The Boss Mode Awards are a special part of GamesBeat Summit honoring women across the games, media, and technology industries.
Building on GamesBeat’s Boss Mode interview series highlighting exceptional women in the games industry, the Boss Mode Awards opened public nominations earlier this year. An impartial, majority-woman committee of third-party industry experts selected winners across three categories: Woman of the Year, Rising Star, and Lifetime Achievement. The awards’ presenting sponsor is Webtoon, and supporting sponsors are Medal, Scopely, k-ID, and the Entertainment Software Association.
“Boss Mode shines a spotlight on a sector that powers culture, innovation, and markets and on the women across games, entertainment, and technology who are creating measurable impact,” said GamesBeat CEO Gina Joseph. “This is about recognizing the breadth, the business, and the influence of the interactive economy in a way that hasn’t been done before and we’re honored to celebrate the winners and nominees of the innagual awards at GamesBeat Summit.”
The Boss Mode Awards ceremony took place on the main stage at GamesBeat Summit at 5:30 p.m. PST today. Gerard “HipHopGamer” Williams served as the emcee for the ceremony.
The Boss Mode Woman of the Year Award:
This award honors a woman who has significantly influenced the industry over the past year. This year’s winner was Eunice Lee, the chief operating officer at Scopely.
Eunice Lee has played a major role in helping Scopely scale into one of the world’s leading mobile game publishers. Since joining the company as chief operating officer in 2021, she has overseen cross-functional operations across Scopely’s global teams, focusing on organizational structure, technology integration, studio collaboration, and long-term growth strategy.
Lee previously helped lead operations for Activision’s “Call of Duty” franchise, using that experience to inform Scopely’s expansion through major live-service hits such as Monopoly Go! She has also become a visible public-facing executive for Scopely. Under the broader leadership team she joined, Scopely has grown into one of the top-grossing mobile gaming companies globally, surpassing $10 billion in lifetime revenue.
In her acceptance speech, Lee acknowledged her mother as a key woman mentor and source of inspiration in her life and career, thanking her for imparting lessons about how to work hard, defy expectations, and sacrifice for her loved ones.
“I hope to do just a sliver of what she did for me for others around me, and support this industry that I so love and have spent decades in,” Lee said.
The Future Boss Rising Star Award:
This award honors an up-and-coming woman in the industry who has managed to make a splash in a short time. This year’s winner was Kübra Gündoğan, the co-founder and CEO of the Istanbul-based studio Loom Games.
Gündoğan has rapidly risen in prominence in the industry since forming her company in 2025, leading the growth of Loom Games’ hybrid-casual puzzle game Pixel Flow!, which surpassed 10 million players within months of launch and became one of the few new casual mobile games to break into the U.S. top-20 grossing charts.
Under Gündoğan’s leadership, Loom Games grew from a small startup into one of Turkey’s newest gaming unicorns after Scopely acquired a majority stake in the company in a deal valuing the studio at more than $1 billion. She has been recognized for combining innovative game design with strong monetization and live-service strategy, while also helping spotlight Turkey’s growing influence as a global mobile gaming hub.
In her acceptance video, Gündoğan thanked her partners at Scopely for supporting the creative vision behind Pixel Flow, which she described as “a stubborn belief that players drop something genuinely new.”
“That partnership gave us the platform to think even bigger about what comes next,” Gündoğan said. “Receiving this award makes it even more special.”
The Final Boss Award for Lifetime Achievement:
This award honors a legend who has been in the games industry for years and has made a lasting positive impact on the space. This year’s winner was Amy Hennig.
Amy’s work needs no introduction; over a career spanning decades, she has become widely regarded as one of the most influential storytellers in the history of video games.
She has held leadership roles across studios including Electronic Arts, Crystal Dynamics, and Naughty Dog, and more recently founded the independent studio Skydance New Media, where she has led development on narrative-focused projects, including Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra.
In her acceptance video, Hennig acknowledged her fellow Boss Mode Award nominees, highlighting the role of awards like the Boss Mode Awards as an important source of visibility for women in the gaming industry.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work alongside so many talented, passionate women — too many to count — and that’s why I regret not being there in person,” Hennig said, “because it is so important for women in our industry to be visible, especially in these challenging times.”