BAFTA's Tara Saunders on mobile gaming's awards snub and how the event is evolving for 2025

• BAFTA recently opened entries for the 2025 with nominations to be announced on the March 4th, 2025 and the awards taking place in spring 2025
• The previous edition of the BAFTAs had a noticeable lack of mobile presence is something the committee could reflect on for the 2025 show

In April, the 20th British Academy Game Awards took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was a night of games industry celebrations, with Baldur’s Gate 3 dominating the night winning five awards.

The aim of the event is to help highlight the creative work that goes on in the games industry and shine a spotlight on those working within it.

“The BAFTAs are the most prestigious and respected international games awards,” BAFTAs chair of the games committee Tara Saunders tells PocketGamer.biz.

“The diversity and expertise within our voting membership ensures that great achievements are recognised in games of all shapes and sizes, whether they’re triple-A blockbusters or small indie titles. They all have a fair chance of winning a BAFTA” 

All-inclusive? 

The 2024 awards highlighted 40 games across 18 categories and represented some of the biggest and best games of the last year. However there was a noticeable lack of mobile during the ceremony.

Cross-platform titles such as Terra Nil and Genshin Impact made an appearance, but despite mobile games' popularity, none of the 18 categories featured across the 2024 BAFTA Game Awards had a mobile-only winner or nominee.

Despite blanking mobile games, Saunders says that the awards and BAFTAs year-round programme is here for all of the games industry, “including mobile games”.

She tells us that BAFTA has moved away from platform-specific categories, as it wants games across all platforms to “stand on their own merits”.

“We have seen this recently, with Marvel Snap being nominated for both best game and EE game of the year in 2023," says Saunders

While the nominations in these categories did represent mobile, Marvel Snap (which has since launched on PC too) lost out on the win in both categories, with Vampire Survivors taking the award for best game and God of War Ragnarok grabbing the award for EE game of the year.

But that was in 2023. Since no mobile-only games were featured in the 2024 ceremony, it has been over a year since such a game appeared in the awards nominations.

Saunders shares that the BAFTAs also support and highlight the games industry as part of the organisation's wider ecosystem through interviews with developers and visits to games studios, including mobile. 

“We continue to reflect on this as we aim to evolve the awards each year,” states Saunders.

Building on the 2024 awards ceremony 

Entries for the 2024 awards were opened three months earlier than usual to provide more time for precise voting. Entries for the 21st edition of the BAFTA Games Awards are currently open, and the ambition is to have an even bigger ceremony in 2025.

“We are very excited that entries have opened,” says Saunders. “Although 2023 was an exceptional year for games, I’m confident that this will be another exciting ceremony.” 

Upon reflecting on the previous awards, Saunders tells us that more changes are coming for the 21st awards. This year, BAFTA voting members with specific craft experience in relevant roles will vote in round one of the game design and technical achievement categories. 

“This change means that BAFTA members with specific expertise will be able to focus their voting and give every game the best chance of being recognised,” she says. 

Getting involved 

Saunders encourages creators to enter their work into the awards, as they all deserve a chance at being recognised and celebrated by others in the industry. She adds that by being amplified in the awards, “it may inspire the future of our industry, giving those starting out something to aim for”.

Similarly to the awards ceremonies that highlight the excellence of film and television, the BAFTA Games Awards looks to bring attention to the creative and cultural importance of games. Saunders says it “helps to highlight the great work our industry produces and validate that games can be taken seriously”.

For those wishing to participate in the 2025 BAFTA Games Awards, entries are open now and close on November 7th. Saunders notes that it has been confirmed that the longlist will be published on December 10th, 2024, and nominations will be announced on March 4th, 2025.

The awards will take place in spring 2025, but no date has been set.

Don’t forget, there’s also still time to vote in the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards in association with Gamelight. Voting ends at midnight on July 26th, so make sure to get your vote in!