BAFTA Games Awards Nominees Announced

07.03.2024 - 20:35 / gamerant.com / Geoff Keighley / Lucy James

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, commonly known as BAFTA, has revealed the nominations for the 2024 ceremony, with Baldur's Gate 3 unsurprisingly leading the way. This year marks the 20th annual BAFTA Games Awards, a night that many will hope to be a celebratory silver lining after a particularly troubling 18 months of studio closures and layoffs.

For the vast majority of gamers, 2023 was a remarkable year. A combination of pandemic-related delays, surprise announcements, and unexpected successes all culminated to offer one of the most stacked and impressive yearly releases schedules in recent history. The trend began in January with the simultaneous announcement and release of Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush, which has picked up 5 BAFTA nominations, the most for any Xbox game released last year. May's Tears of the Kingdom was a safe bet for Game of the Year, but the security of that gamble was brought into question by Baldur's Gate 3, which came out of early access a month earlier than expected and soared to one of Steam's highest ever concurrent player counts. Critical darling Alan Wake 2, alongside the incredibly popular Marvel's Spider-Man 2, kept the seemingly endless cycle of quality video games going further into the year.

Baldur's Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, and Alan Wake 2 lead total nominations with 10, 9, and 8 respectively. Hosted by Lucy James, a senior video producer at GameSpot, the forty-minute nomination presentation began with an explicit disclaimer about how challenging working in the video games industry currently is. James addressed those «affected by recent studio closures, project cancelations, redundancies,» promising that they are «in our thoughts today.» It is in stark contrast to The Game Awards, which took place last December and was criticized for not acknowledging a year of constant layoffs. Geoff Keighley's Game Awards also drew ire for rushing developers off the stage, forcing winners to share their speeches after the fact on social media.

Judging by prior shows, it would not be unreasonable to assume Baldur's Gate 3 will come away with the top prize. However, the BAFTAs have been known to steer away from the wave of public opinion, demonstrated last year when Vampire Survivors beat out Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarok to win Best Game. Although BAFTAs are decided by the organization's membership and selected figures, there is one award that allows the public to have their say.

The EE Players' Choice Award nominees are Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Lethal Company, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Voting is open now and will remain so until April 8, with the winners announced on April 11. Baldur's Gate 3's passionate