The British Academy Games Awards is BAFTA’s annual celebration of the very best in games in 2020. The nominations announced today highlight an outstanding level of creative excellence from a broad range of UK and international development teams.
The Awards will take place on Thursday 25 March as a 90-minute online live stream and will be hosted by presenter and journalist Elle Osili-Wood. The ceremony will see 17 craft areas honoured, the public-voted EE Game of the Year award, and the BAFTA Fellowship, the recipient of which to be announced shortly. Winners’ acceptance speeches will be streamed live, shining a light on the creative talent behind the year’s biggest titles. This year's show format will focus on the audience at home, highlighting the role that games play in our lives and how they have kept us all connected, entertained and inspired over the past year. The Awards will be live streamed on BAFTA’s Facebook, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube and, for the first time, Steam - www.bafta.org/games/howtowatch.
The highlights of today’s nominations are:
13 nominations for The Last of Us Part II. 13 is the highest number of nominations for a game in the history of the BAFTA Games Awards (beating last year’s record of 11 by Control and Death Stranding; the first standalone games ceremony was in 2004)
10 nominations for Ghost of Tsushima
Eight nominations for Hades
Seven nominations for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Six nominations for Dreams
Five nominations each for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Fall Guys
Four nominations each for CYBERPUNK 2077, Half-Life: Alyx and Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Nominations in the Game Beyond Entertainment category: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Before I Forget, Dreams, Spiritfarer, The Last of Us Part II and Tell Me Why
Other games receiving nominations: Airborne Kingdom, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Astro’s Playroom, Call of the Sea, CARRION, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Deep Rock Galactic, Demon’s Souls, Doom: Eternal, F1 2020, Factorio, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Flight Simulator, Fortnite, Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition, Minecraft Dungeons, No Man’s Sky, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Roki, Sea of Thieves, The Falconeer, The Last Campfire and VALORANT
Voting is now open for the EE Game of the Year, the only award voted for by the public. The shortlist is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Call of Duty: Warzone, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, The Last of Us Part II and VALORANT. Vote now at https://ee.co.uk/why-ee/baftagames/goty-2021-nominees.
The host of this year’s ceremony, Elle Osili-Wood, is one of the most recognisable faces in games and a member of BAFTA’s Games Committee. A video games presenter and journalist, Elle been named by GamesIndustry.biz as one of the most influential women in gaming. Having started her career as a political reporter for the BBC, Elle quickly gravitated towards her lifelong passion for games. Whether interviewing game designers, investigating the science of games for BBC Sounds or presenting from E3 for PlayStation, Elle is a passionate advocate for the industry and the talent it represents.
The Awards are supported by BAFTA’s official games partners Electronic Arts, PlayStation, SEGA Europe LTD, Tencent Games and Ubisoft, 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. We particularly welcome applications from women, people from underrepresented ethnic groups, people with disabilities and those who are based outside London, UK. To become a BAFTA member, visit membership.bafta.org.
Nominations
2 March 2021
ANIMATION
DOOM ETERNAL Development Team - id Software/ Bethesda Softworks
FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Development Team -Square Enix/Square Enix
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES Development Team -Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS Development Team - Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios
SPIRITFARER Development Team -Thunder Lotus/Kowloon Nights
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT
CYBERPUNK 2077 Development Team - CD PROJEKT RED/CD PROJEKT x BANDAI NAMCO UK
DREAMS Development Team - Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Jason Connell, Joanna Wang, Ian Jun Wei Chiew - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Jen Zee - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
HALF-LIFE: ALYX Development Team – Valve/Valve
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
AUDIO ACHIEVEMENT
ASTRO’S PLAYROOM Development Team – SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Meyer - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Darren Korb - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
HALF-LIFE: ALYX Development Team – Valve/Valve
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES Development Team - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
BEST GAME
ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS Development Team - Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Brian Fleming, Chris Zimmerman - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Development Team - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
HALF-LIFE: ALYX Development Team –Valve/Valve
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES – Development Team - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
BRITISH GAME
DREAMS Development Team - Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
F1 2020 Development Team – Codemasters/Codemasters
FALL GUYS Development Team – Mediatonic/Devolver Digital
RÖKI Development Team - Polygon Treehouse/United Label
SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE Ned Waterhouse, Jess Gaskell, Pete Smith - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
THE LAST CAMPFIRE Development Team - Hello Games/Hello Games
DEBUT GAME
AIRBORNE KINGDOM Development Team - The Wandering Band/The Wandering Band
CALL OF THE SEA Tatiana Delgado, Manuel Fernandez - Out of the Blue/Raw Fury
CARRION Development Team -Phobia Game Studio/Devolver Digital
FACTORIO Development Team -Wube Software/Wube Software
RÖKI Development Team - Polygon Treehouse/United Label
THE FALCONEER Development Team - Tomas Sala/ Wired Productions
EVOLVING GAME
DESTINY 2: BEYOND LIGHT Development Team – Bungie/Bungie
DREAMS Development Team - Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
FALL GUYS Development Team – Mediatonic/Devolver Digital
FORTNITE Development Team - Epic Games/Epic Games
NO MAN’S SKY Development Team - Hello Games/Hello Games
SEA OF THIEVES Development Team - Rare Ltd/Xbox Game Studios
FAMILY
ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS Development Team - Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
ASTRO’S PLAYROOM Development Team – SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
DREAMS Development Team - Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
FALL GUYS Development Team – Mediatonic/Devolver Digital
MINECRAFT DUNGEONS Development Team - Mojang Studios, Double Eleven Limited
SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE Joel Smith, Cesar Bittar, Pete Smith - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
GAME BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT
ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS Development Team - Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
BEFORE I FORGET Development Team - 3-Fold Games/3-Fold Games
DREAMS Development Team - Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
SPIRITFARER Development Team - Thunder Lotus/Kowloon Nights
TELL ME WHY Development Team - DONTNOD Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team -Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
GAME DESIGN
ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS Development Team - Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
ASTRO’S PLAYROOM Development Team - SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Development Team -Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Development Team - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
HALF-LIFE: ALYX Development Team –Valve/Valve
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team -Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
MULTIPLAYER
ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS Development Team - Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
DEEP ROCK GALACTIC Development Team - Ghost Ship Games/Coffee Stain Publishing
FALL GUYS Development Team –Mediatonic/Devolver Digital
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Darren Bridges, Matt Goldhaber - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE Jack Houghton, Tom Sampson, Jason Stewart - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
VALORANT Development Team - Riot Games/Riot Games
MUSIC
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Ilan Eshkeri, Shigeru Umebayashi, Peter Scaturro - Sucker Punch Productions/ Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Darren Korb - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES John Paesano, Scott Hanau, Alex Hackford - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS Gareth Coker - Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios
SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE Jay Waters, Joe Thwaites, Joanna Skorupa - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
THE LAST OF US PART II Gustavo Santaolalla, Mac Quayle, Scott Hanau - Naughty Dog/ Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
NARRATIVE
ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA Writing Team - Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft
CYBERPUNK 2077 Writing Team - CD PROJEKT RED/CD PROJEKT x BANDAI NAMCO UK
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Nate Fox, Ian Ryan - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Greg Kasavin - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO: TV EDITION Writing Team - Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES Writing Team - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
ORIGINAL PROPERTY
CARRION Development Team -Phobia Game Studio/Devolver Digital
FALL GUYS Development Team –Mediatonic/Devolver Digital
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Development Team - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Development Team - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO: TV EDITION Development Team -Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive
SPIRITFARER Development Team- Thunder Lotus/Kowloon Nights
PERFORMER IN A LEADING ROLE
ASHLEY JOHNSON as Ellie in The Last of Us Part II
CHERAMI LEIGH as Female V in Cyberpunk 2077
CODY CHRISTIAN as Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII Remake
DAISUKE TSUJI as Jin Sakai in Ghost of Tsushima
LAURA BAILEY as Abby in The Last of Us Part II
NADJI JETER as Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
PERFORMER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
CARLA TASSARA as Judy Alvarez in CYBERPUNK 2077
JEFFREY PIERCE as Tommy in The Last of Us Part II
LOGAN CUNNINGHAM as Hades, Achilles, Poseidon, Asterius, Charon, and the Storyteller in Hades
PATRICK GALLAGHER as Khotun Khan in Ghost of Tsushima
SHANNON WOODWARD as Dina in The Last of Us Part II
TROY BAKER as Joel in The Last of Us Part II
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
DEMON’S SOULS Development Team - SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
DOOM ETERNAL Development Team - id Software/Bethesda Softworks
DREAMS Development Team - Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
FLIGHT SIMULATOR Sebastian Wloch, Duncan Lawler, Pavel Kuksa - Asobo Studio/ Xbox Game Studios
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES Development Team - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
THE LAST OF US PART II Development Team - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
EE GAME OF THE YEAR (voted for by the public)
ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE Raven Software, Infinity Ward/Activision
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
HADES Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games
THE LAST OF US PART II Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
VALORANT Riot Games/Riot Games
