Batman, Heavy Rain win Develop Awards

Heavy Rain and Batman scooped Best New IP and Best Use of a Licence or IP respectively at last night's Develop Awards in Brighton.

Batman developer Rocksteady went on to win Best In-House Studio (it's now part of Warner Bros.) and Heavy Rain maker Quantic Dream was considered the Best Independent Studio.

Brighton's Black Rock Studio were on home turf to win Best Visual Arts for Split/Second, while Audio Accomplishment went to DJ Hero. Channel 4's foray into games meant a Publishing Hero award, while Best New Download IP went to Angry Birds.

Joe Danger developer Hello Games took home Best New Studio and Best Micro Studio.

The Development Legend award went to the founders of Jagex, Andrew and Paul Gower, who have made loads of money from free-to-play MMO RuneScape.

The Develop Awards celebrate the best of UK and European game studios. Check out the full list of winners below.

Creativity

• Best New IP - Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
• Best New Download IP - Angry Birds (Rovio)
• Best Use of a Licence or IP - Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
• Visual Arts - Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)
• Audio Accomplishment - DJ Hero (FreeStyleGames)
• Publishing Hero - Channel 4

Technology & Services

• Technical Innovation - Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
• Tools Provider - Hansoft
• Engine - Unreal Engine 3
• Services - Testology
• Audio Outsourcer - Side
• Visual Outsourcer - Axis Animation
• Recruitment Company - Amiqus

Studios

• Best New Studio - Hello Games
• Micro Studio - Hello Games
• Handheld Studio - SCE Cambridge
• Business Development - Sony XDev
• In-House Studio - Rocksteady Studios
• Independent Studio - Quantic Dream

Special Awards

• Development Legend - Andrew Gower & Paul Gower (Jagex)
• Grand Prix - Unity Technologies