The last twelve months have been a rough ride for game developers worldwide and the UK has seen its fair share of studios and publishers go under with the likes of Free Radical and Midway Newcastle being two of the higher profile losses. At least last night the games industry could emphasise the positives for a change and celebrate successes at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards.
Now in their seventh year the awards are intended to highlight excellence throughout the UK and European game development industry whether that excellence is to be found in new start-up studios, multi-team in-house developers, tools providers, service providers or publishers. They are judged in secret by a jury of almost 100 independent industry experts with the aim of singling out those companies who keep this part of the globe at the very forefront of game development.
Media Molecule were nominated for five different awards and won all of them enabling them to populate their mantelpiece back in Guildford with the awards for Best New IP, Visual Arts and Technical Innovation being won specifically for LittleBigPlanet. The other two awards were Best New Studio and Best Independent Developer.
“It’s just brilliant that a game which has been commercially successful across the world should be rightly honoured so extensively by the territory in which it was created,” says Michael French, editor in chief, Develop Magazine. “LittleBigPlanet is a real exercise in smart, imaginative game development, and one which put Media Molecule on the map. When the industry is often wrongly criticised for its reliance on licensed titles, Media Molecule has shown the value in a wholly original approach.”
Other highlights included everyone’s favourite former head of Sony Worldwide Studios, now Atari non-executive Director of the Group, Phil Harrison winning one of the evening’s Special Recognition awards, the Development Legend award, for his outstanding contribution to the European games industry during a long and illustrious career.
The DIE awards in full:
Creativity
Best New IP
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
Best Use of a Licence
Lego Batman (Traveller’s Tales)
Visual Arts
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
Audio Accomplishment
Fable II (Lionhead)
Publishing Hero
Apple
Technology and Services
Technical Innovation
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
Best Tools Provider
Autodesk
Best Engine
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games)
Recruitment Company
Amiqus
Services
Audiomotion
Creative Outsourcing
Side & Sidelines
Studios
Best New Studio
Media Molecule
Best Handheld Games Studio
Rockstar Leeds
Business Development
Playfish
Best Independent Developer
Media Molecule
Best In-House Team
Rockstar North
Special Recognition
Development Legend
Phil Harrison
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jacqui Lyons
Grand Prix
Codemasters
