The nominations for the 2026 Develop:Star Awards have been announced, with two titles receiving the highest number of nods.<\/p>\n
Clair Obscur<\/a>: Expedition 33 and Ghost of Yotei<\/a> are leading the field in this year\u2019s competition, as confirmed by event organizers. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in video game development<\/a>, covering categories such as technical innovation, art design, narrative, and overall game direction.<\/p>\n The Develop:Star Awards are an annual industry event, typically held in the United Kingdom, that honors developers and their projects from around the world. The 2026 ceremony is scheduled to take place later this year, with voting already open to industry professionals.<\/p>\n Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a turn-based role-playing game developed by a French studio, has attracted attention for its unique visual style blending painterly aesthetics with a dark fantasy setting. The game was released earlier in 2026 and has received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at its combat system and world building.<\/p>\n Ghost of Yotei, developed by Sucker Punch Productions, is the sequel to the 2020 hit Ghost of Tsushima. Set in the snowy regions of Japan, the game follows a new protagonist and expands on the stealth action gameplay of its predecessor. It has been noted for its advanced environmental rendering and narrative depth.<\/p>\n Both games have been nominated across multiple categories, including Best Visual Art, Best Audio, Best Game Design, and Game of the Year. Other notable nominees include titles from major studios such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and CD Projekt Red, though Clair Obscur and Ghost of Yotei hold the highest number of individual nominations.<\/p>\n The 2026 nominations reflect a trend toward high fidelity graphics and narrative driven experiences. The prominence of a French independent studio among the leaders indicates a shift in industry dynamics, where smaller teams can compete on technical and artistic merit with larger, established publishers.<\/p>\n Develop:Star Awards organizers stated that the nomination process considered games released between April 2025 and March 2026. The final winners will be determined by a panel of veteran developers and journalists, with results announced during the ceremony.<\/p>\n Representatives from both leading studios have acknowledged the nominations. The team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 expressed gratitude for the recognition, particularly in technical categories, where they competed against some of the most resource rich teams in the industry. Sucker Punch Productions noted that the nomination reflects the hard work of their development staff over several years of production.<\/p>\n No official statements from other nominated studios have been released regarding the nominations.<\/p>\n The awards event is expected to draw significant attention from the global gaming community, as the Develop:Star Awards are regarded as a key indicator of industry trends and technical advancement. The 2025 ceremony saw wins for titles including Baldur\u2019s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2.<\/p>\n The full list of nominees is available on the Develop:Star Awards official website, and voting remains open to verified industry professionals until late next month. The final award winners will be announced at the live ceremony, which organizers have confirmed will be held in London in August 2026.<\/p>\n Source: GamesIndustry.biz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The nominations for the 2026 Develop:Star Awards have been announced, with two titles receiving the highest number of nods. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Ghost of Yotei are leading the field in this year\u2019s competition, as confirmed by event organizers. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in video game development, covering categories such as technical innovation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[388],"tags":[461,1894,5731,8870,754,1500,1893],"class_list":["post-7553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games","tag-clair-obscur","tag-awards","tag-develop-conference","tag-developstar-awards","tag-game-development","tag-ghost-of-yotei","tag-video-game-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delimiter.online\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Broader Industry Context<\/h2>\n
Reactions from Developers<\/h2>\n