VFX 'Uncharted 4: A Thief's End', 'Inside' and 'Firewatch' lead the 2017 British Academy Games Awards nominations -

‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’, ‘Inside’ and ‘Firewatch’ lead the 2017 British Academy Games Awards nominations

2016 has been a great year for gaming. Although, there were a lot of terrific releases in the past year, some games like Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Playdead’s Inside and Niantic’s Pokemon Go have bagged accolades across various awards.

Now, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the  2017 British Academy Games Awards.

Three games managed to outshine others in the nominations at least. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has picked up eight nominations, while Inside got seven and Firewatch received six. All the three games owe one nomination each to the Best Game award category. Other games that will be joining these three in the run for the top accolade are Overwatch, Titanfall 2 and Stardew Valley.

According to BAFTA’s criteria, for a game to be eligible for nomination, it has to be released in the UK in 2016 calendar year.

The event also has a special category for the best British Game. The nominees for this category include the controversial title No Man’s Sky, Forza Horizon 3, Batman: Arkham VR and some others.

The winners will be announced during the event on 6 April, at Tobacco Dock in London. The event will be streamed live on Twitch.

Here is the full list of nominees:

Artistic Achievement

Abzû  (Giant Squid/505 Games)
Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Inside (Playdead/Playdead)
The Last Guardian (SIE Japan Studio, GenDesign/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Unravel (Coldwood Interactive/Electronic Arts)

Audio Achievement

Battlefield 1 (DICE/Electronic Arts)
Doom (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
Inside (Martin Stig Andersen – Playdead/Playdead)
The Last Guardian (SIE Japan Studio, GenDesign/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Rez Infinite (Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Takako Ishida, Noboru Mutoh – Enhance Games, Monstars Inc., Resonair/Enhance Games)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Best Game

Firewatch (Campo Santo Productions/Campo Santo Productions, Panic Inc.)
Inside (Playdead/Playdead)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment)
Stardew Valley (Eric Barone – ConcernedApe/Chucklefish)
Titanfall 2 (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

British Game

Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios/WB Games)
Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games/Hello Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team17 Digital)
Planet Coaster (Frontier Developments/Frontier Developments)
Virginia (Variable State/505 Games)

Debut Game

Firewatch (Campo Santo Productions/Campo Santo Productions, Panic Inc.)
Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team17 Digital)
Oxenfree (Night School Studio/Night School Studio)
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games/Numinous Games)
The Witness (Thekla Inc./Thekla Inc.)
Virginia (Variable State/505 Games)

Evolving Game

Destiny: Rise of Iron (Bungie/Activision)
Elite Dangerous: Horizons (Frontier Developments/Frontier Developments)
Eve Online (CCP Games/CCP Games)
Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix/Square Enix)
Hitman (IO Interactive/Square Enix)
Rocket League (Dave Hagewood, Jeremy Dunham, Corey Davis – Psyonix/Psyonix)

Destiny: Rise of Iron
Destiny: Rise of Iron

Family

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Mike Taylor, Jamie Eden, James Norton – TT Games/WB Games)
Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team17 Digital)
The Playroom VR (SIE Japan Studio, Team Asobi!/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Pokémon Go (Niantic Inc./Niantic Inc.)
Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
Toca Hair Salon 3 (Toca Boca/Toca Boca)

Game Design

Battlefield 1 (DICE/Electronic Arts)
Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Inside (Playdead/Playdead)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment)
Titanfall 2 (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
The Witness (Thekla Inc./Thekla Inc.)

Game Innovation

Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios/WB Games)
Firewatch (Campo Santo Productions/Campo Santo Productions, Panic Inc.)
Pokémon Go (Niantic Inc./Niantic Inc.)
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games/Numinous Games)
Unseen Diplomacy (Triangular Pixels/Triangular Pixels)
The Witness (Thekla Inc./Thekla Inc.)

Mobile

The Banner Saga 2 (Stoic/Versus Evil)
Dawn of Titans (NaturalMotion/Zynga)
Deus Ex Go (Square Enix Montreal/Square Enix)
Pokémon Go (Niantic Inc./Niantic Inc.)
Pokémon Sun and Moon (Game Freak/The Pokémon Company International)
Reigns (Nerial/Devolver Digital)

Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go

Multiplayer

Battlefield 1 (DICE/Electronic Arts)
Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team17 Digital)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment)
Titanfall 2 (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
Tom Clancy’s The Division (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Music

Abzû (Austin Wintory – Giant Squid/505 Games)
Doom (Mick Gordon, Chris Hite, Chad Mossholder – Id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
Inside (Martin Stig Andersen, Søs Gunver Ryberg – Playdead/Playdead)
The Last Guardian (Takeshi Furukawa – SIE Japan Studio, GenDesign/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Henry Jackman, Jonathan Mayer, Scott Hanau – Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Virginia (Lyndon Holland – Variable State/505 Games)

Narrative

Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Firewatch (Campo Santo Productions/Campo Santo Productions, Panic Inc.)
Inside (Arnt Jensen – Playdead/Playdead)
Mafia 3 (Hangar 13/2K Games)
Oxenfree (Night School Studio/Night School Studio)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Neil Druckmann, Josh Scherr – Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)

Original Property

Firewatch (Campo Santo Productions/Campo Santo Productions, Panic Inc.)
Inside (Playdead/Playdead)
The Last Guardian (SIE Japan Studio, GenDesign/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment)
Unravel (Coldwood Interactive/Electronic Arts)
The Witness (Thekla Inc./Thekla Inc.)

Performer

Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay in Mafia 3
Cissy Jones as Delilah in Firewatch
Emily Rose as Elena Fisher in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Navid Negahban as ‘Hajj Agha’ in 1979 Revolution: Black Friday
Nolan North as Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Troy Baker as Sam Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare To Be Digital

Among the Stones (Lukasz Gomula, Alberto Taiuti, James Wood, Roberton Macken, Kevin McKenna, Rory Sweeney – Bluedoor Games)
Pentagrab (Andrew Fullarton, Thomas Slade, Nick Kondylis, Cari Watterton, Dale Smith – Ludico)
Rebound (Kieran Gallagher, Isaac Pringle, Mark Tempini, Andrew Graham, Alexander Macdiarmid, Vladislav Veselinov, Craig Russell, Alexandra Donaldson – Hexterion)

AMD Esports Audience Award (Public Voted)

Clash Royale (Supercell/Supercell)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Hidden Path Entertainment/Valve)
Dota 2 (Valve/Valve)
League of Legends (Riot Games/Riot Games)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment)
Street Fighter 5 (Capcom, Dimps/Capcom)

csgo-dota2

VFX