- The BAFTA Games Awards wrapped last night
- Top winners included Balatro and Vampire Survivors
- But does the lack of platform-specific categories affect visibility?
While it may not necessarily have the massive reach of Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards, I’d argue that the BAFTAs arguably eclipse it in terms of prestige if not glitz & glamour. While there were no specific mobile categories in the BAFTA Games Awards 2024 we did see two interesting wins from some big mobile launches over the past year.
Balatro, naturally, took home the title for Debut Game. A double-edged sword perhaps as Localthunk’s humble roguelike deckbuilder has the industry abuzz, and many lamenting that most publishers are now digging through many prospective indies in search of another (potentially nonexistent) megahit.
Meanwhile, Vampire Survivors, which received Best Game in 2023, was named Best Evolving Game. A notable achievement considering it took on heavyweights like Diablo IV and Final Fantasy XIV Online in the process.
What, no mobile?
The BAFTA Games Awards take an unusual perspective of eschewing platform-specific accolades, as you may’ve noticed. This led to the ditching of the mobile-specific category in 2019, and despite big wins from top mobile and multiplatform releases such as Vampire Survivors and Genshin Impact the awards have remained largely the same.
Back in the day, I got the chance to speak with Luke Hebblethwaite, part of the BAFTAs game team who explained that the organisation felt platform-specific categories contradicted how they felt releases stood toe-to-toe no matter the platform.
Indeed, whatever your opinion on that platform, I think few would deny that Balatro and Vampire Survivors in particular didn’t benefit from the reach mobile gave them. So maybe we can take some comfort in that, insofar as it counts as recognition.
But that’s just, like, my opinion man. And if you’re not yet tired of it, why not tune into the latest episode of the Pocket Gamer Podcast as me and Will go co-op to discuss all things mobile gaming (and beyond)?
