| British Academy Games Award for Animation | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | The best animation in a video game. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | British Academy of Film and Television Arts |
| Currently held by | God of War Ragnarök |
| Website | www |
The British Academy Video Games Award for Animation is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). It is given in honor to "the highest level of excellence in bringing a game to life," considering elements such as "player control, non-player characters, ambient/environmental animation, facial animation and cinematics". The category also considers the style, fluidity and responsiveness of the character. [1]
The category was first presented to Soulcalibur II at the 1st British Academy Games Awards in 2004 under the name Animation or Intro. The following year, it received its current name but was subsequently discontinued. The category was revived at the 16th British Academy Games Awards in 2019. [2] As developers, six studios have received two nominations in the category, though only Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog have achieved any wins. For publishers, Sony Interactive Entertainment hold the record for most nominations, with nine, and also have the most wins in the category, with three.
The 2023 winner of the award is God of War Ragnarök by Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment.
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.
| Indicates the winner |
| Year | Game | Recipient(s) | Developer(s) | Publisher(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002/03 (1st) | Soulcalibur II | Project Soul | Namco | [3] | |
| Big Mutha Truckers | Eutechnyx | Empire Interactive | |||
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | Rockstar North | Rockstar Games | |||
| Primal | SCE Studio Cambridge | Sony Computer Entertainment | |||
| Tekken 4 | Namco | ||||
| Viewtiful Joe | Capcom | ||||
(*Note: The games that don't have recipients on the table had Development Team credited on the awards page.)
| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Insomniac Games | 3 | 1 |
| Naughty Dog | 2 | 1 |
| Capcom | 2 | 0 |
| Guerrilla Games | 2 | 0 |
| Infinity Ward | 2 | 0 |
| Rockstar North | 2 | 0 |
| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Sony Computer/Interactive Entertainment | 10 | 3 |
| Activision | 4 | 0 |
| Namco | 2 | 1 |
| Annapurna Interactive | 2 | 0 |
| Bethesda Softworks | 2 | 0 |
| Electronic Arts | 2 | 0 |
| Nintendo | 2 | 0 |
| Rockstar Games | 2 | 0 |
| Square Enix | 2 | 0 |
| Warner Bros. Games | 2 | 0 |
| Xbox Game Studios | 2 | 0 |