The Develop:Star Awards 2023 has announced its finalists, and voting is now open

Tandem Events has announced its finalists for the Develop:Star Awards 2023. 

A winner for each of the 20 award categories will be selected in an industry vote which is now open, and will close two weeks from now on May 31, 2023. Those that have previously attended the Develop:Brighton conference in the past are also now able to register to vote for their picks and have already been contacted via. email to let them know they can sign up to do just that.

The overall winners will be announced at the Develop:Star Awards, which is a ticketed event that will be held on July 12 during the Develop:Brighton 2023 conference.

That is except for this year’s Develop Star Award, which celebrates those that have exceptional achievements and contributions to video games, and has once again been decided in advance by an expert panel of judges. This year the Develop Star Award will be going to developer Guerrilla Games, which means that it will be awarded to a company as a whole, rather than an individual developer, for the first time ever. 

“This year’s finalists show the incredible breadth and depth of what the game dev industry can achieve, and we can’t wait to celebrate with the community when we announce the winners in July,” said Tandem Events managing director Andy Lane.

“In addition, we’re thrilled to be debuting our new Sustainability Star award and see who will be the first ever winner.”

This year’s Develop:Star Awards 2023 shortlist of finalists is as follows: 

Best Studio

  • Codemasters
  • Creative Assembly
  • FuturLab
  • INTERIOR/NIGHT
  • Roll7
  • Santa Monica Studio
  • Sumo Digital
  • ustwo games

Best Small Studio

  • Awaceb
  • Black Salt Games
  • Max Inferno
  • Nosebleed Interactive
  • Purple Yonder
  • Wales Interactive

Best Game

  • A Plague Tale: Requiem
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • IMMORTALITY
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  • PowerWash Simulator
  • Rollerdrome
  • Tchia
  • Vampire Survivors

Publishing Star

  • Curve Games
  • Kepler Interactive
  • Kwalee
  • nDreams
  • No More Robots
  • Playstack
  • Private Division
  • Team17 Digital

Best Mobile Game

  • Desta: The Memories Between
  • Farmside
  • Hunt & Seek
  • Magic Spellslingers
  • MARVEL Snap
  • Mighty DOOM

Best Game Design

  • DREDGE
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • Hi-Fi RUSH
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  • Rollerdrome
  • Vampire Survivors

Best Original IP

  • A Little to the Left
  • As Dusk Falls
  • Desta: The Memories Between
  • Hi-Fi RUSH
  • Rollerdrome
  • Tchia

Best Narrative

  • As Dusk Falls
  • Desta: The Memories Between
  • Gerda: A Flame in Winter
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • IMMORTALITY
  • The Quarry

Best Visual Art

  • DREDGE
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • Hi-Fi RUSH
  • Horizon Call of the Mountain
  • Rollerdrome
  • Scorn

Best Audio

  • A Plague Tale: Requiem
  • DREDGE
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • Hi-Fi RUSH
  • IMMORTALITY
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  • Rollerdrome

Best QA & Localisation

  • Keywords Studios
  • LocalizeDirect
  • Player Research
  • PTW
  • Testronic
  • Universally Speaking

Best Technical Innovation

  • Eternal Threads
  • God of War Ragnarök
  • Gotham Knights
  • Horizon Call of the Mountain
  • LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  • The Quarry

Best Technology Provider

  • GameMaker
  • PopcornFX
  • Speech Graphics
  • Unity
  • Unreal Engine

Best Creative Provider

  • Airship Interactive
  • Atomhawk
  • d3t
  • SIDE
  • Soundcuts
  • Studio Gobo
  • Warp Digital

Diversity Star

  • Brandon Cole – Into Games
  • Cari Watterton – Rebellion
  • Dom Shaw – Ukie
  • Kirsty Kirby – Lab42 Games
  • Ladell Smith – Auroch Digital
  • Marie-Claire Isaaman – Women in Games
  • Tamsin O’Luanaigh – nDreams
  • Zakia Abdullah – Pixelynx

Sustainability Star

  • Green17
  • Hutch Games
  • Imagine Earth
  • PlanetPlay
  • Sports Interactive
  • Sumo Group
  • Ubisoft
  • ustwo games

Recruitment Star

  • Aardvark Swift Recruitment
  • Amiqus
  • Datascope Recruitment
  • Games Jobs Direct
  • One Player Mission – OPM
  • Skillsearch Limited

Talent Development Star

  • Andy Driver – XR Games
  • Anita McIntyre – Airship Interactive
  • Double Eleven
  • Fiona Turner – Dovetail Games
  • nDreams Academy
  • Payload Studios
  • Splash Damage
  • Sumo Group

Marketing Star

  • Ben Symons – Dovetail Games
  • Caitlin Stratford – Bithell Games
  • Plan of Attack
  • Claire Sharkey – Creative Assembly/Freelance
  • Courtney O’Connor – Supermassive Games
  • Etch Play
  • nDreams
  • YRS TRULY

Tomorrow’s Star

  • Chloe Sinclair – Firesprite
  • Flo Burchill – Snap Finger Click
  • Hannah Corcoran – Auroch Digital
  • Harry Foster – 10:10 Games
  • Holly O’Neill – Media Molecule
  • Natalie Dodd – Dovetail Games
  • Sara Veal – Uplift Games
  • Shaye Poulton Richards – INTERIOR/NIGHT

The Develop Star Award

  • Guerrilla Games

If you’d like to purchase tickets to go to the Develop:Star Awards 2023, you can do that over here

We’d suggest that you book your tickets soon if you are intending to go, as there’s an Early Bird discount on offer which can save you up to £400 on tickets until June 8, 2023. It’s worth noting that every ticket on sale for the awards show also includes a three-course dinner, and an invite to the drinks reception and after party.

If you’d like to find out more about the Develop:Star Awards 2023, you can do that over on the official Develop:Star Awards website.

About Vince Pavey

Vince is a writer from the North-East of England who has worked on comics for The Beano and Doctor Who. He likes to play video games and eat good food. Sometimes he does both at the same time, but he probably shouldn’t.

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