Gaming and Development Awards (2023)

Introduction

Innovation in Business is excited to announce the launch of the Gaming and Development Awards 2023! This brand-new programme will act as a definitive guide to the Video Game industry, recognising the leading innovators across the game development, design, publishing, and marketing stages, and so much more!

The Video Gaming sector is booming, making now the perfect time to take part in the Gaming and Development Awards and secure beneficial promotion for your company’s products and services. Over the next couple of years analysts predict that the Gaming industry will pass $260 billion in revenue, which will make it worth more than both the film and music markets combined. The current growth rate is also much higher than industry experts anticipated, and by 2022 the sector was valued at almost twice the amount of the initial forecast for the same period.

Innovation has always been at the centre of the Video Game industry. Today’s consumers benefit from the immersive gameplay, seamless connectivity, photorealistic graphics, and sleek controls made possible by the continued dedication and investment of game developers and related support industries. Even some of the world’s most influential tech companies – Google, Meta, and Apple to name a few – have made plans to expand their operations into the lucrative Video Game market.

In recent years Mobile Gaming has become the most popular gaming platform globally, overtaking both the P.C. and Console categories. This surge in demand can be attributed to various technical advancements including 5G connectivity, AR/VR technology, and the emergence of cloud gaming. Another major development across the Gaming market is the increasing dominance of subscription streaming services. These companies make the latest games instantly available to consumers and allow for a significant reduction in production and distribution costs.

Perhaps the most significant shift in this sector is the expanding demographics of gamers. Over the years, video games themselves have evolved and there are now a wide variety of genres, styles, and gaming types for people to choose from. This has led to more people playing games, and a more even split between age and gender distribution of Video Game consumers. This, in addition to rising household income and high-speed internet becoming more accessible globally, has helped create a much greater demand and places the industry in a strong position for the future.

Taking part in the Gaming and Development Awards 2023 will not only demonstrate that your company is at the cutting-edge of this dynamic industry but can also provide a plethora of other benefits. Being labelled as an award-winning company can draw new customers to your business, boost staff morale, help attract and retain high-level talent, and is a fantastic marketing tool to gain exposure and increase brand awareness.

All recipients selected by Innovation in Business for inclusion in the Gaming and Development Awards 2023 are determined in-house by an unbiased team of researchers and judges. We use strict merit-based criteria to assess all potential nominees so that only the most deserving companies go on to be successful in the programme. We also provide a set of tailored advertising packages to our winners which are designed for all budget and coverage levels, so that each and every recipient can maximise the promotional return of their win! Should you wish to take part in the awards this year, please nominate your company using the Vote Now button provided or reach out to our helpful Nominations Team directly. Best of luck to all contenders!

Meet The Team

Need Help With Your Nomination? We can point you in the right direction.

The Nomination Team can assist with answering any queries that you have regarding a nomination, or the process involved in taking part in one of our award programmes.

Please get in touch with us via email or over the phone if you have any questions - we are happy to help!

Key dates

Entries Open:
Monday 6th March 2023

Entries Closed:
Sunday 28th May 2023

Winners Announced:
August 2023

Methodology

The researching of nominees

The Innovation in Business team work ardently to identify the firms that are truly delivering and achieving great things for their industry sector. We drive many of the nominations ourselves and also encourage external nominations via subscribers, online visitors, social media followers, clients and wider circulation. Nominating parties are invited to put forward either third-party businesses whom they hold in high regard, or their own organisation.

The Shortlisting of nominees

All nominees are formally requested to accept their nomination. Should any firm or individual rather decline at this point, they are simply taken out of the running. Those who formally accept are given the opportunity to submit additional materials in support of their nomination. Although there is no obligation to complete and supply material, we have found that many nominees value this stage, in the process, and our research team find this very beneficial when determining businesses deserving of recognition.

Professional evaluation and judging of those shortlisted

Our dedicated research team will assess all information presented to them and also gather information independently from a variety of publicly accessible sources, which are assessed alongside any material supplied by a nominating party or the nominee themselves. The research team casts their final judgment, based on various criteria including client and customer dedication, innovation, business growth, longevity, online reputation, customer feedback and business performance.

Our winners

Once winners are determined, they are personally notified before any public announcement is made, allowing time for any communications throughout the wider business and the coordination of marketing strategies. Unfortunately, not everyone can be a winner; however, all who take part are encouraged to come back next year. Once the press embargo is lifted, details of our Innovation in Business award winners will be made public via the website, award winners’ magazine and subscriber newsletter.

Gain maximum exposure for your win

Innovation in Business award winners are offered a range of promotional packages which vary from inclusion in the free-of-charge winners’ directory, to trophies, content in our magazine and on our website. We encourage all winners to publicly announce their win independently. Announcements via company websites, social media, via publicly released press releases, and through local and national press are all great ways of maximising the exposure which can be gained from such an amazing achievement. If you have need of further advice, on how to gain maximum exposure from your win, please feel free to get in touch. We are more than happy to assist our clients with their marketing needs and initiatives.

Our Awards Team

Tony Garner - Technology and Finance Director

Tony is one of three directors at AI Global Media, the digital group behind Innovation in Business. As the director of technology of the business Tony is committed to ensuring that Innovation in Business recognises the most inventive, progressive and forward-thinking of businesses with its award programmes and that each winner not only has a great experience but also gains maximum value for their award win.

Jeremy Roe - Head of Research

Jeremy has been in this position since 2015 and is dedicated to his research team and to the readers, nominees and award winners of Innovation in Business’ award programmes. Jeremy's diligent approach is carried across to his team members ensuring quality in the research carried out on behalf of Innovation in Business.

Phil Pearson - Innovation in Business Lead Researcher

Phil joined the business in 2016 and rapidly became an integral part of the research team. Phil has a keen interest in all things innovative and is keen to gain further insight into how businesses introduce and integrate new concepts, ideas and processes. He also understands that an award win such as one of Innovation in Business’ can be a powerful marketing tool for small businesses making it key for the research team to select those most fitting and most worthy of one of these highly regarded accolades.

Katherine Benton - Senior Awards Executive

Katherine is an English Literature and Creative & Professional Writing graduate. Amongst many things her background has driven Katherine to become exceptionally focussed, diligent and conscientious, qualities that she oozes in her work today. Katherine is dedicated in ensuring that the Innovation in Business awards offer both maximum value for those who win and that the awards showcase only the most innovative and trusted of businesses.

Hall of Fame

You will find details of all our award winners here. Our featured winners are included in our digital award supplement on our website and distributed to the greater circulation. All winners are included in the online directory, which can be viewed in full on the website once the embargo has been lifted and a public announcement has been made. Please feel free to browse through our archived winners lists by clicking on the appropriate year below.

By Year

2023

FAQs

How long has Innovation in Business been around?

Innovation in Business as a stand alone brand has been launched early 2022, born out of a need for real focus on those truly innovate firms pushing boundaries and bringing pioneering concepts, ideas and businesses to the forefront of business. Innovation in Business is owned by AI Global Media, a UK based digital group with 14 brands in its portfolio

Where do nominations come from?

Nominations come to us via three avenues; we put forward businesses ourselves, we accept third-party nominations and businesses also have the option to put their own business for consideration. In the interest of nurturing an environment proven to produce a high response rate, we don’t ask nominees to reveal their identity at the time of submitting a nomination. The ability to succeed and ultimately win an award is not linked to the number of votes received, meaning your award is presented purely on merit. In the interest of security and fairness, we track unusual behaviour on our website to identify repeat votes and cyber-threats.

What happens if I agree to be shortlisted?

In the interest of focusing our efforts on relevant and eager candidates, we ask all nominees to accept their position on the shortlist giving people complete control in the decision on whether they would like to move forward with the award. Nominees who accept are subject to our scrutiny during the internal vetting procedure and are given the opportunity to present their own data to be considered alongside information collated by our research team. This can take up to 8 weeks for final assessments to be rendered.

Who makes the final decision?

We employ a highly diligent panel of 5 individuals to conduct all research. At the helm of the panel, is a veteran academic leader with international academic and training experience who is well versed in research, fact-checking and mediation. Innovation in Business’ research is overseen by our Brand Ambassador Phil Pearson, who joined our research team in 2016 and has a natural interest in innovative ideas and concepts. This two-tiered system allows for a neutral mediator which we feel allows a more efficient method when determining individuals and companies most deserving of winning an award and has brought us much success and commendation throughout its use.

Is there a winner’s ceremony or awards dinner?

The short answer is no. Despite being an enjoyable occasion, it wouldn’t support our group’s philosophy of cost-effective marketing by holding a celebrator event. We follow the belief that optional costs associated with an award are better placed in a year’s worth of online marketing for the winner rather than spending large sums on a ceremony. Our press announcements are made digitally, online and across our network to enforce our position as digital publishers. We aim to provide you with the tools (both digital and physical) to generate real-world value.

What happens if I am successful?

After you have been notified of your award win, we enforce a short press embargo while our dedicated awards team will liaise with you to establish your preferred method of coverage. Generally, our coverage takes the form of a digital celebratory magazine, we also offer physical trophies, wall mounted certificates and plaques and digital certificates, web-based advertisements and press releases which can be custom designed for you or your company.

Are there any costs involved?

There are no compulsory costs in accepting a nomination or winning an award with Innovation in Business. We do offer a variety of paid additional benefits for our winners, but these are completely optional. To demonstrate our commitment to no mandatory fees, all winners are offered a free of charge promotional package. Our company policy will always remain regardless of budget, our clients should always be able to garner the full value of the award and our seal of approval. We offer a variety of promotional opportunities to our winners, as we have an extensive network and we know, more than anyone, the wider business benefits from promoting industry awards.

Why does your email domain differ from your website domain?

Because we send a large volume of emails, we separate our campaign email sends from our transactional ones. This structure helps to ensure a prompt and thorough response from one of our diligent team members. The sending email address will always be recognisable but please contact us via the address on this page if you have any concerns.