The 2026 Apple Design Awards have been announced, and this year's winners in the game segment highlight the vast breadth of gaming experiences now available across Apple's ecosystem of devices.
From cozy, inclusive adventures to Vision Pro-ready storytelling and AAA-level visuals optimised for Apple silicon, the winners showcase Apple’s platforms as a home for both indie creativity and mainstream innovation (see our guides to choosing the best iPad for drawing and the best MacBook for programming).
The Apple Design Awards recognise 12 apps and games across six categories: Delight and Fun, Inclusivity, Innovation, Interaction, Social Impact, and Visuals and Graphics. The winners were selected from 36 global finalists on the grounds of innovation, artistry and technical achievement in app and game design.
Among the games, the Social Impact winner is Consume Me (above), a semi-autobiographical roleplaying game about the ordeal of being a teenager. The game uses a raw, expressive lo-fi art style with thick brushstrokes and a constrained color palette to ease us through a stressful but darkly funny story about teenage anxiety and disordered eating.
When we interviewed the developers Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson last year, we learned that the deeply personal game had taken almost a decade to make. Apple praised how the game sensitively handles an emotionally moving topic and noted that the clever mechanics help users thoughtfully connect with feelings words can’t always capture.
The winning game in the Delight and Fun category is Spanish developer Poti Poti Studio's Is This Seat Taken? This is a cosy cartoon-style people placement logic puzzle game where you have to organise groups of people according to their preferences. Apple commended the playful interactive elements that give the game an unhurried sense of charm.
In the Inclusivity category, the game winner is UK-based Hyper Luminal Games' Pine Hearts, a moving game that was praised for its use of accessibility settings, including enhanced text legibility, customizable controls, and adjusted motion and sensory feedback.
Dogubomb's Blue Prince won in Innovation. This genre-defying game blends exploration, puzzle-solving, and noncombat elements. Apple liked the engaging room-by-room structure and environmental storytelling.
In Interaction, the winning game was Sago Mini Jinja’s Garden available via Apple Arcade. Created for young children, this cosy gardening game was praised for its intuitive swipe-to-move controls, which Apple said let kids keep their focus on exploring the garden rather than reading instructions.
CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition took the game award in the Visuals and Graphics category – it had to really with its visually ambitious open-world and its optimisation for Apple silicon and advanced Metal features.
Winners in the app design were the affirmation app Grug, Guitar Wiz, NBA: Live Games & Scores, Moonlitt: Moon Phase Tracker, Primary: News in Depth for Vision Pro and Tide Guide: Charts & Tables.
You can learn more on the Apple website.
