It’s game of the year time, so here’s a second batch of mobilegamer.biz readers and their personal mobile games of the year.
See what execs at Xsolla, My Games, King, PikPok, Craftsman, Naavik, Hungry Studio and AdInMo chose in part one here.
Luken Aragon, King’s Candy Crush Saga marketing VP
Brawl Stars, it’s an incredible social experience that has managed to find an extremely engaged audience.
Summer Liu, Socialpeta CMO
Monopoly Go reminds me of the joy of playing Monopoly with my brothers and sisters when I was a child. We played it with a piece of plastic. I got nervous every time I rolled the dice. This uncertainty was exciting.
Bob Slinn, FunPlus VP business development
I was turned on to Block Blast! by my two daughters who were big fans of this game along with every other teenager around, judging from the download numbers.
There is still something incredibly compelling about the simple challenge of trying to improve your high score (and beat your daughters’ ones) combined with a classic block puzzle mechanic. The game also has a nice revive function that ensures they generate even more ad revenue from my obsession.
Anastasia Zaiceva, Zimad CCO
I’ve always been more keen towards the card games. It reminds me of my childhood, when I used to play cards with my late father during cold winter nights. True journey into the past.
And this year my top game would for sure be Balatro, it is absolutely in the top of new games this year. The combination of classic mechanics has truly brought absolutely engaging and exciting experience to millions of players around the world. Just another proof that there are always ways to bring something new to the market without copying others and that imagination doesn’t have any limits.
John Wright, Kwalee mobile games VP
Netmarble’s Solo Leveling: Arise is a masterpiece in Asian-style cross-platform RPG’s, it has amazing material from the successful Korean Manhwa of the same name but equally the sheer amount of regular content drops, the gameplay, visuals, difficulty balancing, metagame and events strategy all are top tier.
It even has an auto-battler option for mobile players so that those of us who live to thrive on gacha collection and buffing our characters can thrive without tediously spending hours and hours grinding. I’m currently level 95 which is the max you can get in the game, so to say I’ve liked it is probably a gross understatement.
Claudia Heiling, Golden Whale COO and co-founder
This year, I dove into the world of digital strategy card games, both as a gamer and from a professional perspective. Preferring real-world scenarios over fantasy settings, one game stood out to me: Kards – The WWII Card Game. Its impressive level of detail, remarkable graphics, and easy-to-learn yet continuously enjoyable gameplay mechanics made it a clear favourite.
Eric Futoran, Embrace cofounder
My game of the year is Connections. If Wordle was the game of the year in 2023, NYTimes hit it again with Connections. Even my eight year-old is addicted to it. Not just flawless execution by an amazing engineer team but a really good overall experience within NYTimes.
Too many companies, like Washington Post and LinkedIn, tack on games to attempt to better monetise or retain. Very few make the experience natural, immersive, and continue to improve on them.
Ben Cousens, ZBD CSO
My game of the year is Sonic Dream Team on Apple Arcade. I’m such a sucker for Sonic, he’s my childhood hero.
