PlayStation action epic Ragnarok dominated the BAFTA Games Awards, winning six of the 14 awards it competed for.
action adventureBest Animation, Audio Achievement and Music for its stunning landscapes, Norse gods and monsters, while its stars Christopher Judge and Raya DeLeon Hayes won Best Actor and Best supporting actor.
Christopher Judge
Raya DeLeon Hayes
Judge, who starred in Stargate SG-1 and Bane, told Sky News his victory felt surreal, saying: “I’m going to be 60 next year when I think my career is coming to an end. It was a dream come true for me.. I waited 35 years for this part and it didn’t seem fair that I got the gift because I got the gift of it.”
He said his BAFTA, which will be up for Best Actor at the Game Awards in Los Angeles in December, will explain in his office: “I’m actually doing a little case for this incredible competition. [of award wins] So it will now be prominently displayed on all my Zooms. “
Calling her victory “the highlight of my life”, DeLeon Hayes – who initially received some negative fan reactions to her role in the game – told Sky News: “I hope this pushes more black people to characters, more characters from Norse mythology, and of course the God of War series. I’m grateful and hope this is a step in the right direction.”
After its predecessor, God of War, was the highest-rated PlayStation 4 game for much of 2018, the team behind its success is taking big risks.
The game also won the EE game of the year, the only award voted by the public.
Bruno Velazquez, the game’s animation director, told Sky News: “We wouldn’t be here without the fans, without the people who play our games. That’s why we work so hard to make the game so people love it”
The game’s composer Bear McCreary also composed music for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series, while Irish artist Hozier wrote and sang an original song called Blood Upon The Snow.
God of War Ragnarok features Norse gods and monsters
RPG Elden Ring – Collaboration with Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin – Wins two awards – Best Multiplayer Game and Best Original Property.
But in David and Goliath’s twist, it was a subtitle created by a small freelance team that took home the top prize of the night — Best Video Game.
Vampire Survivor – described as “playful and fighting” by the team that came to collect the prize – also took home Best Game Design.
They attribute the retro game’s success to its addictive nature, saying: “It’s super easy to pick up. You can play for five minutes, and then about four and a half hours later…but you can keep playing.”
The work of an indie developer — and one of the most popular video games of 2022 — creator Luca Galante quit his full-time job to dive into it.
Eldon Ring.Figure: Bandai Namco
“We’re just 15 developers, working nine to five and having a lot of fun,” he told Sky News after the win.
Rollerdrome – an action game that mixes roller skating skills with multi-weapon combat – won Best British Game. Partly inspired by the movies Rollerball and Running Man, the team likens it to “Doom on roller skates.”
The video games industry is worth hundreds of billions of pounds globally and is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK. The hobby has only grown in popularity in recent years, with many people turning to gaming during the lockdown.
With adaptations of games such as The Last of Us, The Witcher, and Arcane (the first video game adaptation to win a Primetime Emmy) achieving critical and commercial success — what many consider to be the When games really hit the mainstream.
The last of us. Image: HBO/Sky Atlantic
In-between star and avid gamer James Buckley, who presented the awards on the night, told Sky News: “Traditional media are now starting to realize that video games have such a huge market and audience…they’re also beautiful stories, narratives, all that. All to put on a truly great show in this world.
“And I think they’re starting to realize that if we do a good job, you know, don’t just try to use a video game to borrow the name and try to release something, but actually sit down and write something, create something around this, [they’re] Come up with amazing stuff for TV and movies. This is an exciting time. “
The Awards, hosted by Frankie Ward and celebrating the past year of competition, were held at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and streamed live on Twitch.
The prestigious BAFTA Scholarship has been awarded to Japanese game industry veteran Shuhei Yoshida.
The Bafta Games Awards are part of the London Games Festival, running until 8 April.