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Microsoft has named the winners of its Power Up: The Beautiful Game competition, with UK studio Rebellion coming out on top.
The contest launched earlier this year, and was created to help studios of all sizes get their games discovered on both the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store.
Developers were awarded points for the quality of their game and of their marketing plan, as well as for the number of downloads they generated through each store.
More than 156 studios entered the contest, with the top 20 each receiving various prizes, ranging from Nokia Lumia smartphones, gaming headsets, credit for cloud service GameSparks and Unity Pro licences.
The big winner was UK studio Rebellion with its town-building title Harmony Isle. The studio won a four-person holiday to Slovakia, a supercar hire gift voucher, Nokia Lumia devices, GameSparks credits, a Unity Pro licence, a space on CIM’s Apps Marketing course, a year’s subscription to Develop Magazine and ad space on our sister site Mobile Entertainment.
Other studios in the Top 20 were (in ascending order) MogWorks, That Wonderful Lemon Co., Pixel Blimp, Geared Kids, World Weaver, Chillsters, Sc0tt Games, Shuboarder, Twimler, Blazing Griffin, MotionLab Interactive, Trex Games, Guerilla Tea, AppyNation, Colossal Games, Wales Interactive, FormerDroid, Mad Fellows and Pixel Toys.
“The team has worked really hard on this so it’s great to be recognised, and it’s great to be part of a group of people that make truly awesome games,” Rebellion producer James Valls told Develop.
“We’ve worked really hard over the last year or so trying to put as many features in the game as possible. I think it has a very good balance, and it’s a game that can be enjoyed by many types of people. It’s got something for everyone.”
Microsoft is planning to run the Beautiful Game competition again next year, and Valls recommends that studios consider entering.
“It’s great for networking and for getting to know other people’s work,” he said. “And I think it gives you something else to look forward to while you’re working hard and doing your best.”
Power Up: The Beautiful Game competition was supported by TIGA, UKIE, Nokia, GameSparks, Unity, Dolby, Train 2 Game, Develop and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
