Over 550 of the global games development elite were on hand last night to see the hottest studios in Europe take home key prizes at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards.
Independent games developers free of publisher control dominated a winners list of 17 companies from eight different country - all in total showing a European games industry in great health.
Big winners were indie PC game Minecraft and its developer Mojang Specifications, which won three honours (New Studio, Micro Studio and Download IP) and Angry Birds creator Rovio Mobile. Rovio was named best Handheld Studio but also collected the ultimate accolade: the Grand Prix.
Rovio's win of the Grand Prix - which comes after a year that saw Angry Birds soar to new heights of ubiquity - is emblematic of a major shift in the industry that has empowered developers to strike out on their own.
Other key independent winners included Playdead's Limbo (winner of Visual Arts), Ninja Theory's Enslaved (New IP), Moshi Monsters creator Mind Candy (Business Development), Valve (which won Publishing Hero for its Steam platform) and Crytek (Independent Developer).
The Develop Awards also single out great technical innovation. Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensor peripheral for Xbox 360 won the Technical Innovation prize. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 was named best Engine - its third consecutive win in that field.
As previously announced, Ian Livingstone - co-founder of Games Workshop, the man who published Tomb Raider and current Square Enix life president - was awarded Development Legend, honouring his many contributions to the games industry.
DEVELOP INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2011: THE WINNERS IN FULL
CATEGORY: CREATIVITY
NEW IP
Enslaved (Ninja Theory)
NEW DOWNLOAD IP
Minecraft (Mojang Specifications)
USE OF A LICENCE OR IP
F1 2010 (Codemasters Birmingham)
VISUAL ARTS
Limbo (Playdead)
AUDIO ACCOMPLISHMENT
Papa Sangre (Somethin’ Else)
PUBLISHING HERO
Valve
CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES
TECHNICAL INNOVATION
Kinect (Microsoft Research Cambridge)
AUDIO OUTSOURCER
Side UK
VISUAL OUTSOURCER
Axis Animation
SERVICES
Audiomotion
RECRUITMENT
Specialmove
TOOLS PROVIDER
Autodesk
ENGINE
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games)
CATEGORY: STUDIOS
NEW STUDIO
Mojang Specifications
MICRO STUDIO
Mojang Specifications
HANDHELD STUDIO
Rovio Mobile
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Mind Candy
IN-HOUSE STUDIO
Media Molecule
INDEPENDENT STUDIO
Crytek
SPECIAL INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
DEVELOPMENT LEGEND
Ian Livingstone
