Baldur's Gate 3 has won five awards at the 20th edition of the Bafta Games Awards in central London
The game by Larian Studios picked up the awards for the best game, music, players' choice, best narrative and best supporting performer
Alan Wake 2 and Viewfinder have picked up two awards each
The ceremony celebrated developers, artists, actors and composers: there were 40 games in the running across 17 categories
Gaming is big business in the UK: sales topped £4.7bn last year, more than double that of the music industry
But despite 2023 being widely considered to be one of the best years ever, the industry saw thousands of job losses and studio closures
We’ve arrived at the award for best game design, which essentially honours the game that was the most captivating for players. The nominees are:
Image source, Getty ImagesMaciej Włodarkiewicz accepts the Evolving Game Award for 'Cyberpunk 2077'
Streamers Sweet Anita and Cyborg Angel present the evolving game award to Cyberpunk 2077!
After a troubled launch the game completed its redemption arc last year.
This award recognises games that have shown significant growth and continuous improvement since initial release. The nominees are:
Image source, BaftasNintendo UK's Nelson Calvinho accepted the award for the developers
Final Fantasy XVI voice actor Ben Starr almost steals the show as he introduces the multiplayer award. But he's happy to share the stage with the winning game... Super Mario Bros Wonder!
We’ve reached the award for the game with the best multiplayer experience. The nominees are:
Listen up! Comedian and Powerwash Simulator world record holder Ellie Gibson presents the award for audio achievement to... Alan Wake 2.
It's the first win of the night for the critical darling from Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment. Could we be witnessing the start of a sweep?
Image source, RemedyThis award goes to the game with the best use of audio across sound effects, dialogue and music. The nominees are:
Sex Education star Asa Butterfield - a big gamer and keen esports player, presents the first award for best debut to Venba.
The cooking-centric game tells the story of a family that emigrates from India to North America - and connects with their heritage and each other through food.
Image source, AwacebHere it goes! The award for best debut game is about to be awarded. The nominees for this one are:
Image source, BAFTA Games Awards 2024When Phil Wang was revealed as tonight's host he promised that he wouldn't shy away from the "elephant in the room" and the waves of layoffs the games industry has seen over the last 18 months.
In his opening monologue, he came good on that pledge and told the room full of games, designers, composers, actors and others that it was "more important than ever to celebrate you all".
But not wanting to get too heavy, Phil quickly got to cracking jokes, and took aim at Grand Theft Auto 6 and its never ending development cycle.
The awards have just got going - stay with us as we bring you news of the winners.
We are just hearing from Phil Wang, the host of tonight's ceremony, as he's warming up the audience.
Neil Newbon, who's probably the favourite to bag tonight's best performer award for playing Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3, tells BBC News on the red carpet that the role "felt like home".
The experienced video game actor says he spent years donning a Lycra motion capture suit for his previous roles before landing the part of Astarion, which involved recording sessions spread across four years.
Asked whether he's worried about being up against his cast-mates, he says the opposite, and that it's "amazing" to see performances across the whole game being recognised.
While we wait for the awards ceremony to begin, let's hear from composers Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab, who teamed up to create the soundtrack for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
They tell BBC News on the red carpet that making music for one of the biggest franchises in entertainment brings "immense pressure".
Haab says their approach is to "do what we do best, write our own music and create something brand new. Not divert away necessarily but put our own spin on things".
The pair recently won a Grammy for their work on the game - one of the first times that the major US ceremony has recognised gaming music.
Barton says it's about time.
"It's only a couple of years ago that game music got recognised as being a field," he says.
"Which is really funny because for years, as gamers have known, game music has been massive. It just took a little while for the music industry itself to catch up.
"It's only now that people are saying, 'Hang on a minute, this is sort of the dominant medium of our time.'"
But despite bagging an award at the big American industry bash, Barton says he loves the "level playing field" at the Bafta Game Awards.
"You can have a game made by six people in a house somewhere and it can be up for a game of the year award."
Andrew Rogers
BBC Newsbeat, at the red carpet
The Baftas are an exciting night for any small games studio.
But they’re particularly exciting when it’s the first game you’ve made.
Georg, Gwen and Matt from Scottish studio Sad Owl could be in for a big night with their game Viewfinder.
They're up for awards in four categories, including best debut game.
They told BBC Newsbeat they think their game caught the judges’ attention because it did something entirely new - using photos to change reality around you and solve puzzles.
“It’s one of the most innovative games since Portal” says Gwen, referring to the classic teleportation-based puzzle-platform game.
Georg says it would be a huge honour just to win one award for a 2023 game - a year he says was one of the best for gaming.
Matt says it’s amazing to be competing not just against big companies, but other indies. “Some of the indie games this year are incredible. It’s such an honour to be up alongside them."
The awards ceremony is due to begin at 19:00. You can watch by pressing play at the top of this page.
Stay with us as we bring you live updates from central London.
We are excited, are you?
It’s the game that has been described as every Super Mario idea that was rejected for being too outlandish rolled into one.
Super Mario Bros: Wonder takes the traditional 2D side-scrolling format and injects each level with absurdity, like piranha plants singing in chorus, characters bouncing off balloon-hippos or pipes turning into worms.
The game is also the first to offer online multiplayer, having previously stringently championed the couch co-op, which has opened up the game to remote players.
It’s nominated for three other awards tonight, including for animation and multiplayer.
Image source, Nintendo
Jacqueline Howard
Reporting from the red carpet
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 stars Yuri Lowenthal and Nadji Jeter have just swung by!
Jeter tells us a "no sound on the set" rule was implemented during the motion capture phase of development because he couldn’t stop making “whoosh” noises when shooting web out of his wrists.
Asked whether they’ve hidden Spidey suits under their black tie tailoring, the stars are devastated that they hadn’t organised that.
Lowenthal, however, gives us an exclusive flash of his cufflinks bearing the famous face of Spider Man.
Image source, NintendoThe game that launched a thousand hilarious, ingenious, and (more often than not) dangerous inventions is among those up for the biggest awards of the night.
After its predecessor Breath of the Wild revitalised the Legend of Zelda franchise, the question on everyone’s lips was how Nintendo could possibly top that masterpiece on its six-year-old Switch console.
In response, Nintendo said: “Hold our Joy-Cons”.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom took the open-world template of its prequel, gave players new powers and an ability to break the rules, crafting contraptions by fusing together almost any items they could find.
The Nintendo team behind it are up for six other awards aside from best game, including game design, narrative and player’s choice.
Andrew Rogers
BBC Newsbeat, at the red carpet
Baldurs Gate 3 is absolute huge here, but one of the game’s biggest stars says she still can’t quite believe it.
“I don’t think anyone was expecting it to be as big as it has been,” says Karlach actor Samantha Beart. She’s up for best actor tonight, up against some of her cast mates. Talking to BBC Newsbeat, she says her character was a “joy to play”. Samantha says she loved that her character got some of the sassiest lines, and she was given so much freedom in how to play it.
She’s particularly glad she put in such a good performance, given how much we’re all now talking about it.And she says there are plans for all the Baldur’s Gate team to party together after the awards.
How can we get an invite?
Jacqueline Howard
Reporting from the red carpet
Our livestream reporters Jonelle Awomoyi and Mel Ramsey have just been chatting with Dr Mick Donegan MBE.
He is the head of SpecialEffect, and will be given the special award during the ceremony tonight for his work making games accessible.
An example of his work, he says, involved adapting controllers so that joysticks could be controlled by a person's chin or foot.
He has also helped develop games that track a player’s eyes, allowing people with little to no movement of their bodies to play games such as chess.
He says the autonomy of being able to play games does “wonders” for a person’s self-esteem.
