo 5 Opening
• D3T – The Witcher III (PS4)
• Realtime UK – Rare Replay intro
• Cubic Motion – Hellblade GDC demo

Services

• DeltaDNA
• Fireteam
• Flipbook
• Keywords Studios
• Player Research
• Sperasoft

QA & Localisation

• Localize Direct
• Lollipop Robot
• MoGI Group
• Testology
• Testronic
• Univerally Speaking
• VMC

Recruiter

• Aardvark Swift
• Amiqus
• Avatar Games Recruitment
• CV Bay
• Datascope
• OPM
• Skillsearch

STUDIOS

Publishing Hero

• All 4 Games
• BadLand Games
• Curve Digital
• Devolver Digital
• ID@Xbox
• KISS
• SCEE Strategic Content
• Team17

Micro Studio

• Acid Nerve
• Dreamloop Games
• Frictional Games
• Guerilla Tea
• Mouldy Toof
• Squarehead Studios
• Sam Barlow
• Wales Interactive

Independent Studio

• CD Projekt Red
• Codemasters
• Remedy Entertainment
• Rovio
• Space Ape Games
• Supercell
• Supermassive Games
• The Chinese Room

In-House Studio

• Creative Assembly
• EA DICE
• FreeStyle Games
• IO Interactive
• Massive Entertainment
• Rocksteady
• TT Games

New Studio

• A Fox What I Drew
• No Code Studio
• Sigtrap Games
• Torque Studios
• Triangular Pixels
• Unicube
• West Coast Studios

Development Legend
Hideo Kojima