Genshin Impact earned another accolade at the Gamescom 2024 awards this weekend, taking home the title of Best Mobile Game. Other big winners for the Nintendo Switch and mobile include Little Nightmares III and Tavern Talk, but compared to 2023, portable platforms were significantly underrepresented.
If you’ve read our Genshin Impact Natlan preview, you’ll be unsurprised to learn that Hoyoverse’s open-world ARPG has earned itself yet another award, this time taking home gold in Gamescom 2024’s Best Mobile Game category. It was up against stiff competition from Monster Hunter Now and Hoyoverse’s own Zenless Zone Zero, but ultimately the four-year-old title won out. No wonder it’s one of the best gacha games out there today.
In other categories, the cozy, fantasy visual novel game Tavern Talk won the award for Most Wholesome, which is arguably our favorite category. If you’ve read our Tavern Talk review then you’ll know how much we love this indie gem. The upcoming Switch game Little Nightmares III triumphed in several categories including Best Audio and Best Visuals, so we cannot wait to experience the third part of this chilling story.
While these achievements are amazing, Gamescom 2024’s awards are severely lacking mobile and Switch titles, especially when compared to last year when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom won in four different categories, and Sky: Children of the Light succeeded in two. Previous ceremonies also included a Best Nintendo Switch Game category, which was notably absent from 2024’s docket, despite being listed on the awards page ahead of the event.
Regardless, we think the portable platforms have had a stellar year so far, and we can’t wait for some of the new mobile games and new Switch games coming in 2024 and beyond. If you’re interested in more of our Gamescom 2024 coverage, check out our Age of Empires Mobile preview or our Floatopia preview next.