Small Giant Games' match-three RPG Empires & Puzzles took home the award for Best Breakthrough Hit from the third annual Google Play Awards.

The Best Breakthrough Hit rewards new apps or games that show excellent overall design, user experience, engagement and retention along with strong organic install growth.

Empires & Puzzles has proven a hit for Small Giant. In 2017 the title made $33 million in revenues and racked up 10 million players. As of February 2018, the title had a daily active user/monthly active user ratio of 33 per cent.

Broken Rules’ puzzle adventure Old Man’s Journey meanwhile got the nod for the Standout Indie Award on the night. That award recognises indie developers whose games focus on artistic design, gameplay, mechanics and overall polish.

And the winner is…

Pocket Gems won the Community Award for Episode, which recognises games built to connect gamers.

Elsewhere, the Standout Well-Being App was awarded to Simple Habit, while BBC Earth snagged the Best AR or VR Experience award for BBC Earth: Life in VR.

Best Accessibility Experience went to Be My Eyes for its app of the same name and the Best Social Impact award was given to Kahn Academy.

The Standout Start-up award went home with Canva for its app of the same name.

Lastly, the Standout Build for Billions Experience award, which recognises apps or games with optimised performance, localisation and culturalisation for emerging markets, went to Flipkart.

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