Overcooked is best British game at Bafta Games Awards

Overcooked has taken the prize for best British Game at this year’s Bafta Games Awards.

The chaotic multiplayer title challenges players to prepare a restaurant meal before frustrated customers leave.

So far, the puzzle-platformer Inside is leading the pack with four wins – original property, artistic achievement, game design and narrative.

A total of 50 titles were up for 16 prizes at the London ceremony.

The most nominated title is action-adventure game Uncharted 4, which was up for eight prizes. However, it has failed to win anything so far.

Cancer-inspired game

The developers of That Dragon, Cancer were emotional when they made their speech after winning the prize for game innovation.

The title was inspired by the death of two of the team’s son Joel, who was diagnosed with cancer when just one year old. He died four years later.

Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch won best multiplayer. The team-based first-person shooter was designed for e-sports and is notable for featuring LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters.

Best debut game went to Firewatch, an unusual mystery adventure in which the player communicates with another person via a handheld radio.

Audio achievement went to The Last Guardian, a much-delayed fantasy title from Sony Interactive. It was released in December, five years after it was originally expected to debut.

Rocket League won best evolving game – meaning a title that continually changes via updates – having already won three prizes at 2016’s event.

The “ones to watch” prize – which highlights new talent – went to Among the Stones, a platformer developed as a prototype by six students for their Abertay University course.

Brexit fears

More than 12,000 people are directly employed by the video games industry in the UK.

The awards take place at a time when the UK’s video games trade body Ukie has raised concerns that Brexit could lead some studios to quit the country if it leads to an immigration clampdown.

“We need diversity of talent – not just in terms of different languages, different perspectives, different culture to put into our creative products but also different experiences,” the organisation’s chief executive Jo Twist told the BBC ahead of the Baftas.

“And being able to have a friction-free system to be able to hire in the best talent from wherever they are across the globe to the UK [is needed] to keep our place at the top of the table.”

Last year, $99.6bn of video games were sold worldwide, according to research firm Newzoo, representing an 8.5% gain on the previous year and a bigger sum spent on movies.

It said China represented the biggest market in terms of consumer spend with the UK in sixth place.

The nominees for best game at the Baftas include Overwatch, Titanfall 2, Uncharted 4, Firewatch, Inside and Stardew Valley.

Last year’s winner was Fallout 4.

Brenda Romero will receive this year’s special award. The co-owner of Romero Games has helped develop dozens of titles including the Wizardry series; Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes; and Playboy: The Mansion.

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