2020 BAFTA Game Nominations – Who’s Going for Gold?

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards are one of the most prestigious honors given to various forms of art. Overall, there are BAFTAs for movies, TV, and up next, video games. Ahead of the April 2 ceremony, review this year’s 2020 BAFTA game nominations!

 2020 BAFTA Game Nominations – Who’s Up for an Award?

In short, it’s tough to really narrow down key arts and industry categories to just a few great games. Nevertheless, I think the 2020 BAFTA game nominations are pretty on par with last year in games. Here are the academy’s top nominations and categories.

Animation Awards – 2020 BAFTA 

Image Credit: Activision

All in all, a BAFTA for video game animation comes down to the actual artistic design of a game. I think something like Death Stranding, which might not be a huge success as an overall game, certainly made an artistic and animation impression. Luigi’s Mansion 3 was a fun surprise this year as well. Firstly, the full list for the 2020 BAFTA for video game animation include:

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE Development Team (Infinity Ward/Activision)

CONTROL Development Team (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)

DEATH STRANDING Development Team (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

LUIGI’S MANSION 3 Development Team (Next Level Games/Nintendo)

SAYONARA WILD HEARTS Development Team (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)

SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE Development Team (FromSoftware/Activision)

Artistic Achievement – 2020 BAFTA

Image Credit: Kojima Productions

Next, another interesting category is artistic achievement, which pertains more to grand scope and vision of a video game. Between this category and the previous one, we see a few returning dev teams. Control and Death Stranding are some of the best video games of 2019, so their numerous appearances are no surprise. To be sure, a great entry in this category is the RPG epic Disco Elysium, which had trouble at other awards ceremonies for its niche style and gameplay. The full list of artistic achievements nominees are:

CONCRETE GENIE Development Team (Pixelopus/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

CONTROL Development Team (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)

DEATH STRANDING Development Team (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

DISCO ELYSIUM Development Team (ZA/UM/ZA/UM)

KNIGHTS AND BIKES (Rex Crowle, Moo Yu, Kenneth C M Young, Foam Sword/Double Fine Presents)

SAYONARA WILD HEARTS Development Team (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)

Best Game – 2020 BAFTA Game Nominations

Image Credit: Nintendo

Overall, nearly every entry in the best game category was included in most other major awards ceremonies. Still, it’s incredible to see the wide array of titles included in the 2019 lineup. For starters, Untitled Goose Game sitting in the same category as an Obsidian epic like Outer Wilds is, well, wild. Surely, the indie darling really impressed many, and caught a lot of people in between laughs and all-out awe for its inventive gameplay. 

Then, we see a few other favorites at other awards ceremonies, including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the FromSoftware Souls-style game we all raged over last year. In short, it’s insane to see such a robust best game lineup for nominees. Here’s the full list:

CONTROL Development Team (Remedy Entertainment/505 Games)

DISCO ELYSIUM Development Team (ZA/UM/ZA/UM)

LUIGI’S MANSION 3 Development Team (Next Level Games/Nintendo)

OUTER WILDS Development Team (Mobius Digital/Annapurna Interactive)

SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE Development Team (FromSoftware/Activision)

UNTITLED GOOSE GAME Development Team (House House/Panic)

Debut Game – A Fun BAFTA Category

Image Credit: Kojima Productions

Finally, a really great category featured through the 2020 BAFTA game nominations is debut game. This category gives new studios a chance to shine, but as you can see, it’s not necessarily debut game makers. For example, someone like Kojima is known for his work at Konami, but is now running his own studio. Still, games like Disco Elysium deserved best game recognition, let alone debut game. Plus, titles like Ape Out and Knights and Bikes might not be very mainstream. Overall, a category like this helps bring them the attention they deserve. The full list is quite competitive:

APE OUT (Gabe Cuzzillo, Matt Boch, Bennett Foddy – Gabe Cuzzillo, Matt Boch, Bennett Foddy/Devolver Digital)

DEATH STRANDING Development Team (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

DISCO ELYSIUM Development Team  (ZA/UM/ZA/UM)

KATANA ZERO Justin Stander  (Askiisoft/Devolver Digital)

KNIGHTS AND BIKES (Rex Crowle, Moo Yu, Kenneth C M Young Foam Sword/Double Fine Presents)

MANIFOLD GARDEN Development Team (William Chyr Studio/William Chyr Studio)

Any Snubs from the 2020 BAFTA Game Nominations?

Overall, I think the BAFTA game awards did an incredible job at highlighting all major 2019 releases. We only talked about four of the categories we’ll see April 2. Be sure to check out the full list of categories and nominations ahead of April!

If you love gaming, then awards are a fun activity to follow! Any game you’re rooting for after seeing the 2020 BAFTA game nominations? Let us know in the comments! If you think someone got snubbed, then let us know too! Thanks for reading Comic Years for all things gaming, comics, and pop culture!

Featured Image Credit: BAFTA

Taylor is the Gaming Editor of Comic Years and a lifelong fan of video games. He holds two degrees in Political Communication and wrote a Master's Thesis on resistance movements, race, and the exploitation of college athletes. His wife and two Toy Australian Sheppards keep him sane.