Meet the MENA Games Industry Awards 2025 winners

The winners of the MENA Games Industry Awards 2025 have just been officially unveiled at a live ceremony during the Dubai GameExpo Summit 2025 powered by PG Connects.

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 finalists reflected the breadth of the expertise at the heart of this dynamic sector.

Following an extensive nomination process, and a voting process by a panel of selected industry representatives, we're delighted to reveal this year's winners and honourable mentions across the 13 categories you'll find below.

The MENA Games Industry Awards 2025 Winners:

DUBAI GAMES STAR

• DMCC Gaming Centre
• Honourable Mention: Foxrito Studios
• Honourable Mention: Yalla Group

BEST GAMES STARTUP

• Majestic Mind Games
• Honourable Mention: Hajem Sports
• Honourable Mention: Raheebeen Studio
• Honourable Mention: Steer Studios

BEST GAME INNOVATION HUB/DISTRICT

• DMCC Gaming Centre
• Honourable Mention: MENA Hero Project (Sony)
• Honourable Mention: NEOM

MOST INNOVATIVE MENA GAME

• AFRSHO (Naphora)
• Honourable Mention: Cat’s Vote (Danar Dev)
• Honourable Mention: Lefty (Light Studio)

BEST SERVICE PROVIDER

• Xsolla & Niko Partners
• Honourable Mention: Futura Digital
• Honourable Mention: Tamatem Plus (Tamatem)

BEST ARABIC LOCALISATION

• Tamatem Games
• Honourable Mention: Raheebeen Studio
• Honourable Mention: Stellar Gate Games [Blood Strike MENA]

BEST IN ESPORTS

• True Gamers
• Honourable Mention: Esports World Cup
• Honourable Mention: FATE Esports

BEST WEB3 GAMING (Sponsored by BlockchainGamer.biz)

• The Game Company
• Honourable Mention: BoomLand
• Honourable Mention: Kiraverse (Param Labs)
• Honourable Mention: WEMIX PLAY Center (Wemade)

INVESTOR OF THE YEAR

• Exel by Merak (Merak Capital)
• Honourable Mention: Savvy Games Group
• Honourable Mention: Shorooq Partners

BEST DEVELOPER (Sponsored by ID@Xbox)

• Jawaker
• Honourable Mention: Chickmania
• Honourable Mention: Hypemasters
• Honourable Mention: Mad Hook

BEST PUBLISHER (Sponsored by Xsolla Funding)

• Tamatem Games
• Honourable Mention: Babil Games
• Honourable Mention: Sandsoft

MENA GAME OF THE YEAR

• (Tamatem) أرض الشجعان
• Honourable Mention: AFRSHO (Naphora)
• Honourable Mention: Jawaker: Games & Friends (Jawaker)

MENA MARKET LEGEND (Sponsored by PocketGamer.biz)

• MJ Fahmi

Our congratulations to this 2025's MENA Games Industry Awards winners, and honourable mentions!