- Attendees of the summit get exclusive access to the awards ceremony
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The finalists for the MENA Games Industry Awards 2025 have been officially unveiled.
The awards shine a light on the games industry talent within the thriving MENA region – games, developers, publishers, service providers, agencies, support initiatives and more – and this year’s lineup detailed below reflects the breadth of the expertise at the heart of this dynamic sector.
Following an extensive nomination process, we’re excited to unveil this year’s shortlist across 13 categories, as determined by industry nominations.
The finalists are currently under review by a judging panel of industry experts, with winners set to be announced on Thursday, May 8th, during the Dubai GameExpo Summit 2025. Attendees of the summit will have exclusive access to the awards ceremony.
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2025 Finalists:
DUBAI GAMES STAR
- BoomLand
- DMCC Gaming Centre
- Elevatix
- Foxrito Studios
- Oneness Labs
- Sawa Group
- TapTap Games DMCC
- Yalla Group
BEST GAMES STARTUP
- Aya Games
- Classy Games
- Digital Dunes
- Hajem Sports
- Holodot Studio
- iBLOXX Studios
- Light Studio
- Majestic Mind Games
- Raheebeen Studio
- Sphereka Studios
- Steer Studios
BEST GAME INNOVATION HUB/DISTRICT
- AD Gaming
- Create Apps Championship 2025 (Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy)
- DIFC Innovation Hub
- DMCC Gaming Center
- in5 Tech
- MENA Hero Project (Sony)
- NAPHORA GAMES GROUP
- NEOM
- Sharjah Media City
- Tamkeen
MOST INNOVATIVE MENA GAME
- AFRSHO (Naphora)
- Cat’s Vote (Danar Dev)
- Lefty (Light Studio)
- Lobah Play (Lobah)
- SHOTBALL (Naphora)
- Veil of Sanity (Sphereka Studios)
- Grunt Rush (Steer Studios)
BEST SERVICE PROVIDER
- Elevatix
- Endless Studios
- Futura Digital
- Lobah Play (Lobah)
- Pay1st (Carry1st)
- Playgama.com
- Polygonflow
- SocialPeta
- Tamatem Plus (Tamatem)
- The Game Company
- Xsolla & Niko Partners
BEST ARABIC LOCALISATION
- Babil Games
- Raheebeen Studio
- Stellar Gate Games [Blood Strike MENA]
- Tamatem Games
- Tiny Minies Preschool Learning
BEST IN ESPORTS
- Arabhardware
- Emirates Esports Federation (EEF)
- The Esports & Gaming Agency (EGA)
- Esports World Cup
- FATE Esports
- Gamers Hub
- GBarena
- Power League Gaming (2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship)
- True Gamers
- YaLLa Esports
- Zain Esports
- Zawaya Gaming
BEST WEB3 GAMING (Sponsored by BlockchainGamer.biz)
- BoomLand
- Everdome
- Farcana Studio
- iBLOXX Studios
- Kiraverse (Param Labs)
- PiP World
- PlanetQuest (Galactic Entertainment)
- The Game Company
- WEMIX PLAY Center (Wemade)
INVESTOR OF THE YEAR
- Beam Ventures
- BITKRAFT
- GEM Capital
- Jetapult
- Level Up (NEOM)
- Merak Capital (+ Exel by Merak)
- Saudi Social Development Bank
- Savvy Games Group
- Shorooq Partners
- The Games Fund
BEST DEVELOPER (Sponsored by ID@Xbox)
- 2024 Studios
- Chickmania
- Evolite Studio
- Game Cooks
- Hypemasters
- Jawaker
- Mad Hook
- Rababa Games
- Remal Ventures – Kammelna
- Shanab Games
- Spoilz
- Tarboosh Games
- UMX
- YallaPlay
BEST PUBLISHER (Sponsored by Xsolla Funding)
- Babil Games
- Maysalward
- MBC Group
- Naphora Games Group
- Sandsoft
- Sawa Group
- Tamatem Games
- Yalla Group
- Yayy
MENA GAME OF THE YEAR
- AFRSHO (Naphora)
- Amer: Fighting (Mad Hook)
- Blood Strike MENA (NetEase)
- DriftX هجوله ملك (UMX)
- Grunt Rush (Steer Studios)
- Jackaro (Chickmania)
- Jawaker: Games & Friends (Jawaker)
- Kammelna (Remal)
- Nida Harb III (Babil)
- Pro Car Driving Simulator (Mad Hook)
- Rage of the Brave (Tamatem)
- SHOTBALL (Naphora)
- (Tamatem) أرض الشجعان
MENA MARKET LEGEND (Sponsored by PocketGamer.biz)
This illustrious lifetime achievement award recognises a person from the MENA region who has achieved a considerable amount of success in their career and has acted as a pioneer in, and made an outstanding contribution to, the regional games space. The MENA Market Legend is a special award, selected directly by the organisation committee of the MENA Games Industry Awards.
