British Academy Games Award for Debut Game
# British Academy Games Award for Debut Game

The British Academy Video Games Award for Debut Game is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). It is given in honor of the best first game from any studio or individual.

Since its inception, the award has been given to eleven games. The category was first presented at the 8th British Academy Video Games Awards ceremony, held in 2012, with the Microsoft Studios-published title Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet as the inagurual recipient. The publishers Annapurna Interactive has received the most nominations in this category with six, followed by Xbox Game Studios with five. To date, no publisher has won in the category more than once.

The current holder of the award is Tunic, developed and published by Finji, 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) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2011 (8th) | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet | Shadow Planet Productions | Microsoft Studios |
| 2011 (8th) | Bastion | Supergiant Games | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| 2011 (8th) | Eufloria | Omni Systems | Omni Systems |
| 2011 (8th) | L.A. Noire | Team Bondi | Rockstar Games |
| 2011 (8th) | Monstermind | Bossa Studios | Bossa Studios |
| 2011 (8th) | Rift | Trion Worlds | Trion Worlds |
| 2012 (9th) | The Unfinished Swan | Giant Sparrow, Santa Monica Studio | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2012 (9th) | Deadlight | Tequila Works | Microsoft Studios |
| 2012 (9th) | Dear Esther | The Chinese Room | The Chinese Room |
| 2012 (9th) | Forza Horizon | Playground Games, Turn 10 Studios | Microsoft Studios |
| 2012 (9th) | Proteus | Ed Key, David Kanaga | Valve |
| 2012 (9th) | The Room | Fireproof Games | Fireproof Games |
| 2013 (10th) | Gone Home | Fullbright | Fullbright |
| 2013 (10th) | Badland | Frogmind Oy | Frogmind Oy |
| 2013 (10th) | Castles in the Sky | The Tall Trees | The Tall Trees |
| 2013 (10th) | Gunpoint | Suspicious Developments | Suspicious Developments |
| 2013 (10th) | Remember Me | Dontnod Entertainment | Capcom |
| 2013 (10th) | The Stanley Parable | Galactic Cafe | Galactic Cafe |
| 2014 (11th) | Never Alone | Upper One Game, E-Line Media | E-Line Media |
| 2014 (11th) | The Banner Saga | Stoic Studios | Versus Evil |
| 2014 (11th) | CounterSpy | Dynamighty | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 2014 (11th) | Hitman Go | Square Enix Montreal | Square Enix |
| 2014 (11th) | Shovel Knight | Yacht Club Games | Yacht Club Games |
| 2014 (11th) | The Vanishing of Ethan Carter | The Astronauts | The Astronauts |
| 2015 (12th) | Her Story | Sam Barlow | Sam Barlow |
| 2015 (12th) | Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes | Steel Crate Games | Steel Crate Games |
| 2015 (12th) | Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime | Asteroid Base | Asteroid Base |
| 2015 (12th) | Mini Metro | Dinosaur Polo Club | Dinosaur Polo Club, Playism |
| 2015 (12th) | Ori and the Blind Forest | Moon Studios | Microsoft Studios |
| 2015 (12th) | Prune | Joel McDonald | Joel McDonald |
| 2016 (13th) | Firewatch | Campo Santo | Panic |
| 2016 (13th) | Overcooked | Ghost Town Games | Team17 |
| 2016 (13th) | Oxenfree | Night School Studio | Night School Studio |
| 2016 (13th) | That Dragon, Cancer | Numinous Games | Numinous Games |
| 2016 (13th) | Virginia | Variable State | 505 Games |
| 2016 (13th) | The Witness | Thekla, Inc. | Thekla, Inc. |
| 2017 (14th) | Gorogoa | Buried Signal | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2017 (14th) | Cuphead | StudioMDHR Entertainment Inc. | StudioMDHR Entertainment Inc. |
| 2017 (14th) | Hollow Knight | Team Cherry | Team Cherry |
| 2017 (14th) | Night in the Woods | InfiniteFall | Finji |
| 2017 (14th) | The Sexy Brutale | Cavalier Game Studios | Tequila Works |
| 2017 (14th) | Slime Rancher | Monomi Park | Monomi Park |
| 2018 (15th) | Yoku's Island Express | Villa Gorilla | Team17 |
| 2018 (15th) | Beat Saber | Beat Games | Beat Games |
| 2018 (15th) | Cultist Simulator | Weather Factory | Humble Bundle |
| 2018 (15th) | Donut County | Ben Esposito | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2018 (15th) | Florence | Mountains | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2018 (15th) | Gris | Nomada Studio | Devolver Digital |
| 2019 (16th) | Disco Elysium | ZA/UM | ZA/UM |
| 2019 (16th) | Ape Out | Gabe Cuzzillo | Devolver Digital |
| 2019 (16th) | Death Stranding | Kojima Productions | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2019 (16th) | Katana Zero | Askiisoft | Devolver Digital |
| 2019 (16th) | Knights and Bikes | Foam Sword | Double Fine Presents |
| 2019 (16th) | Manifold Garden | William Chyr Studios | William Chyr Studios |
| 2020 (17th) | Carrion | Phobia Game Studio | Devolver Digital |
| 2020 (17th) | Airborne Kingdom | The Wandering Bard | The Wandering Bard |
| 2020 (17th) | Call of the Sea | Out of the Blue | Raw Fury Games |
| 2020 (17th) | Factorio | Wube Software | Wube Software |
| 2020 (17th) | The Falconeer | Tomas Sala | Wired Productions |
| 2020 (17th) | Röki | Polygon Treehouse | United Label |
| 2021 (18th) | Toem | Something We Made | Something We Made |
| 2021 (18th) | The Artful Escape | Beethoven and Dinosaur | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2021 (18th) | Eastward | Pixpil | Chucklefish |
| 2021 (18th) | The Forgotten City | Modern Storyteller | Dear Villagers |
| 2021 (18th) | Genesis Noir | Feral Cat Den | Fellow Traveller |
| 2021 (18th) | Maquette | Graceful Decay | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2022 (19th) | Tunic | Finji | Finji |
| 2022 (19th) | The Case of the Golden Idol | Color Gray Games | Playstack |
| 2022 (19th) | Stray | BlueTwelve | Annapurna Interactive |
| 2022 (19th) | Trombone Champ | Holy Wow Studios | Holy Wow Studios |
| 2022 (19th) | As Dusk Falls | Interior Night | Xbox Game Studios |
| 2022 (19th) | Vampire Survivors | Poncle | Poncle |

## Multiple nominations

The following publishers received two or more Debut Game nominations:

| Nominations | Publisher |
| - | - |
| 6 | Annapurna Interactive |
| 5 | Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios |
| 4 | Devolver Digital |
| 3 | Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| 2 | Finji |
