God of War sweeps BAFTA 2019 awards
PS4 game wins five prizes, Return of the Obra Dinn and Nintendo Labo get two each
Sony’s PS4 exclusive God of War was the big winner at this year’s British Academy Games Awards, taking home five prizes including Best Game.
It also won awards in the Audio Achievement, Music, Narrative and Performer categories.
Elsewhere, puzzle game Return of the Obra Dinn won Artistic Achievement and Game Design awards, while build and play series Nintendo Labo collected the Family and Game Innovation prizes.
Red Dead Redemption 2, which was nominated in six categories, was notably absent from the list of winners, which is posted in full below.
BAFTA Games Awards 2019 winners
- Artistic Achievement – Return of the Obra Dinn
- Audio Achievement – God of War
- Best Game – God of War
- British Game – Forza Horizon 4
- Debut Game – Yoku’s Island Express
- Evolving Game – Fortnite
- Family – Nintendo Labo
- Game Beyond Entertainment – My Child Lebensborn
- Game Design – Return of the Obra Dinn
- Game Innovation – Nintendo Labo
- Mobile Game – Florence
- Multiplayer – A Way Out
- Music – God of War
- Narrative – God of War
- Original Property – Into the Breach
- Performer – Jeremy Davies
- EE Mobile Game of the Year (voted for by the public) – Old School Runescape
At the ceremony, God of War director Cory Barlog told the BBC that Sony Santa Monica‘s critical and commercial smash hit had far exceeded “very low” internal expectations.
Unlike previous entries in the long-running series, which were inspired by Greek mythology, God of War is loosely based on Norse mythology.
The title’s BAFTA success, Barlog added, showed that story-based games are “just as relevant” as the popular battle royale genre. “I think there’s a space for everything,” he said.