Develop:Star Awards 2025 Finalists Unveiled

The nominees for the prestigious Develop:Star Awards 2025 have been officially announced, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle standing out as a top contender, boasting an impressive six nominations including the coveted Best Game award. Bethesda Softworks' action-packed adventure game has taken the lead, closely followed by Coal Supper's Thank Goodness You're Here with five nominations and Newfangled Games' Paper Trail with four. Other notable titles, such as Split Fiction and Atomfall, have also received nominations, while prominent developers like Hazelight Studios and Rebellion are in the running for Best Studio. The category for Best Small Studio features Coal Supper and Animal Well's one-person development team, Shared Memory, as nominees. This year's awards introduce two new categories: Best EDI Initiative and Best In-Game Accessibility. Remedy's Sam Lake has been chosen to receive The Develop Star Award, an honor he has described as 'a huge honor'. Lake was also the recipient of the Best Creative Lead award at last year's ceremony. The winners will be determined by an industry vote, which will conclude on May 30. The Develop:Star Awards 2025 ceremony is scheduled to take place on July 9 as part of Develop:Brighton, with the event being held at the Brighton Dome. A full list of nominees for the Develop:Star Awards 2025 includes: Best Game: Astro Bot, Atomfall, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Split Fiction, Still Wakes the Deep, and Thank Goodness You're Here. Best Studio: Facepunch Studios, FuturLab, Hazelight Studios, Larian Studios, Rebellion, Team Asobi, and The Chinese Room. Best Small Studio: Coal Supper, Cyberwave, Newfangled Games, Polygon Treehouse, Shared Memory, and Spilt Milk Studios. Publishing Star: Curve Games, Fireshine Games, No More Robots, Playstack, Raw Fury, Secret Mode, and Team17. Best Mobile Game: A Little to the Left, Maid of Sker, Monument Valley 3, Paper Trail, PBJ – The Musical, and Sniper Elite 4. Best Game Design: Astro Bot, Expelled, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, Thank Goodness You're Here, and Two Point Museum. Best Audio: Astrobot, Atomfall, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Monument Valley 3, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, and Thank Goodness You're Here. Best Visual Art: Dungeons of Hinterberg, Harold Halibut, Neva, Paper Trail, Songs of Silence, and Still Wakes the Deep. Best Narrative: Closer the Distance, Expelled, Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, and Thank Goodness You're Here. Best Original IP: Paper Trail, Stellar Blade, Still Wakes the Deep, Thank Goodness You're Here, Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop, and Vampire Therapist. Best In-Game Accessibility: Atomfall, Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island, Paper Trail, Sea of Thieves – custom text overlay, Silent Hill 2, and Trash Goblin. Tomorrow's Star: Emma Marshall-Newson, Sumo Digital, Francesca White, Behaviour Interactive, Gurvinder Bisran, BOM, Marco Ng, Otterweave Game Studio, Melodie Showell, Side, Summer Davies, Blast, and Valeriya Lakhtikova, Dovetail Games. Best Marketing Campaign: Animal Well, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Futurlab – PowerWash Simulator, Hitman World of Assassination, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Monument Valley 3, and PlanetPlay's Make Green Moves. Best Technical Innovation: Astro Bot, Code Wizards Group, Harold Halibut, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Lego Horizon Adventures, and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. Supporting Star: Coutts, GG Insurance Services, Green Man Gaming, PitStop Productions, Room 8 Group, Side, Tanglewood Games, and Unreal Engine. Talent and Recruitment Star: Aardvark Swift, Amiqus, Datascope Recruitment, Playground Games Recruitment Team, and Skillsearch Limited. Best EDI Initiative: Brainspark Games, Ensemble, Limit Break Mentorship, Out Making Games, Playground Games, and Women in Games.