Apple WWDC25 Kicks Off; Infold Games’ Infinity Nikki Wins Apple Design Award
June 10th, 2025 - Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC25) officially kicked off, launching a week-long series of events, with the 2025 Apple Design Awards presented during the opening session. Infold Games’ Infinity Nikki received the award in the Visuals and Graphics category. Founder Yao Runhao attended the ceremony in person to accept the award.
Caption: 2025 Apple Design Awards ceremony, Infold Game Founder Runhao Yao is pictured in the back row, first from the left.
As “a beautiful open world built around the joy of collection”, Infinity Nikki received high praise from the Apple Design Award. The comment highlighted the game’s ground-breaking innovation in shifting the gameplay focus on collecting clothes instead of weapons. Also commented that "Lavish yet cozy at the same time, Infinity Nikki is an often literally glowing example of what mobile graphics can be."
Caption: Award description from Apple’s official website
As the world’s first cross-platform open-world game built on Unreal Engine 5, Infinity Nikki has been celebrated globally for its exceptional visual effect and graphics design. During its beta release, IGN awarded the game an impressive 9/10, recommending Infinity Nikki as "deep open-world exploration, a quirky story, and some of the most beautiful in-game outfits you'll ever see.” Besides IGN, 29 international media outlets contributed to a collective score of 80 on Metacritic.
"One of the best-looking games of the year." —The aesthetic expression of Infinity Nikki is only made possible with the technological breakthrough of its developers. To render the intricate fabric textures and dazzling lighting effects, the development team implemented over 100 proprietary technical innovations. For example, to present dynamic movement across a wide variety of outfits, the team carefully distinguished the texture of different fabrics and employed advanced skeletal physics to simulate the real-world behavior of different materials.
"Collect clothes instead of weapons, lavish yet cozy at the same time." — This refreshing gameplay philosophy is one of the standout reasons Infinity Nikki caught the attention of Apple. The game uniquely combines dress-up mechanics with an open-world framework, delivering a relaxing and immersive experience through elegant outfit design, audio, and visual expression. For instance, when Nikki crafts the “Wind of Purity” outfit, she gains purification abilities — allowing her to purify enermies and corrupted zones on the map.
To let players capture and cherish Nikki’s magical moments across the world of Miraland, Infold Games has also overhauled the in-game camera. With upgrades that allow players to adjust focal length, lighting, aperture, filters, and character actions — along with dynamic scene rendering based on weather and environment setting — Infinity Nikki offers a powerful tool for visual storytelling and memory-making.
"It’s beauty, not violence." — As players explore the richly designed landscapes and intricate fashion, Infinity Nikki’s light combat and progression mechanics have sparked passionate discussion among global players who say it offers “no substitute.” Nikki, together with her charming companion "Momo", has bounced her way into the hearts of players worldwide.
Caption: The Apple Design Award trophy for Infinity Nikki.
“We thought it would take time for players to appreciate an uncoventional and slow-paced open-world game. But on launch day, the average play time showed us many were already indulged.” said Yao Runhao in an internal memo the day after the game’s open beta launch.
WWDC25 hosts its Media Day on June 10, Pacific Time, (UTC-7), where Infinity Nikki and other development teams will engage directly with members of the press.
About Infold Games
Infold Games is an international business brand created by Papergames. Based in Singapore, Infold Games strives to develop creative projects with strong emotional connections and immersive experiences to inspire and encourage players around the world. It is well regarded for the Nikki series and the Love series with more than 400 million downloads worldwide. The team is currently developing AAA projects including Ballad of Antara and Project: The Perceiver as well as the next installment of the Nikki series, Infinity Nikki, a whimsical open-world adventure.
Media Contacts
Stefano Petrullo – Renaissance PR – stefano@renaissancepr.biz
James Bartholomeou – Renaissance PR – james@renaissancepr.biz
Content Creator Contacts
Candice – Renaissance PR – candice@renaissancepr.biz
Aaron – Renaissance PR – aaronc@renaissancepr.biz