Ustwo Games chair María Sayans wins Mobile Legend at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2026

• Sayans spent more than a decade at Electronic Arts before joining CCP Games.
• Under Sayans, Ustwo became a standalone B Corporation in August 2022.
• Sayans is now board chair of Ukie, the UK games trade body.

María Sayans has won the Mobile Legend award at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2026 in association with Samsung Gaming Hub.

As part of its commitment to celebrating mobile game makers from around the globe, PocketGamer.biz hosted this year’s awards ceremony in Cologne during Gamescom week, recognising the creators, developers and industry leaders shaping mobile games in 2026.

The Mobile Legend award recognises an industry professional who has achieved considerable success throughout their career while making an outstanding contribution to the mobile games space.

Mobile legacy

Sayans began her career in management consulting before joining Electronic Arts, where she spent more than a decade working across major franchises including Battlefield and BioWare titles as a director of marketing.

She later became chief customer officer at CCP Games, the developer behind EVE Online, before taking the top job at London-based ustwo Games in 2019.

The studio is best known for Monument Valley, a series that demonstrated the artistic and creative potential of mobile games through puzzle adventures built around impossible architecture, optical illusions and spatial logic.

Leadership triumph 

Under Sayans’ leadership, ustwo Games expanded its portfolio with new titles and genres while continuing its focus on what she described as “beautiful games”.

Sayans also helped establish ustwo as one of the first major game studios to become a standalone B Corporation. The company achieved certification in August 2022, with an impact score more than double that of ordinary businesses.

During her tenure, ustwo introduced financial transparency, profit-sharing and employee ownership, while also reducing its carbon footprint and linking charitable giving to its games.

Beyond ustwo, Sayans now serves as board chair of Ukie, the UK games trade body, helping shape policy across the wider games industry.

Her career has recently expanded into PC and console games, but her contribution to mobile remains the foundation of her Mobile Legend recognition.

See the full list of winners from the Mobile Games Awards 2026.