Spider-Man battles Baldur’s Gate in Bafta Games Awards

Baldur’s Gate 3 leads the way in this year’s Bafta Games Awards nominations with a total of 10.

As well as being in the running for best game, the actors behind popular characters Karlach and Astarion are among those up for solo awards.

Sony’s hit sequel Spider-Man 2 received nine nods, closely followed by Alan Wake 2, with eight.

Elsewhere, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor have six nominations each.

This year will be the twentieth anniversary of the awards – one of the most prestigious nights in the calendar for the gaming industry – and will be held on 11 April 2024.

Last year gaming sales topped £4.7bn in the UK, more than double that of the music industry, according to the digital entertainment and retail association (ERA).

Both Baldur’s Gate and Zelda were smash hits with critics, and rank among the 30 highest-rated games of all time, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

They will compete in the Best Game category alongside Spider-Man 2, with Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Bros Wonder and surprise hit Dave the Diver making up the games in the running for the top award.

“It’s likely that 2023 will go down in history as one of the best years for new video game releases,” said Bafta Games committee head Tara Saunders.

“There was a steady stream of new, creative, imaginative work that’s been pouring out of some of the best and brightest developers in the business.

“I don’t know what was in the air, but there is some magic in there.”

The shortlist was narrowed down from a longlist of 60 games, which was announced in December.

The awards are decided by specially selected juries, but in a change from previous years, the Best Game and Best British Game awards are voted on by more than 1,200 Bafta members – professionals with years of experience in gaming.

They will have the difficult task of choosing the winners in a year which saw gamers spoiled for choice.

2023’s surprise hit Baldur’s Gate 3, based on Dungeons and Dragons, has already won the top award at the 2023 Game Awards.

As well as Best Game it has been nominated in the Music and Artistic Achievement categories at the Bafta Games Awards, and five of its voice actors are up for individual golden masks.

“We’re thrilled for the entire team that helped bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to life, and the prestigious recognition that comes with these eight category nominations,” the game’s director Swen Vincke told the BBC.

“It’s a hugely motivating force helping us to move forward with even greater enthusiasm.”

Meanwhile, both Nintendo and Sony have had games nominated that broke sales records in 2023 – with Tears of the Kingdom shipping 10m units in three days, and Spider-Man 2 becoming the fastest-selling game made by PlayStation.

Spider-Man has three voice actors up for individual awards, while it is also nominated in the Game Design and Technical Achievement categories.

It will compete with Zelda in those two categories, while Nintendo’s game also has nominations for the Music and Audio Achievement awards.

The battle for Best Game may come down to Baldur’s Gate, Zelda and Spider-Man, but Bafta has been known to throw up a surprise or two before – with last year’s awards being no exception.

In 2023, the gong was taken by indie game Vampire Survivors, while mystery title What Remains of Edith Finch won in 2018.

That means the developers of Dave the Diver might have reason to be hopeful their unexpected fishing and sushi-restaurant-managing hit could take home the big prize.

Meanwhile, studios across the length of the UK make up the nominees for the Best British Game category, with Brighton-based Bytten Studio nominated for Cassette Beasts, and Scottish studio Sad Owl nominated for Viewfinder.

And Football Manager 2024 is also up for an award in the category following the release of the 20th game in the best-selling series.

“It’s really inspiring to see that in the Game Design, Debut Game and the Game Beyond Entertainment categories there is a strong presence of indie game titles, such as Tchia, Cocoon and Venba,” said UK publisher No More Robots production director Sophie Smart.

“It really shows that despite the difficulties in the industry right now with layoffs, there is still a deep appreciation for games made by all sorts of teams and it’s great to see Bafta recognising that.”

Elsewhere, Nadji Jeter and Yuri Lowenthal and have received voice acting nods for their performances as Miles Morales and Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2.

While Amelia Tyler, Neil Newborn, Samatha Béart, Andrew Wincott and Tracy Wiles are the five voice actors nominated for their performances in Baldur’s Gate 3.

“What’s interesting about the performance categories is you see established actors like Ralph Ineson (Cid in Final Fantasy XVI) and Tony Todd (Venom in Spider-Man 2) and then you’ve got newcomers in there,” said Bafta’s executive director of awards and content Emma Baehr.

“11 of the 12 are first-time nominees – we’re showcasing and celebrating them for the first time.”

But despite featuring on Bafta’s longlist in December, Idris Elba has missed out for his work as Solomon Reed in Cyberpunk 2077.