PlayStation Studios wins Best Game at 18th BAFTA Games with PS5 title Returnal
- The 18th British Academy Games Awards (or BAFTA Games) were held on April 7, 2022.
- The awards honored games released throughout 2021.
- Housemarque's 2021 roguelike title Returnal took home Best Game and was also the most awarded game of the show.
PlayStation's first-party wing took home several awards from the BAFTA Games, with Housemarque's Returnal in particular seeing multiple wins.
Every year, the British Academy Games Awards (or BAFTA Games) holds a ceremony honoring games nominated across the video game industry for "outstanding creative achievement."
For the 18th BAFTA Games awards, honoring games released during 2021, multiple PlayStation Studios titled were nominated, such as Returnal and Insomniac Games' Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Returnal took home multiple awards, winning awards for Best Game, Audio Achievement, and Music. Jane Perry, the performance actress for Returnal protagonist Selene, also won the award for Performer in a Leading Role.
"We took a leap of faith and had to build our wings while falling but everyone from the team that's made such an incredible effort and the end result far surpasses even our wildest expectations," said Housemarque studio head and co-founder Ilari Kuittinen.
With four wins, Returnal was the most-awarded game of the event. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart also grabbed the awards for Animation and Technical Achievement, meaning PlayStation Studios nabbed a total of six wins.
Returnal previously won Best Action Game at the Game Awards 2021, though Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks notably led the nominations at the prior event by far, with a combined 23 nominations across the Xbox first-party divisions.
Housemarque was acquired by Sony for PlayStation Studios in 2021, an acquisition blitz that also added other teams such as Bluepoint Games, Nixxes Software, and Valkyrie Entertainment. This expansion has continued in 2022, with Sony purchasing Haven Studios, as well as being in the process of acquiring Destiny developer Bungie for $3.6 billion.
Returnal is a roguelike adventure that sees Selene stranded on the alien world of Atropos. You'll die over and over as you struggle to uncover the mystery of this horrifying cycle.
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