Last night The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announced the winners of the British Academy Games Awards, which celebrated the very best in games of the past year. The ceremony was hosted by Dara O Briain at Tobacco Dock, London E1, where presenters included Rob Beckett, Alex Brooker, Shaun Dooley, Hideo Kojima, Ian Livingstone, Steven Moffat, Chris Ramsay, Carol Vorderman and Wretch 32.
The Last of Us, the post-apocalyptic story of love and loss among the last survivors of humanity, took home five BAFTA awards: Action & Adventure, Audio Achievement, Best Game, Story, and Performer was presented to Ashley Johnson for her role as Ellie.
Grand Theft Auto V, one of the biggest and most technically accomplished games of the year, won in the British Game, Game Design and Multiplayer categories.
Papercraft platformer Tearaway scooped awards for Artistic Achievement, Family and Mobile & Handheld. Rex Crowle, who last year was selected as a BAFTA ‘Breakthrough Brit’ for his exceptionally promising talent, collected his first BAFTA for his work on Tearaway.
Gone Home, a game of exploration in which players piece together a mysterious family story, was awarded the BAFTA for Debut Game.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the story-driven adventure game following two brothers on an epic fairytale journey, won the BAFTA for Game Innovation. The game features the unusual control system that allows one player to simultaneously control both brothers.
The BAFTA for Music was awarded to first-person shooter Bioshock Infinite, which features a selection of iconic modern musical tracks reimagined as if they were made in 1912.
FIFA 14 collected the BAFTA for Sport, the fourth time the franchise has won an award.
Papers, Please, described by creator Lucas Pope as a “dystopian document thriller”, where players take the role of an immigration officer at a border checkpoint picked up the BAFTA for Strategy and Simulation.
Showcasing the best in young games development and design talent, Size DOES Matter – created by a team of student developers in Norway – won the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital.
The Fellowship was presented to Rockstar Games for its outstanding and exceptional creative contribution to the games industry. Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut attended the ceremony to accept the Award on behalf of the company.
The Awards’ highlights programme will be broadcast on Challenge (Sky: Ch 125, Freeview: Ch 46, Virgin: Ch 139) on Friday 21 March at 10pm. Check out the BAFTA website for a full list of BAFTA Games winners and nominees.
BAFTA also successfully launched its inaugural ‘Inside Games’, an event attended by the public showcasing upcoming games from the world’s biggest studios and featuring developer talks and an ‘Indie Games Arcade’.
