TIGA, the independent trade association representing the video games industry, today announced the winners of the 2016 TIGA Games Industry Awards following a glittering ceremony held on 10th November at Christchurch Spitalfields in London, to celebrate the best in creativity, innovation and business in the UK games industry.
The evening’s ceremony culminated in a double win for London studio Space Ape Games who scooped the prestigious Game Of The Year title as well as a win for Best Strategy Game, both for their latest title Transformers: Earth Wars. Game Of The Year was presented by Platinum Sponsor Amazon Appstore.
The public vote for the TIGA Game of the Year Award broke last year’s record to receive nearly 60,000 individual votes, demonstrating the growing popularity of the awards, which are designed to recognise and reward games businesses of all sizes.
TIGA’s charity partner for the 2016 awards was SpecialEffect, an organisation dedicated to using technology to enhance the quality of life of people with physical disabilities.
Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said: “Congratulations to all of last night’s winners. At our largest ever TIGA Awards we highlighted excellence in games and business, education and technology, diversity and creativity. I would like to say a huge congratulations to all of our winners, whose innovation, creativity and excellence is driving the UK games industry forward.”
“The judges and I have never seen such a high standard of entrants than in 2016 which made some decisions incredibly difficult. We would also like to thank all of our generous sponsors our judges and out partners, as well as everyone who has supported the awards by entering and attending”
“2016 has been an incredible year in games, and the UK video games industry has played a huge role in delivering some truly fantastic titles,” said Iain Gavin, Director, Amazon Appstore. “We’ve hugely enjoyed working alongside TIGA to honour the outstanding creativity and innovation evident right across the industry, and we’d like to congratulate all the TIGA Awards nominees and winners on their success.”
The 2016 TIGA Games Industry Awards were kindly sponsored by
Platinum Sponsor: Amazon Appstore.
Gold Sponsors: Ashridge Executive Education, Spirit Ai, Playground Games, Sumo Digital.
Silver Sponsors: Aardvark Swift, Abertay University, Amiqus, AQA, Delta DNA, Epic Games, GameS-Tech, Grads In Games, Radiant Worlds, Space Ape Games, Stevens & Bolton LLP, Supermassive Games, Ubisoft Reflections, Universally Speaking, University of Portsmouth, Weightmans LLP.
Bronze Sponsors: Atomhawk, Centre for Digital Entertainment, Creative England, MMP Tax Ltd, Sperasoft, Saffery Champness
The winners of the 2016 TIGA Games Industry Awards are as follows:
| BEST ARCADE GAME | HOUSEMARQUE (SIEE) | ALIENATION |
| BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME | NAUGHTY DOG | UNCHARTERED 4: A THIEF’S END |
| BEST DEBUT GAME | GHOST TOWN GAMES | OVERCOOKED |
| BEST CASUAL/SOCIAL GAME | REBELLION | RACELINE CC |
| BEST PUZZLE GAME | FIDDLESTICKS GAMES | HUE |
| BEST RACING GAME | CODEMASTERS | DiRT RALLY |
| BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME | FUNKY PANDA GAMES | MONSTER MOUNTAIN |
| BEST STRATEGY GAME | SPACE APE GAMES | TRANSFORMERS: EARTH WARS |
| BEST GAME ON AMAZON APPSTORE | CHANNEL 4 | EDEN: THE GAME |
| BEST AUDIO DESIGN | ROCKSTEADY STUDIOS | BATMAN:ARKHAM KNIGHT |
| BEST CREATIVE GAMEPLAY | THE CREATIVE ASSEMBLY | TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER |
| DIVERSITY AWARD | NEXT GEN SKILLS ACADEMY | NEXTGEN ASPIRING WOMEN |
| BEST EDUCATIONAL GAME | THE TIMES TABLE ADVENTURE | STRAWDOG STUDIOS / PITSTOP PRODUCTIONS |
| BEST GAME BY A SMALL STUDIO | PIXEL TOYS | WARHAMMER 40,000:FREEBLADE
|
| MOST ORIGINAL GAME | nDREAMS | THE ASSEMBLY |
| BEST VISUAL DESIGN | MEDIA MOLECULE (SIEE) | TEARAWAY UNFOLDED
|
| BEST ANIMATION SUPPLIER | ATOMHAWK | |
| BEST AUDIO SUPPLIER | PINEWOOD STUDIOS | |
| BEST IN-HOUSE STUDIO | UBISOFT REFLECTIONS | |
| BEST EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT | LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY | |
| BEST EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTATION | BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY | |
| BEST ENGINES, MIDDLEWARE, TOOLS & TECHONOLGY | GAMEBENCH | |
| BEST INDEPENDENT STUDIO – SMALL | LOCKWOOD | |
| BEST INDEPENDENT STUDIO – LARGE | SUMO DIGITAL | |
| BEST LEGAL SERVICES SUPPLIER | WEIGHTMANS | |
| OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP | PLAYGROUND GAMES LEADERSHIP TEAM
GAVIN RAEBURN – CEO |
|
| OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP – HIGHLY COMMENDED | VICKIE PEGGS | |
| BEST QA PROVIDER | TESTOLOGY | |
|
BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY |
AARDVARK SWIFT RECRUITMENT | |
| BEST START UP | PROJECT M STUDIO | |
| BEST TAX AND ACCOUNTANCY FIRM | SAFFERY CHAMPNESS | |
| BEST TECHNICAL INNOVATION | EPIC GAMES/NINJA THEORY/CUBIC MOTION/3LATERAL | |
| BEST PUBLISHER | SOLD OUT SALES AND MARKETING | |
| OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL AWARD | GISELLE STEWART | |
| OUTSTANDING GROWTH AWARD | OUTPLAY | |
| OUTSTANDING CREATIVITY AWARD | SUPERMASSIVE GAMES | |
| GAME OF THE YEAR 2016 | SPACE APE GAMES | TRANSFORMERS: EARTH WARS |