As we roll into Christmas, we asked some of mobilegamer.biz’s best-known readers what their personal game of the year was. Here’s what they said…
Simon Hade, Space Ape CxO/cofounder
My personal game of the year is Duolingo. I know, I know… it’s not a game. As an actual game-maker I have been rolling my eyes at the term ‘gamification’ for years. But this year I observed my teenage daughter engage with the streak and progress systems so deeply it completely cannibalised her ‘real gaming’. In fact Duolingo now does a better job of systems design and tapping into player motivations than many games, so I found them particularly inspiring.
Victoria Trofimova, Nordcurrent CEO
My choice would be Monopoly Go – looking at it from the business perspective, it is an excellent example of how the right choice of a strong IP ensures the global success of a game.
Eric Seufert, Investor (Heracles Capital), Analyst (Mobile Dev Memo)
Warcraft Rumble is by far my favourite game released in 2023. Despite its conspicuous bugginess, Warcraft Rumble is the most exciting and strategic tower defence game I’ve ever played on mobile, by a wide margin. The game does a perfect job of capturing the magic of the Warcraft franchise while presenting the player with a simplified yet strategic and challenging game mechanic.
The upgrade trees are implemented thoughtfully and don’t detract from the core experience. Having played Warcraft obsessively as a kid, I was apprehensive about the franchise’s expansion to mobile, since the RTS genre is difficult to adapt to the mobile form factor. But Blizzard did a superb job of transmogrifying the beloved Warcraft experience for mobile devices.
Alexandra Takei, Ruckus Games director
I’m still playing Marvel Snap a lot (basically everyday), though I’ve recently started playing Dislyte from Lilith, and I love the music and vibes of the Espers.
Alex Merutka, Craftsman+ CEO and founder
Marvel Snap really shines with its exceptional visuals and engaging gameplay. It’s a blast to play, rewarding clever strategies and player creativity while steering clear of pay-to-win mechanics. The artwork and animations are top-notch.
Jen Donahoe, Jade Inferno and Beta Hat consultant
My game of the year has to be Monopoly Go from a business standpoint. From zero to $1B in about seven months is nothing short of amazing and the industry should be paying attention!
Not as impressive to folks, but a small addiction for me is Gossip Harbor and Royal Match. Nothing beats watching bad TV and playing some casual games.
Faisal Sethi, Frosty Pop founder
Papers, Please. Appreciate it was ported in late 2022, but I got into it in early 2023. It’s a game I wish I could make. Noticeable mentions for finity. and Roto Force.
Lea Schönfelder, Fein Games cofounder
My daughter and I are enjoying Pok Pok, a collection of games and toys for kids and parents. What’s great about the platform is that you really get into conversations about the world and it’s at the same time fun (important to my daughter) and tasteful (important to me).
Kalle Heikkinen, GameRefinery chief analyst (China)
Merge Mansion has amped up its live ops in the past couple of years and thus made the game even more interesting. The themes of the events have become more exciting, and the overall quantity and quality of the narrative as well – also a solid year in terms of performance. And, of course, it’s been super fun to follow what they have done on the marketing side of things with the Pedro Pascal ads.
Christian Lovstedt, Midjiwan general manager
Mini Tennis by Miniclip is my game of the year. I am a bit of a tennis game freak, having played almost every one of them since the dawn of time. I don’t care much for Mini Tennis’ monetisation model and unclear benefits of the possible upgrades you get as you progress, but the core tennis gameplay is good.
