The shortlist for the 2024 MCV/DEVELOP Awards!

We are pleased to reveal the finalists for the 2024 MCV/DEVELOP Awards, which as previously announced will be held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London’s Hyde Park on Thursday 20th June.

Before we get down to business, a huge thank you to everyone that took the time to nominate the organisations and games that were felt to be the most deserving of recognition during 2023. Despite it being a supremely challenging year for everyone connected to the UK games industry, we actually received more nominations this year than the last two years combined, which has made it doubly difficult to settle on a shortlist. 

Voting on the winners will commence soon and we’ll have details of how that process will play out in a few days. In the meantime, let us all bask in the shared glory of being associated with an MCV/DEVELOP Award 2024 finalist – because, of course, everyone’s a winner!

DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS

Recruitment Agency of the Year

• Amiqus
• Aardvark Swift
• Avatar Games Recruitment
• Big Planet
• Datascope
• Eleven Eleven
• Skillsearch Ltd
• TEC Partners

Creative Partner of the Year

• Disobey
• Fluid
• Fourth Floor Group
• Jellymedia
• Liquid Crimson
• Maverick Media
• Portal
• Super Spline Studios
• TrailerFarm

Service Partner of the Year

• Atomhawk
• Big Thursday
• Keywords Studios
• Pitstop Productions
• PressEngine
• PTW
• Quantic Lab
• Room8 Group
• Testronic

Strategic Partner of the Year

• 1minus1
• 4media group
• Green Man Gaming
• Heaven Media
• RSM
• Uberstrategist
• Urban Ledgers
• Xsolla

INNOVATION IN GAMES

Hardware Innovation of the Year

• Nitro Deck (CRKD)
• Playstation Access Controller (Sony)
• Playstation VR2 (Sony)
• Quest 3 (Meta)
• Spectrum Next Issue 4 (SpecNext Ltd)
• Stealth Ultra (Turtle Beach)
• Steam Deck OLED (Valve)
• Super Pocket (HyperMegaTech!)

Visual Innovation of the Year

• Akka Ahhr (Llamasoft/Atari)
• C-Smash VRS (Wolf&Wood/RapidEyeMovers)
• Cassette Beasts (Bytten Studio/Raw Fury)
• Dead Island 2 (Dambuster Studio/Deep Silver)
• Disney Illusion Island (Dlala Studios/Disney)
• Synapse (nDreams)
• The Banished Vault (Lunar Division/Bithell Games)
• Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios/Thunderful)

Audio Innovation of the Year

• A Highland Song (inkle)
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Pitstop Productions/Larian Studios)
• Deliver Us Mars (KeokeN Interactive/Frontier Foundry)
• Synapse (nDreams)
• Tchia (Awaceb/Kepler)
• The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR (Supermassive Games)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Sumo Digital)
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (Auroch Digital/Focus Entertainment)

Accessibility Innovation of the Year

• BLINNK and the Vacuum of Space (Changingday)
• Disney Illusion Island (Dlala Studios/Disney)
• Moving Out 2 (SMG Studio/Team17)
• Polyfury (Wayfarer Games)
• Skye Tales (Puny Astronaut)
• Sniper Elite VR Winter Warrior (Rebellion)
• Stories of Blossom (Soft Leaf Studios)
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (Auroch Digital/Focus Entertainment)

Narrative Innovation of the Year

• A Highland Song (inkle)
• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Dredge (Black Salt Games/Team17)
• Full Void (OutOfTheBit)
• Killer Frequency (Team17)
• Ten Dates (Wales Interactive)
• Tin Hearts (Rogue Sun/Wired Productions)
• Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios/Thunderful)

Ongoing Innovation of the Year

• Avakin Life (Lockwood Publishing)
• Elite Dangerous (Frontier Developments)
• Eve Online (CCP Games)
• Fall Guys (Mediatonic)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
• PowerWash Sim (FuturLab)
• RuneScape (Jagex)
• Sea of Thieves (Rare)

Gameplay Innovation of the Year

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• C-Smash VRS (Wolf&Wood/RapidEyeMovers)
• Dredge (Black Salt Games/Team17)
• Make Way (Ice Beam/Secret Mode)
• Synapse (nDreams)
• Tchia (Awaceb/Kepler)
• Tin Hearts (Rogue Sun/Wired Productions)
• Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios/Thunderful)

STUDIOS & PUBLISHING

Co-development Studio of the Year

• Code Wizards
• d3t
• Flix Interactive
• Hungry Billy
• Nequinox Studios
• Radical forge
• Rebellion North
• Sumo Digital
• Ubisoft Leamington & Reflections

Indie Studio of the Year

• Amuzo Games
• Dlala Studios
• FuturLab
• Payload Studios
• RapidEyeMovers
• Ripstone
• Soul Assembly
• Snap Finger Click

Indie Publisher of the Year

• Curve Games
• Fireshine Games
• Kepler Interactive
• Marvelous Europe
• Playtonic Friends
• Slitherine
• Wales Interactive
• Wired Productions

Major Studio of the Year

• Codemasters
• Jagex 
• Larian Studios
• nDreams
• Rare
• Rebellion
• Splash Damage
• Sumo Digital

Major Publisher of the Year

• Bethesda Game Studios
• EA
• Kwalee
• Nintendo
• Outright Games
• Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Team17
• Warner Bros. Games
• Xbox Game Studios

REACHING AUDIENCES

Media Brand of the Year

• Debug (Boss Mode)
• Eurogamer (Gamer Network)
• Fusion Retro (Fusion Retro Books)
• Future Games Show (Future)
• IGN UK (IGN)
• Nintendo Life (Hookshot Media)
• PC Gamer (Future)
• VGC (1981 Media)

PR Agency of the Year

• 71 Consulting
• Bastion
• Big Games Machine 
• Heaven Media
• ICO Partners
• Overload PR
• Plan of Attack
• Raptor PR
• Renaissance PR

Media Campaign of the Year

• Alan Wake 2 (TAKEOFF)
• C-Smash VRS (Wolf&Wood/RapidEyeMovers/4media group)
• Dead Island 2 (Premier/PLAION)
• Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros. Games)
• Lords of the Fallen (CI Games)
• Goat Simulator 3 x CATAN (Swipe Right/Coffee Stain Publishing)
• Starfield (ZeniMax Europe)
• The Sims 4 For Rent (Premier/EA)
• Wo Long (Renaissance/Koei Tecmo)

Event of the Year

• Develop:Brighton (Tandem Events)
• FormatGG (Format)
• GAconf Europe 23 (IGDA-GASIG)
• Games Growth Summit (Analog)
• London Games Festival (Games London)
• Scottish Games Week (Scottish Games Network)
• W.A.S.D. (Roucan)
• Women in Games Careers, Development & Networking Expo (Women in Games)

DIGITAL & PHYSICAL

Distributor of the Year

• CentreSoft
• Contact Sales
• Genba Digital
• Pavillion Distribution
• PLAION
• Super Rare Games

Retailer of the Year

• Amazon
• Argos
• EE
• Fanatical
• GAME
• Green Man Gaming

Congratulations once again to all the finalists. Whether you are among them or not, tickets for the awards ceremony are still available so do please consider coming along. If you’re keen to support the event as a sponsor, please do get in touch.

We look forward to announcing the winners on June 20th and can’t wait to see you there!