British Academy Games Award for Artistic Achievement

British Academy Games Award for Artistic Achievement
British Academy Games Award for Artistic Achievement
Awarded for	The best visual art in a game.
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Currently held by	Tunic
Website	www.bafta.org/games

The British Academy Video Games Award for Artistic Achievement is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). It is given "for demonstrating exceptional visual art across all genres".^[1]

The award was first presented at the 2nd British Academy Games Awards in 2005 to Half-Life 2 under the name Art Direction. The following year it was awarded as Artistic Achievement and has been presented under that name ever since. As developers, Ubisoft Montreal hold the record for most nominations, with seven, as well as most nominations without a win. Media Molecule and Thatgamecompany are the only developers to have won the category twice. The most nominated publishers are Sony Interactive Entertainment, who have thirty three and six wins. Electronic Arts and Xbox Game Studios are tied for most nominations without a win, with seven.

The current holder of the award is Tunic 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	Recipient(s)	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Ref.
2003/04 (2nd)	Half-Life 2		Valve		^[2]
	Burnout 3: Takedown		Criterion Games	Electronic Arts
	Doom 3		id Software	Activision
	Killzone		Guerrilla Games	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Onimusha 3: Demon Siege		Capcom
	Prince of Persia: Warrior Within		Ubisoft Montreal	Ubisoft
2005/06 (3rd)	Shadow of the Colossus		Team Ico and Japan Studio	Sony Computer Entertainment	^[3]
	Black		Criterion Games	Electronic Arts
	Hitman: Blood Money		IO Interactive	Eidos Interactive
	LocoRoco		Japan Studio	Sony Computer Entertainment
	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion		Bethesda Game Studios	Bethesda Softworks
	We Love Katamari		Namco
2006/07 (4th)	Ōkami	Atsushi Inaba	Clover Studio	Capcom	^[4]
	BioShock		2K Boston and 2K Australia	2K Games
	Heavenly Sword		Ninja Theory	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction		Insomniac Games	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Skate		EA Black Box	Electronic Arts
	Viva Piñata	Ryan Stevenson, Ed Bryan	Rare	Microsoft Game Studios
2007/08 (5th)	LittleBigPlanet	Kareem Ettouney, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin	Media Molecule	Sony Computer Entertainment	^[5]^[6]
	Assassin's Creed	Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais	Ubisoft Montreal	Ubisoft
	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare		Infinity Ward	Activision
	Dead Space		Visceral Games	Electronic Arts
	Gears of War 2		Epic Games	Microsoft Game Studios
	Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots	Yoji Shinkawa	Konami
2009 (6th)	Flower		thatgamecompany	Sony Computer Entertainment	^[7]
	Assassin's Creed II	Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets	Ubisoft Montreal	Ubisoft
	Batman: Arkham Asylum		Rocksteady Studios	Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2		Infinity Ward	Activision
	Street Fighter IV	Yoshinori Ono	Dimps and Capcom	Capcom
	Uncharted 2: Among Thieves		Naughty Dog	Sony Computer Entertainment
2010 (7th)	God of War III	Stig Asmussen, Ken Feldman, Cecil Kim	Santa Monica Studio	Sony Computer Entertainment	^[8]
	Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood	Mohamed Gambouz	Ubisoft Montreal	Ubisoft
	Call of Duty: Black Ops	Colin Whitney, Brian Anderson, Dominique Drozdz	Treyarch	Activision
	Heavy Rain	David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson	Quantic Dream	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Limbo	Arnt Jensen, Morten Bramsen	Playdead	Microsoft Game Studios
	Mass Effect 2		BioWare	Electronic Arts
2011 (8th)	Rayman Origins	Michel Ancel, Celine Tellier, Christophe Villez	Ubisoft		^[9]
	Batman: Arkham City		Rocksteady Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
	L.A. Noire	Ben Brudenell, Cheekin Chan, Simon Wood	Team Bondi	Rockstar Games
	LittleBigPlanet 2		Media Molecule	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception		Naughty Dog	Sony Computer Entertainment
	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	Todd Howard	Bethesda Game Studios	Bethesda Softworks
2012 (9th)	Journey		thatgamecompany	Sony Computer Entertainment	^[10]
	The Room		Fireproof Games
	Halo 4		343 Industries	Microsoft Game Studios
	Dear Esther	Robert Briscoe	The Chinese Room
	Borderlands 2	Randy Pitchford, Paul Hellquist, Jeramy Cooke	Gearbox Software	2K Games
	Far Cry 3	Jean-Alexis Doyon, Genseki Tanaka, Vincent Jean	Ubisoft Montreal	Ubisoft
2013 (10th)	Tearaway		Tarsier Studios and Media Molecule	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe	^[11]
	BioShock Infinite	Scott Sinclair, Shawn Robertson, Stephen Alexander	Irrational Games	2K Games
	Beyond: Two Souls	John Rostron, David Cage, Guillaume De Fondaumiere	Quantic Dream	Sony Computer Entertainment
	The Last of Us		Naughty Dog	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Device 6		Simogo
	Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch	Yoshiyuki Momose	Level-5	Bandai Namco Games
2014 (11th)	Lumino City		State of Play Games		^[12]^[13]
	Assassin's Creed Unity	Mohamed Gambouz, Patrick Limoges, Jean-Sébastien Guay	Ubisoft Montréal	Ubisoft
	Far Cry 4	Jean-Alexis Doyon, David Wilkinson, Scott Mitchell	Ubisoft Montréal
	Valiant Hearts: The Great War	Paul Tumelaire, Ghislain Avrillon, Laurent Labouille	Ubisoft Montpellier
	Hohokum		Honeyslug and Santa Monica Studio	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
	Monument Valley		ustwo Games
2015 (12th)	Ori and the Blind Forest		Moon Studios	Microsoft Studios	^[14]^[15]
	Assassin's Creed Syndicate		Ubisoft Quebec	Ubisoft
	Batman: Arkham Knight		Rocksteady Studios	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
	Everybody's Gone to the Rapture		The Chinese Room and Santa Monica Studio	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain		Kojima Productions	Konami Digital Entertainment
	The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt		CD Projekt Red	CD Projekt
2016 (13th)	Inside		Playdead		^[16]^[17]
	Abzû		Giant Squid Studios	505 Games
	Dishonored 2		Arkane Studios	Bethesda Softworks
	The Last Guardian		Japan Studio	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Uncharted 4: A Thief's End		Naughty Dog	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Unravel		Coldwood Interactive	Electronic Arts
2017 (14th)	Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice		Ninja Theory		^[18]
	Cuphead		StudioMDHR Entertainment
	Gorogoa		Jason Roberts	Annapurna Interactive
	Horizon Zero Dawn		Guerrilla Games	Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
	Uncharted: The Lost Legacy		Naughty Dog	Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild		Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
2018 (15th)	Return of the Obra Dinn	Lucas Pope	Lucas Pope	3909	^[19]
	Detroit: Become Human	Guillaume de Fondaumière, David Cage, John OBrien	Quantic Dream	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	God of War		Santa Monica Studio
	Marvel's Spider-Man		Insomniac Games
	Gris		Nomada Studio	Devolver Digital
	Red Dead Redemption 2		Rockstar Games
2019 (16th)	Sayonara Wild Hearts		Simogo	Annapurna Interactive	^[20]^[21]
	Concrete Genie		Pixelopus	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Death Stranding		Kojima Productions	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Control		Remedy Entertainment	505 Games
	Disco Elysium		ZA/UM
	Knights and Bikes	Rex Crowle, Moo Yu, Kenneth C M Young	Foam Sword	Double Fine Presents
2020 (17th)	Hades	Jen Zee	Supergiant Games		^[22]^[23]
	Cyberpunk 2077		CD Projekt Red	CD Projekt
	Dreams		Media Molecule	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	The Last of Us Part II		Naughty Dog
	Ghost of Tsushima	Jason Connell, Joanna Wang, Ian Jun Wei Chiew	Sucker Punch Productions
	Half-Life: Alyx		Valve Corporation
2021 (18th)	The Artful Escape		Beethoven & Dinosaur	Annapurna Interactive	^[24]^[25]
	It Takes Two		Hazelight Studios	Electronic Arts
	Psychonauts 2		Double Fine	Xbox Game Studios
	Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart		Insomniac Games	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Returnal		Housemarque	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Resident Evil Village		Capcom
2022 (19th)	Tunic		Finji		^[26]^[27]
	Elden Ring		FromSoftware	Bandai Namco
	God of War Ragnarök	Raf Grassetti, Dan McKim, Eric Valdes	Santa Monica	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Immortality	Doug Potts, Stephanie Reese, Kerry Hennessy	Half Mermaid Productions
	Pentiment	Hannah Kennedy, Soojin Paek	Obsidian	Xbox Game Studios
	A Plague Tale: Requiem		Asobo	Focus

Note: The games that don't have recipients on the table had Development Team credited on the awards page.

Multiple nominations and wins

Developers

Developer	Nominations	Wins
Ubisoft Montreal	7	0
Naughty Dog	6	0
Santa Monica Studio	5	1
Media Molecule	4	2
Capcom	3	0
Insomniac Games	3	0
Japan Studio	3	0
Quantic Dream	3	0
Rocksteady Studios	3	0
Bethesda Game Studios	2	0
CD Projekt RED	2	0
Criterion Games	2	0
Guerrilla Games	2	0
Infinity Ward	2	0
Kojima Productions	2	0
Ninja Theory	2	1
Playdead	2	1
Simogo	2	1
Thatgamecompany	2	2
The Chinese Room	2	0
Valve	2	0

Publishers

Developer	Nominations	Wins
Sony Computer/Interactive Entertainment	33	6
Ubisoft	9	1
Electronic Arts	7	0
Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios	7	0
Activision	4	0
Capcom	4	1
2k Games	3	0
Annapurna Interactive	3	1
Bandai Namco Games	3	0
Bethesda Softworks	3	0
Warner Bros Interactive	3	0
505 Games	2	0
CD Projekt	2	0
Eidos Interactive	2	0
Konami	2	0
Valve	2	0

References

External links

Official website

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

Search