Mobile gaming continues to rise — but mobile game studio Christian Lövstedt believes industry awards shows aren’t properly recognizing this shift in global gaming activity.
Going into 2026, mobile gaming is hotter than ever. Mobile currently represents 55 percent of the global gaming market, according to Newzoo’s 2025 Global Games Market report, which flagged particular growth in mobile activity in Western markets. Yet of the 70 games on the longlist for the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards — put forward by BAFTA members and published by the organization yesterday — 11 are playable on mobile, and none of those games were published mobile-first.
“Games released on mobile are fully eligible for consideration across all BAFTA Games Awards categories,” a BAFTA representative said in an emailed statement. “The longlists have been selected by more than 1,700 BAFTA members, who are experienced games professionals working in the industry. Many highly regarded mobile titles aren’t exclusive, having been released on PC and other platforms, and 11 of 64 longlisted games have mobile versions.”
Lövstedt, whose company Midjiwan developed the mobile strategy game “The Battle of Polytopia,” believes the BAFTA’s longlist is the latest example of the ongoing trend of industry awards not giving mobile games the attention — and nominations — they deserve. To voice this opinion, he authored an open letter criticizing the global games industry’s anti-mobile bias, which Lövstedt published today. Ahead of the publication of the open letter, GamesBeat spoke to the Midjiwan CEO for an annotated Q&A regarding his perspective on anti-mobile bias in games industry awards.
This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
On his motivation to write the open letter
Christian Lövstedt: “At gaming events, unless they are particularly mobile-focused events, mobile games tend to get very little attention, and are not talked about much. When we talk to people in the industry, they tend to assume we aren’t a serious developer — we are a mobile games developer.”
GamesBeat: Lövstedt told GamesBeat that he believes the gaming industry’s perception of mobile games as lower-value or less serious than PC or console games was at least partially a result of industry awards ignoring mobile games.
“Awards and media shape the narrative of what counts as culturally or creatively valuable,” Lövstedt wrote in his open letter. “When mobile is excluded, we send a message to developers, investors, and publishers that mobile is not a place for ambition or artistry.”
On the causes behind mobile gaming’s industry reputation
Christian Lövstedt: “I think the industry itself has some self-reflection to do, in terms of how we approach players, or what type of monetization or ad models we have in the games. I think that also affects the reputation of mobile games development. But there are plenty of mobile games that don’t have aggressive monetization tactics or aggressive ad tactics.”
GamesBeat: In this answer, Lövstedt acknowledged that there is some truth behind the historical perception of mobile gaming as lower-production-value than gaming on other platforms, with free-to-play mobile games sometimes partaking in predatory or distracting monetization streams. To help avoid these perceptions at Midjiwan, he told GamesBeat that his company consciously avoided aggressive ad monetization in “The Battle for Polytopia,” instead using a DLC-focused approach that he felt created more value for players.
On the impact of industry awards ignoring mobile games
Christian Lövstedt: “As a developer, recruitment situations are one part of the damage; it’s not as credible to work for a mobile game developer than for a triple-A or PC game developers. In some cases, it can affect financing for your game, to not be considered a serious development company.”
GamesBeat: Game developers have been finding it increasingly difficult to secure funding this year, with venture capital investments in the sector dropping by 47 percent in Q2 2025. As game studios balance on the knife’s edge, any advantage is helpful — particularly industry awards, which can help studios get the recognition they need to separate themselves from the pack in the eyes of investors. This context helps explain the increasingly urgent nature of Lövstedt’s critique of industry awards.
On his outlook for mobile gaming at industry awards
Christian Lövstedt: “We are just getting some regulations that are opening up more different types of mobile stories, which I think can improve visibility for mobile studios. By getting more types of mobile games the audiences they deserve, they will hopefully get more visibility and more credibility, and might be seen more in the awards.
For example, we released the game on Epic’s mobile store. This is a quite small user base — at least for us — but it would be great if that store got more visibility, and if other stores could get the same visibility due to these changes in regulations.”
GamesBeat: Lövstedt’s answer to this question reflects how, like many mobile game developers, he views the outcome of Epic Games’ recent legal challenges against Apple and Google as good news for the mobile gaming establishment at large. As a result of the legal decisions, mobile game developers can more freely publish and sell their titles via third-party web stores, creating more visibility — and thus more potential awards attention — for mobile titles.