Google Wants Play Store Users To Vote For Their Favorite 2023 Android Apps
Google has started curating its annual list of the best apps and games. As usual, Google Play's editorial team will pick the best that the online store has to offer, but those selections don't always reflect popularity among users. For that class, the company turns to voting, asking Android phone users across the world to pick up their favorite mobile game and application.
With 2023 nearing its conclusion, Google has opened the voting lines for its Users' Choice Awards for the year and has shared the nominees list across three categories: app, game, and book. Among the nominees in the app category is OpenAI's namesake mobile app for its viral AI chatbot called ChatGPT.
It goes against a well-known dating app, Bumble, the mobile app for HBO's Max streaming service, and Instagram's Twitter wannabe app called Threads, launched earlier this year with much fanfare. Threads has kept adding features at an impressive cadence lately and has, so far, avoided the toxicity and other such issues plaguing the Elon Musk-led company.
Artifact, a news feed app with a social appeal that is a brainchild of Instagram co-creator Kevin Systrom, is also vying to win the Users' Choice award this year. The rest of the list includes AI Chatbot — Nova, AI Mirror: AI Art Photo Editor, Character AI: AI-Powered Chat, Reelsy Reel Maker Video Editor Chat, and Voidpet Garden: Mental Health.
The games contest is also a tough one
The Users' Choice awards in the games category could be a tight contest. Riding a wave of nostalgia gaming that could very well sway the voters is "Street Fighter Duel – Idle RPG." Crunchyroll Games developed the strategy-based team fight game. It features all the recognizable characters like Ken, Ryu, and Chun Li from the acclaimed franchise that saw its latest outing, "Street Fighter 6," also hitting the shelves earlier this year.
"Mighty Doom," a mobile-friendly take on "Bethesda's iconic Doom" franchise, puts the "Doomslayer" in a third-person kill-em-all setting. In this favorably-rated game, the chainsaw-wielding savior is tasked with doing what he does best, i.e., rip and tear through hordes of hellspawn.
Another strong contender is EA's "The Lord of the Rings: Heroes," which brings Tolkien's high fantasy world alive on mobile screens. However, aggressive microtransactions have ruined the game's reputation to some extent. The rest of the contenders for the Google Play Users' Choice game honor are "Aether Gazer," "Arena Breakout," "Cat Snack Bar: Cat Food Tycoon," "Farlight 84," "Honkai: Star Rail," "MONOPOLY GO!," and "Viking Rise."