Uncharted 4 wins best game at Bafta awards
- Published
- comments
WATCH: Uncharted 4 actor Nolan North tells BBC's Chris Foxx: "Leave them wanting more"
Uncharted 4 has won the best game at this year's Bafta Games Awards.
Developers from its studio, Naughty Dog, said it was "unexpected". The action adventure title had earlier missed out on seven other categories it had been nominated for.
Chaotic restaurant kitchen game Overcooked took the prize for best British game and family title.
The surreal puzzle-platformer Inside had four wins, the most of any game at the London ceremony.
It took original property, artistic achievement, game design and narrative.
Playdead's Inside is a 2D platformer in which a young boy has to solve puzzles in a surreal environment
"I hate most voice acting in games, so getting a narrative [award] is very important to me," said game designer Arnt Jensen from Copenhagen-based studio Playdead.
Brenda Romero received this year's special award.
The co-owner of Romero Games has developed dozens of titles including the Wizardry series; Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes; and Playboy: The Mansion.
She said the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' event held importance.
"I remember when Bafta started recognising video games," she said.
"To me that was the single most important move in our entire industry for recognising us as an art form [at a time when] people were saying games were bad or games were wastes of time."
WATCH: Brenda Romero and her husband John on augmented reality
She was joined at the event by her husband John Romero, who helped design Doom and the original Wolfenstein 3D.
Cancer-inspired game
The developers of That Dragon, Cancer were emotional when they made their speech after winning the prize for game innovation.
The title was inspired by the death of two of the team's son, who was diagnosed with cancer when just one year old. He died four years later.
Amy Green based the plot of That Dragon, Cancer on the death of her son
"Our life with Joel was hard but it was really beautiful," said his mother Amy Green, who wrote the game's story.
"So, when we thought about creating a game that would become the only legacy he would have - the legacy we chose and he could not - we created a game that was hard to play.
"But we believe it was beautiful.
"And we thank you for believing the same thing."
WATCH: Overcooked developers admit co-op games like theirs can stress players out
Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch won best multiplayer. The team-based first-person shooter was designed for e-sports and is notable for featuring LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters.
The AMD e-sports audience award, however, went to Clash Royale, a real-time card-based title featuring characters from the blockbuster mobile game Clash of Clans.
Clash Royale beat bigger-budget rivals for the e-sports award
Best debut game went to Firewatch, an unusual mystery adventure in which the player communicates with another person via a handheld radio. It also scored Cissy Jones an award for her performance as the voice heard, Delilah.
Audio achievement went to The Last Guardian, a much-delayed fantasy title from Sony Interactive. It was released in December, five years after it was originally expected to debut.
Rocket League won best evolving game - meaning a title that continually changes via updates - having already won three prizes at 2016's event.
Psyonix's Rocket League won the best evolving game title
The "ones to watch" prize - which highlights new talent - went to Among the Stones. The platformer was developed as a prototype by six students for their Abertay University course.
Analysis
Uncharted 4 was nominated for eight titles but only took the top prize
By Steffan Powell, Newsbeat
A mixed night here at the Baftas - lots of success for smaller independent games but the major award of the night went to Uncharted 4.
It was one of the highest-profile nominees, and the decision almost goes against Baftas's tradition of picking unexpected titles to win the main award.
The biggest surprise of the ceremony, in my opinion, came in the best performer category. Cissy Jones won for her brilliant portrayal of Delilah in the adventure game Firewatch, getting the better of no less than three performers from Uncharted 4, including the much fancied Nolan North (the man who plays Nathan Drake).
The people who are likely to have the sorest heads tomorrow will be the team behind Inside, which in terms of numbers of trophies had the most success.
But in terms of heart warming stories from the night - think of Ghost Town Games. The two-man team quit their jobs to make the game Overcooked with their savings. From working in a spare room to winning two Baftas in less than a year is some story.
Brexit fears
More than 12,000 people are directly employed by the video games industry in the UK.
The comedian Danny Wallace hosted this year's ceremony
The awards took place at a time when the country's video games trade body Ukie has warned that Brexit could result in some studios moving overseas if it leads to an immigration clampdown.
"We need diversity of talent - not just in terms of different languages, different perspectives, different culture to put into our creative products but also different experiences," the organisation's chief executive Jo Twist told the BBC ahead of the Baftas.
"And being able to have a friction-free system to be able to hire in the best talent from wherever they are across the globe to the UK [is needed] to keep our place at the top of the table."
Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch won the award for best multiplayer game
Last year, $99.6bn of video games were sold worldwide, according to research firm Newzoo, external, representing an 8.5% gain on the previous year and a bigger sum spent on movies.
It said China represented the biggest market in terms of consumer spend with the UK in sixth place.
The nominees for best game had included Overwatch, Titanfall 2, Firewatch, Inside and Stardew Valley in addition to the winner Uncharted 4.
Last year's winner was Fallout 4.
- Published6 April 2017
- Published6 April 2017
- Published6 April 2017
- Published4 April 2017
- Published4 April 2017
- Published28 March 2017
- Published7 April 2016