Ubisoft Emirates game development studio has just won the 2015 Tabby Award for Best Tablet Game with the first game developed by its new team, CSI: Hidden Crimes.

Launched in May 2014, this mystery adventure game based on the popular CBS TV series CSI: Las Vegas has just crossed the bar of 28 million users, according to Yannick Theler, Managing Director at Ubisoft Emirates.

Content and Gameplay: High Scores

Although the game is based on a US series and the US also represents its biggest market, it marks Ubisoft Emirates’ first game developed in-house in the MENA. For Theler, the reason behind their success is owed to the talent and creativity of their multicultural team. The team has 25 nationalities for a total of 50 employees.

The judges at the Tabby Awards said they were impressed with the game’s content and ease of play. In addition to the efforts of the team, Ubisoft benefited from the input of Jack Gutowitz, a writer for CSI: Las Vegas who worked on making the storylines and dialogue authentic and true to the original TV show.

“We are releasing new content, a new episode, and new features every two weeks, and we have done this since the launch of the game over a year ago,” said Theler.

The game is free to play and relies on in-app purchases and advertising to generate revenue.

Off to a Great Start

The Abu Dhabi studio hopes to become one of the most successful satellite studios to release mobile games. “We are aiming to double the size of the studio within three to five years, adding additional team members to work on the development of new projects,” said Theler.

For now, Ubisoft Emirates has its hands quite full updating CSI: Hidden Crimes and listening to the feedback of its millions of users. Theler also hinted that the studio is currently working on another project but was very secretive about it. We shall see.

CSI: Hidden Crimes is available for free download on iTunes and Google Play, as well as on Facebook.

See related: Free Mobile Game of the Week: CSI, Hidden Crimes