The winners of the Develop:Star Awards 2026, hosted at the Brighton Dome last night during Develop:Brighton, have been revealed.
The Develop:Star Awards saw winners crowned in 18 categories before this year’s Develop:Star Award recipient, Monument Valley-creator ustwo games, was celebrated for its contributions to the video game industry.
Big winners on the night include Frontier Developments, which took home Best Studio following a banner year in which the company released Jurassic World Evolution 3. Elsewhere Sandfall Interactive and Kepler Interactive continued their winning run with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, winning Best Game, Best Narrative and Best Audio.
Viral hit PEAK took home Best Original IP, with developers Landfall Games and Aggro Crab also jointly taking home the prize for Best Small Studio.
Sony Interactive Entertainment also enjoyed a good night, winning Publishing Star as Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Yōtei took home Best Visual Art.
Hello Games won the inaugural Best Ongoing Game for No Man’s Sky, while FuturLab won Best Mobile Game for the release of PowerWash Simulator.
This year’s Tomorrow’s Star prize, recognising future talent in the industry, was won by Jagex animator Nicole Gregory.
The full list of winners is below:
- The Develop:Star Award |ustwo games
- Best Studio | Frontier Developments
- Best Small Studio | Landfall Games & Aggro Crab
- Best Game | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Sandfall Interactive & Kepler Interactive
- Best Mobile Game | PowerWash Simulator - FuturLab
- Publishing Star - Sponsored by IO Interactive | Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Best Game Design | Blue Prince – Dogubomb & Raw Fury
- Best Narrative | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Sandfall Interactive & Kepler Interactive
- Best Original IP | PEAK - Landfall Games & Aggro Crab
- Best Visual Art | Ghost of Yōtei - Sucker Punch Productions & Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Best Audio | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Sandfall Interactive & Kepler Interactive
- Best Technical Innovation | Crimson Desert - Pearl Abyss
- Best Ongoing Game |No Man's Sky - Hello Games
- Tomorrow's Star – Sponsored by Amiqus | Nicole Gregory - Jagex
- Best EDI Initiative | Limit Break Mentorship
- Best Marketing Campaign | Dispatch - AdHoc Studio & Guillotine
- Supporting Star | Dead Nice Studio
- Best In-Game Accessibility | DOOM: The Dark Ages - id Software & Bethesda Softworks
- Talent & Recruitment Star |IO Interactive Talent & Acquisition Team
Full list, including those shortlisted can be found here.
“Thank you to everyone who joined us for The Develop:Star Awards last night and congratulations to all the winners & those shortlisted. It was a wonderful evening spent celebrating the very best of the amazing work released over the past year, and the amazing people behind that work.” Andy Lane, Managing Director of organisers Tandem Events.
The final shortlists of nominees in each competitive category were selected by an expert panel of judges, with the winners decided by an industry vote open to the Develop:Brighton community.
The Develop:Star Awards will return next year on Wednesday 14 July during Develop:Brighton 2027, which will be taking place on 13-15 July.
