The British Academy Games Awards is BAFTA’s annual celebration of the very best in games of the past 12 months. The nominations announced today highlight an outstanding level of creative excellence from a broad range of UK and international development teams. The Awards take place on Thursday 4 April 2019.
The highlights of today’s nominations are:
- 10 nominations for God of War, the action adventure game and the eighth instalment in the series.
- Six nominations each for Red Dead Redemption 2, Return of the Obra Dinn and Florence.
- Five nominations for Celeste, including Game Beyond Entertainment. The game’s narrative encourages players to overcome struggles, persevere and achieve their goals with compassion, and aims to bring a greater understanding of mental illness.
- Other nominations in Game Beyond Entertainment are 11-11: Memories Retold,Florence, Life is Strange 2, My Child Lebensborn and Nintendo Labo.
Voting opened on Tuesday 12 March for the EE Mobile Game of the Year, the only award voted for by the public. The shortlist is Brawl Stars, Clash Royale, Fortnite, Old School Runescape, Pokémon Go and Roblox. Vote now at ee.co.uk/BAFTAgames.
The ceremony, hosted by Dara O’Briain, takes place on Thursday 4 April at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank and will be live streamed on all major social, online and gaming platforms: www.bafta.org/games/howtowatch.
The British Academy Games Awards is part of the London Games Festival, which runs from 2 – 14 April covering 40 events across the capital.
The London Games Festival is backed by the Mayor of London and delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and video game trade boy Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment) to make London “the games capital of the world,” creating £35m for local business.
The Awards are supported by BAFTA’s official games partners Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, PlayFusion, PlayStation, SEGA Europe Ltd., Tencent Games and Ubisoft Entertainment, with EE sponsoring the only award voted for by the public.
The Awards, including the nominations, are voted for by BAFTA’s global membership, comprising experienced games industry practitioners from a range of backgrounds in game development and production. To become a BAFTA member, visit membership.bafta.org.
BAFTA curates a year-round global programme of events and initiatives that support the games industry. This includes developer talks, showcases, debates, scholarships and networking, as well as the flagship Games Lecture by an inspirational practitioner. BAFTA Young Game Designers gives young people and educators insights into the industry and access to the brightest creative minds in games. BAFTA Crew Games is a network that connects practitioners working in the UK games industry and provides participants with a skills development programme.
