The British Academy of Film and Television Arts orBAFTAawards make up one of the major awards ceremonies in both film and television. BAFTA also hosts a gaming awards ceremony, known as the BAFTA Games Awards. Like a good deal of high-profile gaming awards ceremonies, such asThe Game Awards, many gamers look to the BAFTA Game Awards to see if their favorite game will be winning gold or to know what the best games were within a given year.
Though the official nominations were unveiled two weeks ago for the 2022BAFTAGame Awards, two categories were surprisingly left blank in the revealed nominees. Both the awards for Best Performer and Best Supporting Performer have only been revealed recently, with no word given on why these last two categories have taken longer. The nominees for best performer are Ozioma Akagha as Julianna Blake (Deathloop), Jason E. Kelly as Colt Vahn (Deathloop), Jennifer Hale as Rivet (Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart), John Mclaren as Star-Lord (Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy), Erika Mori as Alex Chen (Life is Strange: True Colors) and Jane Perry as Selene Vassos (Returnal).
RELATED:DICE Awards 2022 Winners List
Last year, theBAFTA Game Awards were dominated by the divisiveThe Last of Us Part 2andHades, with the latter taking home the award for Best Game. This year though, co-op gameIt Takes TwoandReturnalare leading the nominations. In terms of the nominations for Best Supporting Performer though, the dominating games are left out entirely, with the shortlisted actors being Laura Bailey as Polina Petrova (Call of Duty: Vanguard), Kimberly Brooks as Hollis Forsythe (Psychonauts 2), Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil: Village), Han Soto as Gabe Chen (Life is Strange: True Colors), Alex Weiner as Rocket and Jason Cavalier as Drax (both inMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy).
Interestingly, all the actors listed above are being recognized by BAFTA for their performances for the first time except Laura Bailey, as this nomination makes her fourth in total. In the past, Bailey picked up the award for the Performer in a Leading Role category for her performance asAbby inThe Last of Us Part 2. Despite some criticizing the character and game, with some even sending death threats to Bailey, many critics praised the game and the performances of all the actors involved.
The leading games at the BAFTAs this year have already received some positive attention from other games awards shows. At the 2021 Game Awards,It Takes Twotook home the award for best game, andReturnalgot some attention at this year’s DICE Awards for its Audio Design and Music Composition. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see whether the BAFTAs will follow this trend of awards or not.
The BAFTA Gaming Awards 2022 will take place on April 7.
