The BAFTA Game Awards 2026, which is officially the 22nd British Academy Games Awards that took place on Friday, April 17, 2026, at the prestigious "Queen Elizabeth Hall" in London's South Bank. This was a highly anticipated ceremony, one of the most respected events in the global video game awards calendar, honoured the best and most innovative video games released between November 16, 2024 and November 14, 2025.
This year's event was sponsored by Google Play and hosted for the very first time by popular content creator Elz the Witch.The clear standout of the evening was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is a French action-RPG developed by "Sandfall Interactive" and published by "Kepler Interactive."
BAFTA wins: Best Game, Best Debut Game, and Performer in a Leading Role for actress Jennifer English, who voices and performs the role of Maelle in the game. Clair Obscur had entered the ceremony with a massive 12 nominations, which is the highest of any game in this year's edition, and its triple win made it the joint top-winning title of the night, alongside Dispatch, which also claimed three BAFTAs.
The game had already swept both The Game Awards and the Golden Joystick Awards, establishing itself as the definitive game of the year 2025. So, this was not surprising. The ceremony also celebrated a wide range of titles across 17 categories, with 42 games nominated in total.
Complete List of All Winners:
- Best Game - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Debut Game - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Performer in a Leading Role - Jennifer English — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (as Maelle)
- Performer in a Supporting Role - Jeffrey Wright
- Artistic Achievement - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Music - Ghost of Yōtei
- Technical Achievement - Ghost of Yōtei
- Animation - Dispatch
- Audio Achievement - Dispatch
- Game Design - Blue Prince
- Narrative - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- British Game - Atomfall (Rebellion Developments)
- Evolving Game - No Man's Sky (Hello Games)
- Family - LEGO Party!
- New Intellectual Property - South of Midnight
- Multiplayer - ARC Raiders
- Game Beyond Entertainment - Despelote
- BAFTA Fellowship - Ilkka Paananen (Co-founder & CEO, Supercell)
Nominations by Top Games:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - 12 Nominations
- Dispatch - 9 Nominations
- Ghost of Yōtei - 8 Nominations
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - 7 Nominations
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - 6 Nominations
- ARC Raiders - 5 Nominations
The BAFTA Games Awards 2026 were hosted by Elz the Witch, a widely recognised British content creator and gaming personality. This was her first time hosting the BAFTA Games Awards ceremony, bringing a new generation's voice to one of gaming's oldest and most respected recognition events.
Winners at the BAFTA Games Awards are determined entirely by BAFTA's voting membership, which is a body of approximately 1,700 games industry professionals drawn from across the video game development, publishing, and creative sectors. This is a peer-voted process, meaning winners are chosen by practitioners who work in the industry themselves, rather than by a panel of critics or a public vote.
The 2026 ceremony also introduced some significant changes to the voting structure. BAFTA created three new craft-specific voting chapters dedicated to Art, Audio, and Performance. These chapters allow only members with direct professional expertise in those fields to vote in the first round for categories like Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Performer in a Leading Role, and Performer in a Supporting Role.
"It is a real privilege to honour Ilkka with the BAFTA Fellowship this year. A visionary leader in games, he has built a globally influential company while championing creative collaboration and trust at every level."
— Jane Millichip, BAFTA CEO
Questions For You:
- What are your thoughts on these winners?
- Out of all the winners tonight, which one are you currently playing?
- If you were a BAFTA judge, which game would have been your personal "Game of the Year"?
Let me know in the comments, where you can also provide the latest news so I can make a breakdown of it.