11th British Academy Games Awards
# 11th British Academy Games Awards

The 11th British Academy Video Games Awards ceremony, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), honored video games of 2014 and took place on 12 March 2015 at the Tobacco Dock in London, beginning at 7:00pm (GMT). During the ceremony, BAFTA presented awards in 16 categories. The ceremony, broadcast live on streaming website Twitch, was hosted by comedian Rufus Hound.

Monument Valley and The Last of Us: Left Behind won two awards each, while Destiny won the Best Game award. Other winners included Alien: Isolation, Far Cry 4, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, League of Legends, Lumino City, Minecraft, Never Alone, OlliOlli, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and Valiant Hearts: The Great War.

## Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 11th British Academy Video Games Awards were announced on 10 February 2015 at 10:30am (GMT). Alien: Isolation received the most nominations with six total; Far Cry 4 and Monument Valley tied for second with five nominations each, followed by 80 Days, Destiny, Mario Kart 8 and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor with four each.

The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on 12 March 2015. Destiny's win for Best Game was the fourth BAFTA win for developer Bungie, but their first outside of the Halo series. Ashley Johnson won the award for Performer for the second consecutive year for her portrayal of Ellie in The Last of Us: Left Behind.

### Awards

Winners are shown first in bold.

| Artistic Achievement Lumino City – State of Play Games/State of Play Games Assassin's Creed Unity – Ubisoft/Ubisoft Far Cry 4 – Jean-Alexis Doyon, David Wilkinson and Scott Mitchell, Ubisoft/Ubisoft Hohokum – Honeyslug and Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Monument Valley – ustwo Games/ustwo Studio Valiant Hearts: The Great War – Paul Tumelaire, Ghislain Avrillon and Laurent Labouille, Ubisoft/Ubisoft | Mobile & Handheld Monument Valley – ustwo Games/ustwo Studio 80 Days – Joseph Humfrey and Jon Ingold, Inkle/Inkle and Profile Books Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment Hitman Go – Daniel Lutz, Square Enix Montréal/Square Enix Threes! – Asher Vollmer, Greg Wohlwend and Jimmy Hinson, Sirvo/Sirvo The Walking Dead: Season Two – Telltale Games/Telltale Games |
| - | - |
| Audio Achievement Alien: Isolation – The Creative Assembly/Sega The Banner Saga – Austin Wintory, Michael Theiler and Peret Von Sturmer, Stoic Studios/Versus Evil Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Sledgehammer Games/Activision Fantasia: Music Evolved – Disney Interactive Studios and Harmonix Music Systems/Disney Interactive Studios Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo/Nintendo The Sailor's Dream – Simogo/Simogo | Multiplayer Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Sledgehammer Games/Activision Destiny – Bungie/Activision Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo/Nintendo Minecraft: Console Editions – Mojang/4J Studios/Microsoft Studios Titanfall – Steve Fukuda, Richard Baker and Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts |
| Best Game Destiny – Bungie/Activision Alien: Isolation – The Creative Assembly/Sega Dragon Age: Inquisition – BioWare/Electronic Arts Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo/Nintendo Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Monument Valley – ustwo Games/ustwo Studio | Music Far Cry 4 – Cliff Martinez, Tony Gronick and Jerome Angelot, Ubisoft/Ubisoft Alien: Isolation – The Creative Assembly/Sega The Banner Saga – Stoic Studios/Versus Evil Fantasia: Music Evolved – Disney Interactive Studios and Harmonix Music Systems/Disney Interactive Studios Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment The Sailor's Dream – Simogo/Simogo |
| British Game Monument Valley – ustwo Games/ustwo Studio 80 Days – Joseph Humfrey and Jon Ingold, Inkle/Inkle and Profile Books Alien: Isolation – The Creative Assembly/Sega Forza Horizon 2 – Playground Games/Microsoft Studios Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions – Lucid Games/Sierra Entertainment Lumino City – State of Play Games/State of Play Games | Original Property Valiant Hearts: The Great War – Yoan Fanise, Paul Tumelaire and Simon Choquet, Ubisoft/Ubisoft Kalimba – Press Play/Microsoft Studios Monument Valley – ustwo Games/ustwo Studio Sunset Overdrive – Insomniac Games/Microsoft Studios Titanfall – Steve Fukuda, Richard Baker and Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – Adrian Chmielarz, Andrzej Poznanski and Michal Kosieradzki, The Astronauts/The Astronauts, Nordic Games |
| Debut Game Never Alone – Upper One Games/E-Line Media The Banner Saga – John Watson, Alex Thomas and Arnie Jorgensen, Stoic Studios/Versus Evil CounterSpy – Dynamighty/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Hitman Go – Daniel Lutz, Square Enix Montréal/Square Enix Shovel Knight – Yacht Club Games/Yacht Club Games The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – Adrian Chmielarz, Andrzej Poznanski and Michal Kosieradzki, The Astronauts/The Astronauts, Nordic Games | Performer Ashley Johnson – The Last of Us: Left Behind as Ellie Adam Harrington – The Wolf Among Us as Bigby Wolf Kevin Spacey – Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare as Jonathan Irons Logan Cunningham – Transistor as Transistor Melissa Hutchison – The Walking Dead: Season Two as Clementine Troy Baker – Far Cry 4 as Pagan Min |
| Family Minecraft: Console Editions – Mojang/4J Studios/Microsoft Studios The Lego Movie Videogame – TT Games/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment LittleBigPlanet 3 – Pete Smith, Paul Porter and Darius Sardeghian, Sumo Digital and XDev Studios Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo/Nintendo Skylanders: Trap Team – Toys for Bob and Vicarious Visions/Activision Twelve a Dozen – Bossa Studios/Bossa Studios | Persistent Game League of Legends – Riot Games/Riot Games Destiny – Bungie/Activision EVE Online: Phoebe – CCP Games/CCP Games RuneScape – Jagex/Jagex World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor – Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment World of Tanks – Wargaming/Wargaming |
| Game Design Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Alien: Isolation – The Creative Assembly/Sega Destiny – Bungie/Activision Far Cry 4 – Jean-Alexis Doyon, David Wilkinson and Scott Mitchell, Ubisoft/Ubisoft Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment Threes! – Asher Vollmer, Greg Wohlwend and Jimmy Hinson, Sirvo/Sirvo | Sport OlliOlli – John Ribbins, Simon Bennett and Tom Hegarty, Roll7/Roll7 FIFA 15 – EA Sports/Electronic Arts Football Manager 2015 – Sports Interactive/Sega Forza Horizon 2 – Playground Games/Microsoft Studios Madden NFL 15 – EA Sports/Electronic Arts Trials Fusion – Kim Lahti, Antti Ilvessuo and Karri Kiviluoma, Ubisoft/Ubisoft |
| Game Innovation The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – Adrian Chmielarz, Andrzej Poznanski and Michal Kosieradzki, The Astronauts/The Astronauts, Nordic Games 80 Days – Joseph Humfrey and Jon Ingold, Inkle/Inkle and Profile Books Alien: Isolation – The Creative Assembly/Sega Lumino City – State of Play Games/State of Play Games Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Titanfall – Steve Fukuda, Richard Baker and Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts | Story The Last of Us: Left Behind – Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe 80 Days – Joseph Humfrey, Jon Ingold and Meg Jayanth, Inkle/Inkle and Profile Books Broken Age – Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions/Double Fine Productions Far Cry 4 – Mark Thompson, Lucien Soulban and Li Kuo, Ubisoft/Ubisoft Never Alone – Upper One Games/E-Line Media The Wolf Among Us – Telltale Games/Telltale Games |

### BAFTA Fellowship Award

* David Braben

### BAFTA Ones to Watch Award

* Chambara – Overly Kinetic

## Presenters and performers

The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers.

### Presenters (in order of appearance)

| Name(s) | Role |
| - | - |
| Rufus Hound | Announcer for the 11th British Academy Video Games Awards |
| Riva Taylor David Arnold | Presenters of the award for Music |
| Georgia May Foote | Presenter of the award for Persistent Game |
| Martin Hollis | Presenter of the award for Story |
| Mike Bithell | Presenter of the award for Original Property |
| Linford Christie | Presenter of the award for Sport |
| Rob Beckett | Presenter of the award for Mobile & Handheld |
| Andrea Deck | Presenter of the award for Artistic Achievement |
| Dan Krull Katy Hill | Presenters of the award for Audio Achievement |
| Alix Wilton Regan | Presenter of the award for British Game |
| Andy Akinwolere | Presenter of the award for Family |
| Chet Faliszek | Presenter of the award for Game Innovation |
| Dan Middleton | Presenter of the Ones to Watch Award to Chambara |
| Tim Schafer | Presenter of the award for Game Design |
| Alex Brooker | Presenter of the award for Multiplayer |
| Jo Twist | Presenter of the award for Debut Game |
| Maimie McCoy | Presenter of the award for Performer |
| Ian Livingston | Presenter of the Fellowship Award to David Braben |
| Dynamo | Presenter of the award for Best Game |

### Performers

Riva Taylor was the only performer at the 11th British Academy Video Games Awards, performing "Earth to Earth", a song written specifically for the event, to open the ceremony.

## Critical reviews

The ceremony received generally mixed to positive reception from media publications. Paul Tassi of American business magazine Forbes claimed that the British Academy Video Games Awards "might be [his] favorite show worldwide right now", praising the "sheer breadth and diversity of their award categories, and what they choose to honor". Tassi went on to praise winning games such as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Game Innovation) and League of Legends (Persistent Game). Oliver Cragg of newspaper The Independent welcomed the strong presence of "creative indie titles" at the ceremony. A review written by GameCentral for newspaper Metro, however, went as far as to state that "we’re not sure we agree with any of the awards, except for Alien Isolation and David Braben", criticising "nonsense" such as a win for Minecraft, which was originally released years previously.

The majority of negative reactions to the ceremony related to Destiny winning the BAFTA for Best Game. Adam Rosser of BBC Radio 5 Live explained that "There was an audible ripple of surprise in the press room as Destiny took the best game Bafta", noting that the game had been "criticised in many quarters for ... suffering from a sparsely populated game world and repetitive gameplay". Some commentators supported the result, however: GamesRadar+, who named Destiny their game of the year, claimed that "it's good to see Bungie's masterpiece getting the attention it deserves". Entertainment Weekly's Jonathon Dornbush concluded that "despite its flaws, Destiny has demonstrated why it’s tough to put the game down, and may be worth revisiting for those who initially wrote the game off", while Forbes writer Paul Tassi claimed that Dragon Age: Inquisition was arguably the "definitive" game of the year.

Arguably one of the most surprising results was in the Sports category, where independent title OlliOlli beat out many bigger releases such as FIFA 15. Matt Kamen of Wired described this as a "shocking win", and Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy similarly dubbed it "a shock".

