The 2016 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BATFA) video game awards have come and gone with some interesting winners. Even John Carmack was given the Fellowship Award, the Academy’s highest honor.
One of the biggest surprises of the evening was Fallout 4 winning the Best Game award. This Bethesda title launched to mixed reviews from both audiences and critics alike and was up against Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt among others. The game currently holds an average of 86/100 on Metacritic across PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
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Another surprise came from the Best British Game winner, Batman: Arkham Knight, which was up against the likes of Until Dawn, Prison Architect, and Her Story. While the game did fairly well on PS4 and Xbox One, its PC release was riddled with playability problems and was removed from Steam for a time.
Looking past those strange choices, Rocket League and Her Story walked away with three separate awards each, making them the true winners of the evening.
Rocket League drove away with the Best Family, Best Multiplayer, and Best Sports game awards. It was up against the likes of Destiny, Splatoon, FIFA 16, and Super Mario Maker for the different categories.
The video-centric Her Story was up against Lara Craft Go, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Mini Metro in different categories, but ultimately took home the Game Innovation, Mobile & Handheld, and Debut Game awards.
Looking at the awards, it seems as though they concentrated on consoles, mobile, and handhelds, while ignoring PC titles.
The full list of award winners:
- AMD eSports Audience Award – SMITE
- Artistic Achievement – Ori and the Blind Forest
- Audi Achievement – Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
- BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital – Sundown
- Best Game – Fallout 4
- British Game – Batman: Arkham Knight
- Debut Game – Her Story
- Family – Rocket League
- Fellowship – John Carmack
- Game Design – Bloodborne
- Game Innovation – Her Story
- Mobile & Handheld – Her Story
- Multiplayer – Rocket League
- Music – Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
- Original Property – Until Dawn
- Performer – Merle Dandridge
- Persistent Game – Prison Architect
- Sport – Rocket League
- Story – Life is Strange
For the full list of nominees, check out BAFTA’s awards page.
