British Academy Games Award for Technical Achievement
# British Academy Games Award for Technical Achievement

The British Academy Games Award for Technical Achievement (formerly, British Academy Games Award for Game Innovation) is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) as part of the British Academy Games Awards. It is given in honour of "the best innovation in gameplay or technology". The award was initially known as Innovation at the 3rd British Academy Games Awards ceremony, held in 2006, and was awarded to Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old is Your Brain?, developed and published by Nintendo. The award was absent from ceremonies held in 2008 to 2010. before returning to the 8th ceremony held in 2011, under the name Game Innovation. For the 2020 awards, the category was renamed again for Technical Achievement as to encompass gameplay programming and visual engineering.

Since its inception, the award has been given to thirteen games. As a developer, Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development has a leading six nominations in the category, including two wins, tied with Media Molecule. Japan Studio holds the record for most nominations without a win, with four. Among publishers, Sony Interactive Entertainment has the most wins, with six. Xbox Game Studios are the publisher with the most nominations without a win, with five.

The current holder of the award is Horizon Forbidden West by Guerrilla Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment, which won at the 19th British Academy Games Awards in 2023.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years are listed as per BAFTA convention, and generally correspond to the year of game release in the United Kingdom.

Table key :

* Indicates the winner

| Year | Game | Developer(s) | Publisher(s) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2006 (3rd) | Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? | Nintendo SPD | Nintendo |
| 2006 (3rd) | Electroplankton | indieszero | Nintendo |
| 2006 (3rd) | Guitar Hero | Harmonix | RedOctane |
| 2006 (3rd) | LocoRoco | Japan Studio | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2006 (3rd) | Shadow of the Colossus | Team Ico, Japan Studio | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2006 (3rd) | We Love Katamari | Namco | Namco |
| 2007 (4th) | Wii Sports | Nintendo EAD | Nintendo |
| 2007 (4th) | Battlefield 2142 | EA DICE | Electronic Arts |
| 2007 (4th) | Crackdown | Realtime Worlds | Microsoft Game Studios |
| 2007 (4th) | Guitar Hero II | Harmonix | Activision |
| 2007 (4th) | World in Conflict | Massive Entertainment | Sierra Entertainment |
| 2007 (4th) | World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment |
| 2011 (8th) | LittleBigPlanet 2 | Media Molecule | Sony Computer Entertainment Europe |
| 2011 (8th) | Bastion | Supergiant Games | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| 2011 (8th) | Child of Eden | Q Entertainment | Ubisoft |
| 2011 (8th) | From Dust | Ubisoft Montpellier | Ubisoft |
| 2011 (8th) | L.A. Noire | Team Bondi | Rockstar Games |
| 2011 (8th) | The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword | Nintendo EAD | Nintendo |
| 2012 (9th) | The Unfinished Swan | Giant Sparrow, Santa Monica Studio | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2012 (9th) | Fez | Polytron Corporation | Trapdoor |
| 2012 (9th) | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | Treyarch | Activision |
| 2012 (9th) | Wonderbook: Book of Spells | London Studio | London Studio |
| 2012 (9th) | Journey | thatgamecompany | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2012 (9th) | Kinect Sesame Street TV | Microsoft Studios, Soho Productions | Microsoft Studios |
| 2013 (10th) | Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons | Starbreeze Studios | 505 Games |
| 2013 (10th) | Grand Theft Auto V | Rockstar North | Rockstar Games |
| 2013 (10th) | Papers, Please | Lucas Pope, 3909 LLC | 3909 LLC |
| 2013 (10th) | The Stanley Parable | Galactic Café | Galactic Café |
| 2013 (10th) | Tearaway | Tarsier Studios, Media Molecule | Sony Computer Entertainment Europe |
| 2013 (10th) | Year Walk | Simogo | Simogo |
| 2014 (11th) | The Vanishing of Ethan Carter | The Astronauts | The Astronauts, Nordic Games |
| 2014 (11th) | 80 Days | Inkle | Inkle, Profile Books |
| 2014 (11th) | Alien: Isolation | The Creative Assembly | Sega |
| 2014 (11th) | Lumino City | State of Play Games | State of Play Games |
| 2014 (11th) | Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | Monolith Productions | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| 2014 (11th) | Titanfall | Respawn Entertainment | Electronic Arts |
| 2015 (12th) | Her Story | Sam Barlow | Sam Barlow |
| 2015 (12th) | Everybody's Gone to the Rapture | The Chinese Room, Santa Monica Studio | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2015 (12th) | Life Is Strange | Dontnod Entertainment | Square Enix |
| 2015 (12th) | Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | Kojima Productions | Konami Digital Entertainment |
| 2015 (12th) | Splatoon | Nintendo EAD | Nintendo |
| 2015 (12th) | Until Dawn | Supermassive Games | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2016 (13th) | That Dragon, Cancer | Numinous Games | Numinous Games |
| 2016 (13th) | Batman: Arkham VR | Rocksteady Studios | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| 2016 (13th) | Firewatch | Campo Santo | Panic |
| 2016 (13th) | Pokémon Go | Niantic | Niantic |
| 2016 (13th) | Unseen Diplomacy | Triangular Pixels | Triangulars Pixels |
| 2016 (13th) | The Witness | Thekla, Inc. | Thekla, Inc. |
| 2017 (14th) | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo |
| 2017 (14th) | Gorogoa | Jason Roberts, Buried Signal | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2017 (14th) | Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice | Ninja Theory Ltd | Ninja Theory Ltd |
| 2017 (14th) | NieR: Automata | PlatinumGames | Square Enix |
| 2017 (14th) | Snipperclips | SFB Games | Nintendo |
| 2017 (14th) | What Remains of Edith Finch | Giant Sparrow | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2018 (15th) | Nintendo Labo | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo |
| 2018 (15th) | Astro Bot Rescue Mission | Japan Studio | Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe |
| 2018 (15th) | Celeste | Matt Makes Games Inc. | Matt Makes Games Inc. |
| 2018 (15th) | Cultist Simulator | Weather Factory | Humble Bundle |
| 2018 (15th) | Moss | Polyarc | Polyarc |
| 2018 (15th) | Return of the Obra Dinn | Lucas Pope | 3909 |
| 2019 (16th) | Death Stranding | Kojima Productions | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2019 (16th) | A Plague Tale: Innocence | Asobo Studio | Focus Home Interactive |
| 2019 (16th) | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Infinity Ward | Activision |
| 2019 (16th) | Control | Remedy Entertainment | 505 Games |
| 2019 (16th) | Metro Exodus | 4A Games | Deep Silver |
| 2019 (16th) | Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | FromSoftware | Activision |
| 2020 (17th) | Dreams | Media Molecule | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2020 (17th) | Demon's Souls | Japan Studio | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2020 (17th) | Doom Eternal | id Software | Bethesda Softworks |
| 2020 (17th) | Microsoft Flight Simulator | Asobo Studio | Xbox Game Studios |
| 2020 (17th) | The Last of Us Part II | Naughty Dog | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2020 (17th) | Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Insomniac Games | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2021 (18th) | Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart | Insomniac Games | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2021 (18th) | Forza Horizon 5 | Playground Games | Xbox Game Studios |
| 2021 (18th) | Hitman 3 | IO Interactive | IO Interactive |
| 2021 (18th) | Psychonauts 2 | Double Fine | Xbox Game Studios |
| 2021 (18th) | Resident Evil Village | Capcom | Capcom |
| 2021 (18th) | Returnal | Housemarque | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2022 (19th) | Horizon Forbidden West | Guerrilla | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2022 (19th) | God of War Ragnarök | Santa Monica | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2022 (19th) | The Last of Us Part I | Naughty Dog | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2022 (19th) | Elden Ring | FromSoftware | Bandai Namco |
| 2022 (19th) | Immortality | Half Mermaid Productions | Half Mermaid Productions |
| 2022 (19th) | Stray | BlueTwelve | Annapurna Interactive |

## Multiple nominations and wins

### Developers

| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
| - | - | - |
| Nintendo SPD/Nintendo EAD | 6 | 2 |
| Japan Studio | 4 | 0 |
| Media Molecule | 3 | 2 |
| Santa Monica Studio | 3 | 1 |
| Giant Sparrow | 2 | 1 |
| Harmonix | 2 | 0 |
| Insomniac Games | 2 | 1 |
| Kojima Productions | 2 | 1 |
| Lucas Pope | 2 | 0 |
| Naughty Dog | 2 | 0 |

### Publishers

| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
| - | - | - |
| Sony Computer/Interactive Entertainment | 19 | 6 |
| Nintendo | 8 | 4 |
| Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios | 5 | 0 |
| Activision | 4 | 0 |
| Annapurna Interactive | 3 | 0 |
| Warner Bros Interactive | 3 | 0 |
| 3909 | 2 | 0 |
| 505 Games | 2 | 1 |
| Electronic Arts | 2 | 0 |
| Namco | 2 | 0 |
| Rockstar Games | 2 | 0 |
| Square Enix | 2 | 0 |
| Ubisoft | 2 | 0 |
