We are thrilled to reveal the finalists for the special awards at the UK GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards 2025.
These awards recognise excellence in specific areas, and they run in addition to the overall Best Places to Work Awards for small, medium, and large companies.
The Zynga-owned studio NaturalMotion leads the pack in terms of the number of nominations, appearing as a finalist in all six categories.
Close behind is Microsoft-owned Rare with five nods, while the UK arm of Canadian developer Behaviour Interactive has scored three nominations.
Playground Games, Rocksteady, Fireshine Games, Studio Gobo, and Tanglewood Games all have two nominations each.
“Congratulations to all the nominees,” said Michael French, head of awards sponsor Games London. “We’ve been proud to support the Environmental Award at Best Places UK since the beginning, as all the nominees also represent the best way forward for studios to embrace and understand sustainability.”
David Ortiz, COO of awards sponsor ICO Partners, also praised the finalists. “We want to congratulate all the nominees for their incredible commitment to building a more diverse and inclusive games industry,” he said.
“Despite the industry’s current challenges, we must not lose sight of this key aspect of our leading creative industry. As games continue to grow and be experienced by more people, it is essential for the industry to continue creating experiences that reflect the wide range of people creating them, as well as enjoying them.”
The winners of the special awards, in addition to the overall winners, will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Institution in London on October 2, 2025.
The ceremony will follow the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit, sponsored by Amiqus, which takes place earlier in the day at the same venue. Among the speakers will be Sega’s chief people officer Nicky Ormrod, alongside Value Partnership’s Simon Court and Dan Bobby, who will discuss how they put Sega Europe back on a positive growth trajectory.
More information on the HR Summit can be found here, and the full line up of speakers and talks will be announced shortly. The link for tickets for this year’s event (including entry to the Best Places to Work Awards) can be found here.
Below is the list of finalists for the 2025 GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards UK:
Diversity Award (Presented by ICO Partners)
- Playground Games
- NaturalMotion
- Maverick Games
- Rocksteady
- Rare
Health and Wellbeing Award
- Wushu Studios
- Rare
- Behaviour Interactive
- Futur Lab
- NaturalMotion
Environmental Award (Presented by Games London)
- Rare
- NaturalMotion
- Behaviour Interactive
- MLC Studio
- Fireshine Games
Education Award
- Observer Interactive
- Rare
- NaturalMotion
- Side
- Studio Gobo
Corporate Social Responsibility Award (Presented by Special Effect)
- Behaviour Interactive
- Playground Games
- NaturalMotion
- Rocksteady
- Tanglewood Games
Training and Development Award
- Rare
- NaturalMotion
- Studio Gobo
- Tanglewood Games
- Fireshine Games