16th British Academy Games Awards

The 16th British Academy Video Game Awards was hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on 2 April 2020 to honour the best video games of 2019. Though originally planned to be presented at a ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the event was instead presented as a live stream due to concern over the coronavirus pandemic. The nominees were announced on 3 March 2020, with Control and Death Stranding leading the group with eleven nominations each, breaking the record of ten set by Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, The Last of Us, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and God of War as the most nominations received by a game.[1]

16th British Academy Games Awards
Date2 April 2020
LocationLive-streamed
Hosted byDara Ó Briain
Best GameOuter Wilds
Most awardsDisco Elysium and Outer Wilds (3)
Most nominationsControl and Death Stranding (11)
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Category changes

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For the 16th BAFTA Game Awards, one new category was added. The Best Animation category covers all elements of animation (including ambient, facial and cinematics) and aims to celebrate the role that animation plays in creating believable and engaging worlds, seeking to complement the already existing Artistic Achievement category. Additionally, the Best Performer category has been expanded and split into two new categories, Performer in a Leading Role and Performance in a Supporting Role, a decision that moves to highlight and recognize the increasing importance of voice over and motion capture performance in video games.

Furthermore, the Game Innovation category has been abolished and assimilated into a new Technical Achievement category which intends to celebrate all elements of gameplay programming and visual engineering. The Mobile Game category has also been retired though the public-voted EE Mobile Game of the Year award remains.

Due to these category changes, the 16th BAFTA Game Awards will feature 18 competitive categories in total.[2]

Presentation

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The awards had been planned to be presented at a live ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 2 April 2020. However, with the coronavirus pandemic, the Academy opted to forego the live ceremony and instead present the awards through a pre-recorded streamed event via YouTube.[3] Dara Ó Briain, who had been set to host the live event, served as host from his home for the stream, with pre-recorded acceptance speeches for the winners shown.[4]

Winners and nominees

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The nominations were announced on 3 March 2020, and winners named on 2 April.[5]

Animation
Artistic Achievement
Audio Achievement
Evolving Game
Family
Music
Narrative
Original Property

BAFTA Fellowship: Hideo Kojima[6]

Games with multiple nominations and wins

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References

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  1. ^ "2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". www.bafta.org. 3 March 2020.
  2. ^ Wales, Matt (9 September 2019). "BAFTA announces new categories for 2020 video game awards, submissions now open". Eurogamer.net.
  3. ^ Raindran, Manori (12 March 2020). "BAFTAs to Live Stream Game Awards Amid Coronavirus Fears". Variety. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  4. ^ Marshall, Alex (3 April 2020). "How to Hold an Awards Show in a Pandemic". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  5. ^ Barraclough, Leo (2 April 2020). "'Outer Wilds' Wins Best Game at BAFTA Games Awards". Variety. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Hideo Kojima to receive BAFTA Fellowship". www.bafta.org. 27 February 2020.