Following the British Academy Film Awards that were held on February 20, 2023, will be the 19th British Academy Games Awards, which will be on March 30, 2023, to honor the best video games of 2022. Before we list down the nominees for this year, let’s talk about what exactly the BAFTA game awards are.
An annual British awards ceremony known as the BAFTA Games Awards recognizes “outstanding creative achievement” in the video game sector. After the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards were restructured, it was first presented in 2004. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts presents the honors (BAFTA).
Since the debut of the BAFTA Games Awards in February 2004, a total of eighteen ceremonies have taken place. The most recent was the 18th British Academy Games Awards, which was held at Queen Elizabeth Hall on April 7, 2022.
Categories
There are around twenty-one active categories, and each category has a total of six games as its nominees. The twenty-one active categories are as follows:
- Animation (only lasted from 2004 – 2005 but later on was revived in 2020)
- Artistic Achievement
- Audio Achievement
- Best Game
- British Game (introduced in 2013)
- Debut Game (introduced in 2013)
- Evolving Game
- Family (previously called “Children’s Game”)
- BAFTA Fellowship (presented every now and then)
- Game Beyond Entertainment (introduced in 2017)
- Game Design (introduced in 2012)
- Multiplayer
- Music
- Narrative (formerly known as “Screenplay/Story”)
- Original Property (formerly known as “Originality”)
- Performer in a Leading Role
- Performer in a Supporting Role
- Special Award (presented every now and then)
- Technical Achievement (changed the name from “Game Innovation” in 2020)
- EE Game of The Year (introduced in 2018, its former name was EE Mobile Game and it’s an audience-voted award)
- Young Game Designers (five nominees per year)
Category Nominations
Let’s dive into which games are nominated per category:
Best Game
Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Marvel Snap – Second Dinner/Nuverse
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Vampire Survivors – Poncle
Animation
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II – Infinity Ward/Activision Publishing
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – TT Games/Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
Sifu – Sloclap/Sloclap & Kepler Interactive
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Artistic Achievement
A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo/Focus
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions
Pentiment – Obsidian/Xbox Game Studios
Tunic – Finji
Audio Achievement
A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo/Focus
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Metal: Hellsinger – The Outsiders/Funcom Oslo
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Tunic – Finji
British Game
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
OlliOlli World – Roll7/Private Division
Rollerdrome – Roll7/Private Division
Total War: Warhammer III – Creative Assembly/Sega
Two Point Campus – Two Point Studios/Sega
Vampire Survivors – Poncl
Debut Game
As Dusk Falls – Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios
The Case of the Golden Idol – Color Gray Games/Playstack
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Trombone Champ – Holy Wow Studios
Tunic – Finji
Vampire Survivors – Poncle
Evolving Game
Apex Legends – Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts
Dreams – Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment
The Elder Scrolls Online – ZeniMax Online Studios/Bethesda Softworks
Final Fantasy XIV Online – Creative Business Unit III/Square Enix
Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
No Man’s Sky – Hello Games
Family
Disney Dreamlight Valley – Gameloft
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – HAL Laboratory/Nintendo
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – TT Games/Warner Bros Interactive
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Ubisoft
Nintendo Switch Sports – Nintendo EPD
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – Tribute Games/Dotemu
Game Beyond Entertainment
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Endling: Extinction is Forever – Herobeat Studios/HandyGames
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees – Broken Rules Games
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist – Northway Games/Finji
Not For Broadcast – NotGames/TinyBuild
We’ll Always Have Paris – Cowleyfornia Studios
Game Design
Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Tunic – Finji
Vampire Survivors – Poncle
Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II – Infinity Ward/Activision
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
FIFA 23 – EA Sports
Overwatch 2 – Blizzard Entertainment
Splatoon 3 – Nintendo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – Tribute Games/Dotemu
Music
A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo/Focus
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course – Studio MDHR
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Tunic – Finji
Narrative
A Plague Tale: Requiem – Asobo/Focus
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions
Pentiment – Obsidian/Xbox Game Studios
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Original Property
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
Sifu – Sloclap
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Vampire Survivors – Poncle
Performer in a Leading Role
Alain Mesa as Alejandro Vargas in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Charlotte McBurney as Amicia in A Plague Tale: Requiem
Christopher Judge as Kratos in God of War Ragnarök
Manon Gage as Marissa Marcel in Immortality
Siobhan Williams as Laura in The Quarry
Sunny Suljic as Atreus in God of War Ragnarök
Performer in a Supporting Role
Adam J. Harrington as Sindri in God of War Ragnarök
Alison Jaye as Alva in Horizon Forbidden West
Charlotta Mohlin as The One in Immortality
Danielle Bisutti as Freya in God of War Ragnarök
Laya Deleon Hayes as Angrboða in God of War Ragnarök
Ryan Hurst as Thor in God of War Ragnarök
Technical Achievement
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions
The Last of Us Part I – Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
EE Game of The Year
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions
Marvel Snap – Second Dinner/Nuverse
Stray – BlueTwelve/Annapurna Interactive
Were you able to spot the game you wanted to get nominated for or your favorite game on the list?
Since there are a lot of games, we’re pretty sure that you’ve seen one or two games being nominated more than once. Check out the list below to see which games have been nominated multiple times:
- God of War: Ragnarok with 15 nominations
- Stray with 9 nominations
- Elden Ring with 8 nominations
- A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Immortality, Tunic, and Vampire Survivors with 5 nominations
- Citizen Sleeper with 4 nominations
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Cult of the Lamb, and Pentiment with 3 nominations
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Marvel Snap, Sifu, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge with 2 nominations.
Awards Night
You will be able to watch the award ceremony on Thursday, March 30 at 6:50 p.m. BST in the Southbank Theatre. It will also be live-streamed on BAFTAs Twitch channel.
While we’re one day away from the awarding ceremony, let’s take a look at Lord Ping’s opinion about the BAFTA film awards last February.
https://www.lordping.co.uk/blog/opinions/bafta-awards-was-a-corny-sideshow/
