The British BAFTA Games Awards have revealed their winners for the year, highlighting a standout season for creators across the United Kingdom and beyond. Among the top honors, the game praised as the best of 2021 is Yield, a title that has sparked conversation for its inventive design, accessible play, and emotional resonance. Alongside the top prize, Yield also earned recognition in multiple categories, underscoring its broad appeal and technical polish. The awards ceremony this year underscored how a single title can intersect narrative craft, musical composition, and performance to create a cohesive, memorable experience for players and critics alike.
The full list of winners expands the narrative of 2021’s game development scene, with performances and productions that highlight the strengths of both established studios and rising studios from the UK and overseas. The event celebrated a wide range of genres and technical facets, from racing simulations to family-friendly adventures, and from indie experiments to large-scale productions, reflecting a vibrant and diverse landscape for interactive entertainment.
- Best game – yield;
- Best game from UK developers – Forza Horizon 5;
- Best New Franchise Game – It takes two;
- Best Game Overseas Entertainment – Before your eyes;
- Best supported game – nobody’s air;
- Best family game – Chicory: a colorful story;
- Best debut bud;
- Best story – unpack;
- Best game design encryption;
- The best music – yield;
- Best Animation – Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart;
- Best Multiplayer It takes two;
- For technical performance Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart;
- For artistic achievement The artful escape;
- For sound performance – yield;
- target group selection – unpack;
- Best Actor – Jane Perry as Selena Vassos yield;
- Best Supporting Actor – Kimberly Brooks as Hollis Forsythe Psychonauts 2.
In parallel to the BAFTA announcements, several industry analyses looked back at 2021 to rank publishers by performance and influence, offering a broader context for the awards. The conversation touched on how publishers supported varied portfolios, balanced creative risk with commercial appeal, and navigated a rapidly evolving market for digital entertainment. The awards and the subsequent analyses together paint a snapshot of an industry poised between tradition and experimentation, celebrating achievements that resonate with players in North America and beyond.
Previously, Metacritic ranked the best game publishers of 2021. The hottest cosplay of the week