The red carpet at the Southbank Centre in London was buzzing,
and filled with people from all across the gaming industry, ready to celebrate
all of their contributions that made 2023 one of the best ever for games.
Everyone
from the event host Phil Wang to Baldur’s Gate 3 narrator, Amelia Tyler, was in
attendance, and came to chat to the BBC team, live-streaming from the red carpet.
A personal highlight was speaking to Spider-Man 2 actors Nadji Jeter
(Miles Morales) and Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker) about how they wished they’d
put the Spidey suits on underneath their black tie attire, and how they loved
the idea of Spider-Man 3 being set in London (don’t get your hopes up on this
happening, though!)
It’s
exciting to think about what new games we’ll get to experience over the next
year, and what will be up for these same awards at the Bafta Games Awards 2025.
We’ll see you in 12 months!
That's (almost) it for this evening
Nadia Ragozhina
Live reporter
We’re bringing our coverage to an end in a few minutes, but not before a final post from our reporter and gaming expert at the Baftas, Mel Ramsay - so watch out for that.
To read more about tonight's awards ceremony, head over here.
This page was edited by Barbara Tasch, Robert Plummer and me.
The writers were Jacqueline Howard, Laura Cress, Tom Richardson, Andrew Rogers, Suneil Asar and Lipika Pelham.
Thanks for being with us - now time for your favourite games!
Who were the big winners of the night?
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Can you guess which actor is behind the golden mask for best performance?Image caption: Can you guess which actor is behind the golden mask for best performance?
We'll be closing this page soon, but just before we head off, here's a reminder of the big winners of the night:
Baldur's Gate 3 continued its domination of the industry with five wins, including for best game and player's pick
However, it was Marvel's Spider-Man 2'sNadji Jeter who took out the award for best performance for his role as Miles Morales
Alan Wake 2 picked up two awards and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom took home just one
Scottish studio The Sad Owl was completely blindsided by its two wins for best British game and best new intellectual property, tearing up on the stage
And the South Korean developer behind Dave the Diver scooped up the award for best design, beating out some of the major titles
Nintendo was rewarded for finally bringing online multiplayer into its Super Mario games, winning the multiplayer award and picking up the family game award, too.
The unsung hero of the night?
Tom Richardson
Live reporter
Nintendo UK's Nelson Calvinho probably didn't expect to be so busy tonight, but he ended up making three trips to the stage on behalf of his employer.
Collecting awards for Super Mario Bros. Wonder and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, his carefully crafted speeches had the whiff of a press release about them.
But this isn't Nelson's first rodeo. The marketing manager collected the family award on Nintendo's behalf at last year's Baftas, for Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Best game spotlight: Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3), a role-playing game based on Dungeons and Dragons, has stunned players and critics with its depth since its release.
Its Belgium-based developer, Larian Studios, took home the top award at the 2023 Game Awards in December.
And now it's emerged as the overall winner of the Bafta Games Awards in London, winning in five categories out of the eight it was nominated in.
BG3 has been lauded for its intricate level of detail, vast customisation options, and flexible story that allows for a completely different set of characters and choices in every playthrough.
Larian StudiosCopyright: Larian Studios
Who decides the winners?
The winners of most of tonight’s awards were decided by juries selected by the Baftas, but in a new approach this year, the best game and best British game awards were voted on by Bafta members, some 1,200 of them.
Bafta members represent all corners of the industry, with years of experience in gaming, so the idea is that nominees were considered against an incredibly wide breadth of criteria.
Nominations were also opened much earlier this year to give the voting members more time to play through the games before casting their votes. There was also the Players’ Choice award, which was decided by a public vote that ran up until Monday - and it was won by Baldur's Gate 3
Analysis
A predictable night at the 2024 BAFTA Games Awards?
Laura Cress
BBC World Service
The question at the start of the 20th anniversary of the BAFTA Games Awards was would Baldur's Gate 3, the fantasy role playing game by Larian Studios, be able to once again reign supreme?
For the most part its fairy-tale prediction came true, with the game winning five awards out of the 10 categories it was in, including best narrative, best music and best game.
There was some small comfort (and some may say surprise) for Marvel's Spiderman 2, which in comparison to the Game Awards in LA did finally win an award - for best performer in a leading role for Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales.
Alan Wake 2 also didn't go home empty handed - winning two including artistic achievement.
Amongst the giants of the industry, Bafta didn't disappoint in also recognising some of the smaller games, with independent Scottish game studio Sad Owl Studios winning best British game and new intellectual property.
Host Phil Wang kept the ceremony moving at a relatively speedy pace, but not forgetting to also highlight the layoffs which have plagued the industry this year.
A fairly predictable night then, but one which highlighted again the huge talent on display across Britain and the globe in games.
Starfield misses out on its lone nomination
Mel Ramsay
BBC Radio 5 Live
BethesdaCopyright: Bethesda
From the creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, expectations were sky-high for Bethesda’s “first new universe in 25 years”, Starfield.
Despite the enormous anticipation of its release (1,000 planets to explore!), it didn’t seem to quite hit the mark for players when it came to gameplay and storyline.
It received a lukewarm reception and mediocre user reviews, and has missed out winning the one award it was nominated for this evening, for technical achievement.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that the game recently won the very similar Best Innovative Gameplay at the 2023 Steam Awards, so it hasn't gone completely unrecognised.
Bafta Games Awards 2024 ceremony ends
The awards ceremony has now finished but stay with us as we bring you the latest analysis from our expert team of gamers - on what they thought of the 20th edition of the Bafta Games Awards.
Some surprises, but it was Baldur's Gate 3's night
Tom Richardson
BBC Newsbeat
There were some gasps in the room and quite a few unpublishable comments online when Nadji Jeter took home the award for best performance. Although plenty of people did also rush to congratulate him.
Dave the Diver surprised some by, in developer Jaeho Hwang's words, "beating Zelda".
But, overall, the night belonged to Baldur's Gate 3.
And, when best game award presenter John Romero gave a knowing "yeah" as he opened the envelope to reveal the winner, his total lack of surprise was likely shared by most gamers.
BreakingBaldur's Gate 3 wins!
Baldur's Gate 3 wins the best game award, cementing its victory lap around the games industry this year.
The enormous development team have squeezed onto the stage to accept this one together.
BAFTA Games Awards 2024Copyright: BAFTA Games Awards 2024
This is the moment we’ve been waiting for
It’s the boss battle of the night: Who is going to take out the Bafta for best game?
Here are the nominees:
Alan Wake 2
Baldur’s Gate 3
Dave the Diver
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Super Mario Bros: Wonder
BreakingNadji Jeter wins best performance for Spider-Man
BAFTA Games Awards 2024Copyright: BAFTA Games Awards 2024
The actor behind Marvel's Spider-Man 2's Mile Morales, Nadji Jeter has won the award for best performance.
He was up against some fan favourites, such as Baldur's Gate 3's Neil Newbon and his own co-star Yuri Lowenthal.
He thanks the technical teams behind the game and jokes about how he packs the famously heavy statue into his bags before flying back to America
Who gave the best performance?
We are getting to the end now and this is one of the big awards of the night, awarded to the best actor in a game. The nominees are:
Amelia Tyler as the Narrator in Baldur’s Gate 3
Cameron Monaghan as Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Neil Newbon as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3
Samantha Béart as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3
Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Technical achievement goes to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo has won the technical achievement award for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The game broke boundaries in terms of what it allowed players to do. They were able to fuse just about any item they stumbled across to another, creating completely usable and unique weapons and inventions in every instance.
BAFTA Games Awards 2024Copyright: BAFTA Games Awards 2024
Up now is the technical achievement award
This one goes to the game with the best innovation in gameplay or technology, and the nominees are:
Alan Wake 2
Final Fantasy XVI
Horizon Call of the Mountain
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Starfield
Tchia is the game beyond entertainment
Tchia has taken out the award for game beyond entertainment.
It's testament to the incredible experience its developers curated for players as they explore an island archipelago inspired by New Caledonia.
Let’s get deep with the game beyond entertainment category
It’s time now to present the award for game beyond entertainment, given to a game that elicits some sort of transformational experience beyond pure entertainment. The nominees are:
Chants of Sennaar
Goodbye Volcano High
Tchia
Terra Nil
Thirsty Suiters
Venba
Late Goodbye
The musical interlude during Bafta's tribute segment is a performance of Late Goodbye, by Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall.
It was used as the closing credits in Remedy's 2003 sequel, Max Payne 2.
The band's continued to work with the developer, appearing in Alan Wake 2 under the pseudonym Old Gods of Asgard.
Baldur's Gate 3 wins the music award
The award for the best music goes to Baldur's Gate 3.
One of the standouts of the soundtrack of this game is the Raphael's Final Act theme song, which plays as the party battle out against Raphael, whose actor Andrew Wincott won the best supporting role prize earlier tonight.
BaftasCopyright: Baftas
Borislav Slavov accepting the music awardImage caption: Borislav Slavov accepting the music award
Live Reporting
Edited by Nadia Ragozhina
All times stated are UK
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images Can you guess which actor is behind the golden mask for best performance?Image caption: Can you guess which actor is behind the golden mask for best performance? - Baldur's Gate 3 continued its domination of the industry with five wins, including for best game and player's pick
-
However, it was Marvel's Spider-Man 2'sNadji Jeter who took out the award for best performance for his role as Miles Morales
- Alan Wake 2 picked up two awards and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom took home just one
-
Scottish studio The Sad Owl was completely blindsided by its two wins for best British game and best new intellectual property, tearing up on the stage
-
And the South Korean developer behind Dave the Diver scooped up the award for best design, beating out some of the major titles
- Nintendo was rewarded for finally bringing online multiplayer into its Super Mario games, winning the multiplayer award and picking up the family game award, too.
Larian StudiosCopyright: Larian Studios Analysis
BethesdaCopyright: Bethesda 
BAFTA Games Awards 2024Copyright: BAFTA Games Awards 2024 -
Alan Wake 2
-
Baldur’s Gate 3
-
Dave the Diver
-
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
-
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
-
Super Mario Bros: Wonder
BAFTA Games Awards 2024Copyright: BAFTA Games Awards 2024 -
Amelia Tyler as the Narrator in Baldur’s Gate 3
-
Cameron Monaghan as Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
-
Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
-
Neil Newbon as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3
-
Samantha Béart as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3
-
Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
BAFTA Games Awards 2024Copyright: BAFTA Games Awards 2024 -
Alan Wake 2
-
Final Fantasy XVI
-
Horizon Call of the Mountain
-
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
-
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
-
Starfield
-
Chants of Sennaar
-
Goodbye Volcano High
-
Tchia
-
Terra Nil
-
Thirsty Suiters
-
Venba
BaftasCopyright: Baftas Borislav Slavov accepting the music awardImage caption: Borislav Slavov accepting the music award
Latest PostThe Baftas were buzzing
Mel Ramsay
Reporting from the Baftas
What an amazing event!
The red carpet at the Southbank Centre in London was buzzing, and filled with people from all across the gaming industry, ready to celebrate all of their contributions that made 2023 one of the best ever for games.
Everyone from the event host Phil Wang to Baldur’s Gate 3 narrator, Amelia Tyler, was in attendance, and came to chat to the BBC team, live-streaming from the red carpet.
A personal highlight was speaking to Spider-Man 2 actors Nadji Jeter (Miles Morales) and Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker) about how they wished they’d put the Spidey suits on underneath their black tie attire, and how they loved the idea of Spider-Man 3 being set in London (don’t get your hopes up on this happening, though!)
It’s exciting to think about what new games we’ll get to experience over the next year, and what will be up for these same awards at the Bafta Games Awards 2025.
We’ll see you in 12 months!
That's (almost) it for this evening
Nadia Ragozhina
Live reporter
We’re bringing our coverage to an end in a few minutes, but not before a final post from our reporter and gaming expert at the Baftas, Mel Ramsay - so watch out for that.
To read more about tonight's awards ceremony, head over here.
This page was edited by Barbara Tasch, Robert Plummer and me.
The writers were Jacqueline Howard, Laura Cress, Tom Richardson, Andrew Rogers, Suneil Asar and Lipika Pelham.
Thanks for being with us - now time for your favourite games!
Who were the big winners of the night?
We'll be closing this page soon, but just before we head off, here's a reminder of the big winners of the night:
The unsung hero of the night?
Tom Richardson
Live reporter
Nintendo UK's Nelson Calvinho probably didn't expect to be so busy tonight, but he ended up making three trips to the stage on behalf of his employer.
Collecting awards for Super Mario Bros. Wonder and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, his carefully crafted speeches had the whiff of a press release about them.
But this isn't Nelson's first rodeo. The marketing manager collected the family award on Nintendo's behalf at last year's Baftas, for Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Best game spotlight: Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3), a role-playing game based on Dungeons and Dragons, has stunned players and critics with its depth since its release.
Its Belgium-based developer, Larian Studios, took home the top award at the 2023 Game Awards in December.
And now it's emerged as the overall winner of the Bafta Games Awards in London, winning in five categories out of the eight it was nominated in.
BG3 has been lauded for its intricate level of detail, vast customisation options, and flexible story that allows for a completely different set of characters and choices in every playthrough.
Who decides the winners?
The winners of most of tonight’s awards were decided by juries selected by the Baftas, but in a new approach this year, the best game and best British game awards were voted on by Bafta members, some 1,200 of them.
Bafta members represent all corners of the industry, with years of experience in gaming, so the idea is that nominees were considered against an incredibly wide breadth of criteria.
Nominations were also opened much earlier this year to give the voting members more time to play through the games before casting their votes. There was also the Players’ Choice award, which was decided by a public vote that ran up until Monday - and it was won by Baldur's Gate 3
A predictable night at the 2024 BAFTA Games Awards?
Laura Cress
BBC World Service
The question at the start of the 20th anniversary of the BAFTA Games Awards was would Baldur's Gate 3, the fantasy role playing game by Larian Studios, be able to once again reign supreme?
For the most part its fairy-tale prediction came true, with the game winning five awards out of the 10 categories it was in, including best narrative, best music and best game.
There was some small comfort (and some may say surprise) for Marvel's Spiderman 2, which in comparison to the Game Awards in LA did finally win an award - for best performer in a leading role for Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales.
Alan Wake 2 also didn't go home empty handed - winning two including artistic achievement.
Amongst the giants of the industry, Bafta didn't disappoint in also recognising some of the smaller games, with independent Scottish game studio Sad Owl Studios winning best British game and new intellectual property.
Host Phil Wang kept the ceremony moving at a relatively speedy pace, but not forgetting to also highlight the layoffs which have plagued the industry this year.
A fairly predictable night then, but one which highlighted again the huge talent on display across Britain and the globe in games.
Starfield misses out on its lone nomination
Mel Ramsay
BBC Radio 5 Live
From the creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, expectations were sky-high for Bethesda’s “first new universe in 25 years”, Starfield.
Despite the enormous anticipation of its release (1,000 planets to explore!), it didn’t seem to quite hit the mark for players when it came to gameplay and storyline.
It received a lukewarm reception and mediocre user reviews, and has missed out winning the one award it was nominated for this evening, for technical achievement.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that the game recently won the very similar Best Innovative Gameplay at the 2023 Steam Awards, so it hasn't gone completely unrecognised.
Bafta Games Awards 2024 ceremony ends
The awards ceremony has now finished but stay with us as we bring you the latest analysis from our expert team of gamers - on what they thought of the 20th edition of the Bafta Games Awards.
Some surprises, but it was Baldur's Gate 3's night
Tom Richardson
BBC Newsbeat
There were some gasps in the room and quite a few unpublishable comments online when Nadji Jeter took home the award for best performance. Although plenty of people did also rush to congratulate him.
Dave the Diver surprised some by, in developer Jaeho Hwang's words, "beating Zelda".
But, overall, the night belonged to Baldur's Gate 3.
And, when best game award presenter John Romero gave a knowing "yeah" as he opened the envelope to reveal the winner, his total lack of surprise was likely shared by most gamers.
BreakingBaldur's Gate 3 wins!
Baldur's Gate 3 wins the best game award, cementing its victory lap around the games industry this year.
The enormous development team have squeezed onto the stage to accept this one together.
This is the moment we’ve been waiting for
It’s the boss battle of the night: Who is going to take out the Bafta for best game?
Here are the nominees:
BreakingNadji Jeter wins best performance for Spider-Man
The actor behind Marvel's Spider-Man 2's Mile Morales, Nadji Jeter has won the award for best performance.
He was up against some fan favourites, such as Baldur's Gate 3's Neil Newbon and his own co-star Yuri Lowenthal.
He thanks the technical teams behind the game and jokes about how he packs the famously heavy statue into his bags before flying back to America
Who gave the best performance?
We are getting to the end now and this is one of the big awards of the night, awarded to the best actor in a game. The nominees are:
Technical achievement goes to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo has won the technical achievement award for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The game broke boundaries in terms of what it allowed players to do. They were able to fuse just about any item they stumbled across to another, creating completely usable and unique weapons and inventions in every instance.
Up now is the technical achievement award
This one goes to the game with the best innovation in gameplay or technology, and the nominees are:
Tchia is the game beyond entertainment
Tchia has taken out the award for game beyond entertainment.
It's testament to the incredible experience its developers curated for players as they explore an island archipelago inspired by New Caledonia.
Let’s get deep with the game beyond entertainment category
It’s time now to present the award for game beyond entertainment, given to a game that elicits some sort of transformational experience beyond pure entertainment. The nominees are:
Late Goodbye
The musical interlude during Bafta's tribute segment is a performance of Late Goodbye, by Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall.
It was used as the closing credits in Remedy's 2003 sequel, Max Payne 2.
The band's continued to work with the developer, appearing in Alan Wake 2 under the pseudonym Old Gods of Asgard.
Baldur's Gate 3 wins the music award
The award for the best music goes to Baldur's Gate 3.
One of the standouts of the soundtrack of this game is the Raphael's Final Act theme song, which plays as the party battle out against Raphael, whose actor Andrew Wincott won the best supporting role prize earlier tonight.