Bafta Games Awards 2024: Baldur’s Gate 3 and Spider-Man nod

Baldur’s Gate 3 leads the list of nominations for this year’s Bafta Games Awards with a total of 10.

In addition to competing for the best game award, the actors behind the popular characters Karlach and Astarion are among those nominated for the solo award.

Sony’s hit sequel Spider-Man 2 received nine nominations, closely followed by Alan Wake 2 with eight.

On the other hand, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor have six nominations each.

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the awards, one of the most prestigious nights on the calendar for the gaming industry, and will be held on April 11, 2024.

Samantha Béart, nominated for her performance as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3, said it felt “absolutely incredible” to be nominated for the Artist in a Leading Role award.

“It’s great to get noticed, and there were so many wonderful performances this year,” he said.

“What an achievement, and with so many of us in the category too, I’m very happy for everyone.

“Of those who failed to survive, I will avenge them all!”

They will compete in the Best Game category alongside Spider-Man 2, with Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Bros Wonder and surprise hit Dave the Diver as games in the running for the top prize.

“2023 is likely to go down in history as one of the best years for new video game releases,” said Bafta Games committee head Tara Saunders.

“There has been a constant flow of new, creative and imaginative work that has been emerging from some of the best and brightest developers in the business.

“I don’t know what was in the air, but there’s some magic there.”

The awards are decided by specially selected juries, but unlike previous years, the Best Game and Best British Game awards are voted for by over 1,200 Bafta members, professionals with years of gaming experience.

They will have the difficult task of choosing the winners in a year in which players had many options to choose from.

In addition to Best Game, it has been nominated in the Music and Artistic Achievement categories of the Bafta Games Awards, and five of its performers are up for individual golden masks.

“We’re thrilled for the entire team that helped bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to life and for the prestigious recognition that comes with these eight category nominations,” game director Swen Vincke told the BBC.

“It is a hugely motivating force that helps us move forward with even greater enthusiasm.”

Spider-Man has three voice actors nominated for individual awards, while he is also nominated in the Game Design and Technical Achievement categories.

It will compete with Zelda in those two categories, while the Nintendo game also has nominations for the Music and Audio Achievement awards.

The battle for Best Game may come down to Baldur’s Gate, Zelda and Spider-Man, but the Baftas have been known to throw up a surprise or two before, and last year’s awards were no exception.

In 2023, the title went to indie game Vampire Survivors, while mystery title What Remains of Edith Finch won in 2018.

That means Dave the Diver’s developers might have reason to be hopeful that his unexpected success at fishing and running a sushi restaurant could take home the grand prize.

Meanwhile, studios from across the UK make up the nominees for the Best British Game category, with Brighton-based Bytten Studio nominated for Cassette Beasts and Scottish studio Sad Owl nominated for Viewfinder.

“It’s really inspiring to see that in the Game Design, Debut Game and Game Beyond Entertainment categories there is a strong presence of independent game titles, such as Tchia, Cocoon and Venba,” said the production director of the British publisher No More Robots, Sophie Smart.

“It really shows that despite the difficulties in the industry at the moment with layoffs, there is still a deep appreciation for games made by all kinds of teams and it’s great to see the Baftas recognize that.”

Elsewhere, Nadji Jeter and Yuri Lowenthal received nominations for their portrayals of Miles Morales and Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2.

While Amelia Tyler, Neil Newborn, Samantha Béart, Andrew Wincott and Tracy Wiles are the five nominated for their performances in Baldur’s Gate 3.

“The interesting thing about the acting categories is that you see established actors like Ralph Ineson (Cid in Final Fantasy XVI) and Tony Todd (Venom in Spider-Man 2) and then you have the newcomers,” said the executive director of awards Bafta. and happy Emma Baehr.

“11 of the 12 are first-time nominees; we’re showing them off and celebrating them for the first time.”

But despite appearing on the Bafta longlist in December, Idris Elba missed out on his work as Solomon Reed in Cyberpunk 2077.