Best Apple apps and games of 2019: winning Chinese developer on his non-toxic game that’s antidote to the usual greed and desire for domination

Top iPhone game goes to Sky: Children of Light. Shanghai native Jenova Chen, its main designer, explains why players win by showing kindness not killer instinct

NetEase’s iOS adaptation of Taiwanese PC-based game Xuan-Yuan Sword: Dragon Upon the Cloud, rooted in Chinese mythology, wins award for best game trend

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A screenshot of Sky: Children of the Light, which won iPhone Game of the Year at Apple’s awards for the best apps and games of 2019. A social role-playing game, it rewards kindness, not killer instinct.

Published: 2:00am, 5 Dec 2019Updated: 9:02pm, 5 Dec 2019

Considering that Apple has recently thrown its hat into the Hollywood showbiz ring with Apple TV+, it is fitting that the tech giant is now holding its own awards ceremony. At a “special event” in New York on Monday, Apple officially announced its best apps and games of the year, and the winners include a couple of games from Chinese developers.

The “iPhone Game of the Year” award went to Sky: Children of the Light, a social role-playing game with gorgeous, console-quality graphics that Apple called “groundbreaking” on its official awards page. The studio behind the game, Thatgamecompany, is based in Southern California, but co-founder and main designer Jenova Chen is a Shanghai native.

Chen, 38, says at the awards event he was trying to build a game that encourages positive interactions.

A veteran in the game industry – Thatgamecompany is perhaps best known for the hit 2012 PlayStation 4 game Journey – Chen says he was tired of the toxic online gaming culture in which gamers, hiding behind anonymous avatars, spew insults and sometimes racial or misogynist taunts.

Jenova Chen, co-founder and designer of Thatgamecompany, whose game Sky: Children of the Light was named iPhone Game of the Year by Apple. Photo: Ben Sin

“We noticed that most MMORPG [massive multiplayer online role-playing games] bring out the weaknesses of humanity – our greed; our desire to top others,” Chen says.