‘Extraordinary’ and ‘wide open’ Bafta Games Awards field hailed

British-made action-adventure game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II leads the way with 11 nominations at this year’s Bafta Games Awards, with the head of Bafta calling the range of nominees “extraordinary”.

A total of 41 games have been nominated across 17 categories for the awards, which take place in April.

Made by Cambridge-based studio Ninja Theory, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II’s nominations include in the animation, artistic achievement, audio achievement and British game categories, while Sony’s Astro Bot and indie horror game Still Wakes The Deep each have eight nominations.

The nominations feature a host of independent and first-time nominees as well as big name franchises and well-known series such as Call Of Duty, Star Wars and Final Fantasy, which Bafta chief executive Jane Millichip said showed the gaming industry was “really healthy”.

“I think it’s a wide open field,” she told the PA news agency.

“That’s what is extraordinary this year, it’s the range of genres, the size of games – indie, big studio, multiplayer – it’s a bewildering variety.

“It’s really interesting to see how broad it is, and great to see so many British studios represented – 11 British studios from the length and breadth of the country, from Yorkshire to Brighton.

“It’s a kind of mesmerising variety and certainly in the short time I’ve been involved in Bafta, it seems more than ever that that is the distinguishing factor this year, which is really exciting, and with a really open field of 41 games nominated it’s really, really healthy.”

Tara Saunders, chair of the Bafta Games Committee, said the nominees were a “beacon of light” following some “dark times” for the gaming industry in recent years, which has seen widespread job cuts in the wake of an economic downturn.

“It’s a huge testament, and I think it shows the resilience of the teams and individuals that are making this content – it takes a lot of effort to make a fun product, and I think they’re channelling all their energy into that,” she told PA.

“I think it’s really important that we take this moment to celebrate the teams and the individuals that have crafted these standout games experiences.

“I really love that in the best game (category) we’ve got some indie games going shoulder to shoulder with some really big budget games.

“And I love that Bafta gives that platform for that to happen, to really shine a light on some of the smaller teams that are out there.”

Comedy game Thank Goodness You’re Here – made by independent Yorkshire studio Coal Supper – has seven nominations for this year’s awards, including for best game, British game and debut game.

In the best game category, it will compete alongside titles from industry giants Sony, the makers of the PlayStation, and Nintendo, for whom The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom, the latest instalment in the hugely popular, long-running fantasy series, has been nominated.