Our Game Awards 2025 recap highlights the winners, key announcements, and standout moments from the show’s 11th edition.
Mobile game of the year: Umamusume: Pretty Derby
Cygames’ popular sports life-sim, Umamusume: Pretty Derby, won the Best Mobile Game award, triumphing over a strong field of nominees including Wuthering Waves, Persona 5: The Phantom X, and Destiny: Rising.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is a simulation game and part of the Umamusume Project, a multimedia franchise produced by Cygames, which consists of anime, manga, music, and games that tell stories of characters inspired by racehorses. Along with their classmates and trainers, the Umamusume work towards every racer’s dream—winning the Twinkle Series.
“This milestone achievement would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our fans around the world and the unwavering dedication of our development and operations teams.
This recognition marks an important step forward for our company, and we remain committed to delivering innovative, best-in-class entertainment experiences that resonate with audiences globally.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our amazing community and look forward to continuing this journey together.”
Motohiro Okubo, CEO of Cygames America
Following the premiere of its popular anime adaptation, the game first launched in Japan in 2021, blending character-driven storytelling, training simulation, and competitive racing featuring characters who embody the names and spirits of legendary racehorses.
The game has rapidly become one of Cygames’ biggest success stories, spawning music releases, live events, and an internationally expanding fanbase.
With its consistent content updates, high-quality animation, and performance-focused gameplay, the game continues to grow and garner widespread acclaim.
Players’ Voice: Wuthering Waves
While Umamusume took the critics’ choice, the global gaming community rallied behind Kuro Games’ open-world action RPG, Wuthering Waves, securing the Player’s Voice Award. This particular category is determined entirely by fan voting, allowing the player base to select their favorite title from a shortlist that includes major contenders such as Genshin Impact and Hollow Knight: Silksong
Wuthering Waves experienced a significant surge in engagement and positive sentiment following its Version 2.0 update in January 2025, which introduced a new region and plenty of content and performance optimizations.
The title has also maintained its cross-platform presence, with its official PlayStation 5 launch coinciding with the Version 2.0 update, confirming cross-progression across PC, mobile, and console.
Big Launches on the Horizon for 2026
The show also served as a major platform for several high-profile mobile game announcements:
Arknights: Endfield received its official worldwide launch date: January 22, 2026. The 3D strategy RPG will arrive simultaneously on PC, PS5, and mobile (iOS/Android).
The announcement was accompanied by a new trailer featuring the original song “Give Me Something” by the band OneRepublic, further driving momentum for the title, which has already surpassed 30 million pre-registrations.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, the Unreal Engine 5-powered open-world action game from Netmarble, revealed a new trailer showcasing expansive world exploration and large-scale co-op raid combat, thrilling fans of the popular anime franchise.
Rust Mobile debuted its “BEYOND FRONTIERS” trailer and confirmed that its first closed beta is currently live, bringing the intense survival sandbox experience to mobile devices.
The open-world game Where Winds Meet also officially announced its mobile version launch, following its highly anticipated console and PC releases.
